Russian military forces have only made “minor advances” since retreating from the Kyiv region and escalating their offensive in eastern Ukraine earlier this month, the British Ministry of Defense said on Monday.
Since the tactical change in what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russia has so far failed to achieve “a significant breakthrough” in the Donbas region, according to the United Kingdom’s intelligence update. The report noted that Ukrainian forces that remain holed up in Mariupol have “exhausted” Russian units and have prevented them from redeploying.
“Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the Donbas. Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough,” the British Ministry of Defense intelligence update said on Monday.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 25 April 2022
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“Russia’s decision to besiege rather than attack Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant means many Russian units remain fixed in the city and cannot be redeployed. Ukraine’s defence of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness,” the update continued.
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The report also said that domestically, Russian military officials are overseeing compensation payments to families of servicemen killed in action, rather than civilian officials, suggesting a desire by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government to hide the scale of Russian deaths since the Feb. 24 invasion.
“Russia’s Ministry of Defence has proposed compensation payments for the families of deceased service personnel be overseen by military rather than civilian officials. This likely reflects a desire to hide the true scale of Russia’s losses from the domestic population,” the British Ministry of Defense said.
The last tally of Russians killed in action in Ukraine released by the Kremlin was on March 25. According to the Russian government, only 1,351 of its soldiers had been killed at that point in the war.
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In March, NATO estimated that between 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine since the Feb. 24 invasion. The Ukrainian armed forces have claimed that more than 20,000 members of Putin’s army have been killed in action since the invasion.
