With the arrival and deployment of modern weapons the rate of Russian losses should accelerate as the Ukrainians force them to fight battles they cannot win or they retreat. It's just a question of how quickly and in what order they retreat and if they have the fuel to bring their equipment with them or run/walk back to Russia.
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Russia has lost one third of its original invasion force, UK estimates
Ukrainian servicemen with a downed Russian drone in Kyiv in March.
Aris Messinis | AFP | Getty Images
Russia has probably lost a third of the ground combat force it originally committed to its invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has little prospect of accelerating its advance in eastern Ukraine, according to an intelligence estimate from the British government.
Russia's attempted offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region has lost momentum and "failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition," the
U.K. Ministry of Defence said Sunday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The British assessment singled out destroyed Russian drones and river-bridging equipment as worsening the situation for Russian troops. "Russian UAVs are vital for tactical awareness and directing artillery, but have been vulnerable to Ukrainian anti-air capabilities," the U.K. Ministry of Defence said.
A Russian attempt to cross the Seversky Donets River in Ukraine's east last week was repulsed by Ukrainian defenders with heavy losses of equipment. Ukrainian officials on Thursday
released a video showing burnt out vehicles and a destroyed pontoon bridge.
Low Russian morale and reduced combat effectiveness are exacerbating delays in its planned offensive, the British ministry said.
"Under the current conditions," the British ministry said, "Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days."
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