Many Russian reservists called up to fight in Ukraine are having to buy their own body armour, British intelligence chiefs have said.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its daily update that “endemic corruption and poor logistics” remained a cause of Russia’s “poor performance” in Ukraine.
Adding that the average amount of personal equipment Russia was providing to its mobilised reservists, was “almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops”.
The MoD wrote: “Many reservists are likely required to purchase their own body armour, especially the modern 6B45 vest, which is meant to be on general issue to combat units as part of the Ratnik personal equipment programme.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 October 2022
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“This vest has been selling on Russian online shopping sites for 40,000 roubles (approx. USD $640), up from around 12,000 roubles (approx. USD $190) in April.”
It said that in 2020, Russian authorities announced that 300,000 sets of the Ratnik armour had been supplied to its military, which was enough “to equip the force currently deployed in Ukraine”.
It comes as Ukraine said it has retaken more than 600 settlements from enemy occupied areas in the past month.
Just over 500 settlements were liberated in the north-east Kharkiv region where Ukrainian forces have advanced deep into Russian lines, officials have said.
A further 50 settlements were liberated in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and 75 in the southern Kherson area.
However, there were signs on Friday that Russia was still managing to make some advances in Donetsk.
UK defence chiefs said Russian-backed forces had moved towards the centre of the strategically important town of Bakhmut, and had probably advanced into villages to the south.
Soldiers from the Wagner Group - which has been dubbed Putin’s private army - “likely remain” heavily involved in the Bakhmut fighting, the Ministry of Defence said.
