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A destroyed pontoon bridge is seen on the Siverskyi Donets River near Bilohorivka, Ukraine on May 12. (From Ukraine Armed Forces)
Russia may have lost as much as one third of the ground force it committed when it invaded Ukraine, according to Britain's defense ministry.
In its latest defense intelligence update, the ministry said Russian forces had sustained heavy losses in their Donbas offensive and that "under the current conditions, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days." The ministry assessed that the offensive has "fallen significantly behind schedule. Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition." "Russia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February," the ministry added on Sunday. It is unclear how the ministry has arrived at that assessment. Russia is thought to have committed about 100 battalion tactical groups to the offensive in eastern Ukraine, but Western officials say many of these groups are under strength. The UK intelligence assessment says delays in Russian operations will "almost certainly be exacerbated by the loss of critical enablers such as bridging equipment and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones." "Russian bridging equipment has been in short supply throughout the conflict, slowing and restricting offensive manoeuvre. Russian UAVs are vital for tactical awareness and directing artillery but have been vulnerable to Ukrainian anti-air capabilities," it adds. "Many of these capabilities cannot be quickly replaced or reconstituted and are likely to continue to hinder Russian operations in Ukraine." Some background: In the past week, Russia has lost substantial bridging equipment while trying to cross the Siverskyi Donets river. The Russians have tried and apparently failed to put several pontoons across the river in an effort to encircle Ukrainian troops. Satellite imagery analyzed by CNN shows at least three bridges were destroyed this week and the Russians sustained heavy losses. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military claimed to have substantially degraded Russian drone capabilities. --------ADVERTISEMENT--------
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