Vladimir Putin has lost around one-third of the ground combat troops he committed when Russia invaded Ukraine, according to UK officials.
In their latest assessment of the war, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), said Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region has also “fallen significantly behind schedule”.
It is the latest evidence that Russia is losing a war which Putin had expected to be over within days of the invasion starting on February 24.
The MoD set out its latest intelligence on the situation on the ground in a series of tweets this morning.
They said: “Russia’s Donbas offensive has lost momentum and 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.”
Russia has also lost “critical enablers such as bridging equipment and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones”, the defence officials said.
The MoD added: “Russian forces are increasingly constrained by degraded enabling capabilities, continued low morale and reduced combat effectiveness. Many of these capabilities cannot be quickly replaced or reconstituted, and are likely to continue to hinder Russian operations in Ukraine.
“Under the current conditions, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.”
At a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin this morning, foreign secretary Liz Truss said it was essential to maintain support for the government in Kyiv to help it “push Russia out”.
She said in a statement: “Putin must face a sustained defeat in Ukraine, Russia must be contained and such aggression must never happen again.
“Ukraine’s security must come from it being able to defend itself. Allies must support Ukraine’s move to Nato-standard equipment, immediately providing artillery, training and the required expertise.”