Britain says Russia has lost a third of its forces in Ukraine

By: 3 years ago

A local resident rides a bicycle past a charred armoured vehicle during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Ukraine March 15, 2022. REUTERS

LONDON 鈥� Russia has probably lost around a third of the ground forces it deployed to Ukraine and its offensive in the Donbas region 鈥渉as lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule鈥�, British military intelligence said on Sunday.

鈥淒espite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition,鈥� the British defense ministry said on Twitter.

鈥淩ussia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February.鈥�

It said Russia was unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.

Since Russia鈥檚 invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine鈥檚 military has forced Russia鈥檚 commanders to abandon an advance on the capital Kyiv, before making rapid gains in the northeast and driving them away from the second biggest city of Kharkiv.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive has been under way near the Russian-held town of Izium, though Ukraine鈥檚 military reported on Sunday that Russian forces were advancing elsewhere in the Donbas region, the main theatre of war over the past month.

黑料社