Over a quarter of Russia's units active in its war against Ukraine have been rendered “combat ineffective” with some of its most elite units worse affected, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.
Russia threw "approximately 65 per cent of its entire ground combat strength" at Ukraine during its ongoing invasion.
This equalled around 120 battalion tactical groups and despite this the Kremlin forces have found themselves struggling, and in recent weeks they regrouped in the east to refocus their efforts.
The Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update yesterday that it believed over a quarter of Moscow’s units had been rendered useless in the war.
This would reflect reports on the ground that have highlighted poorly equipped Russian soldiers whose vehicles have run out of fuel, as well as claims of low morale and desertion.
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On top of that, the Ministry of Defence added that some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, were amongst the worst affected too.
It said that it was “probably take years” for Russia to recover from these losses.
In the statement posted yesterday, they said: “At the start of the conflict, Russia committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65 per cent of its entire ground combat strength.
“It is likely that more than a quarter of these units have now been rendered combat ineffective.
“Some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered the highest levels of attrition. It will probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces.”
Since the early days of the war, the Ministry of Defence has been offering regular intelligence updates on its Twitter account.
This is seemingly a part of a wider Western strategy whereby officials and governments are publicising intelligence unlike ever before in an effort to stay one step ahead of Vladimir Putin.
That comes as today’s intelligence update further highlighted issues amongst Russia’s military and more failings of its invasion.
This included in reporting its belief that the invasion would have a “lasting impact on Russia’s ability to deploy conventional military force”.
The MoD wrote that despite Russia’s push to appear like it was undertaking an expansive military modernisation over the past few decades, significant failures meant it was unable to translate this into any meaningful advantage on the battlefield.
They wrote: “Russia’s defence budget approximately doubled between 2005 and 2018, with investment in several high-end air, land and sea capabilities.
“From 2008 this underpinned the expansive military modernisation programme New Look.
“However, the modernisation of its physical equipment has not enabled Russia to dominate Ukraine.
“Failures both in strategic planning and operational execution have left it unable to translate numerical strength into decisive advantage.
“Russia’s military is now significantly weaker, both materially and conceptually, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
“Recovery from this will be exacerbated by sanctions. This will have a lasting impact on Russia’s ability to deploy conventional military force.”
