A report, seen by senior British government officials, pointed out that Vladimir Putin believes he can achieve a “partial victory”, despite Kremlin members trying to convince him that the invasion was a disaster, according to the British newspaper ‘LBC’. – Russian forces reduced their focus from their original failed objective of overthrowing the democratically elected government of Zelensky by a pro-Moscow regime, having been forced into a humiliating retreat from the capital Kyiv. Now, attention is focused on capturing the rest of Donbass, part of which was already held by Russian-backed separatist rebels. As part of that advance, they hope to take Sievierodonetsk, the focus of intense fighting in recent days.

According to the report, authored by “the UK’s leading analyst on Russia” and seen by the tabloid ‘The Mirror’, it advanced that Putin believes the potential losses of 30,000 troops is a “price worth paying” for taking the eastern regions of Ukraine, adding: “Russia’s attempt to achieve a quick and decisive victory in the Donbass has not yet been successful. They are still moving forward, gaining 1-2 km a day.”

“The Russians are now achieving the successes they have mainly through an uphill struggle with repeated and very expensive infantry attacks reminiscent of 1945 rather than 2022,” the report reads. “The gross failures of Putin’s campaign have so far been very well hidden from the Russian public – or even blame several officials, who were arrested and replaced. The Russian populace until recently bought into Putin’s disinformation. We saw an attempt within the Kremlin to send a message to Putin and his closest team that things are going wrong, maybe even catastrophically wrong.”

Russia’s disastrous invasion likely resulted in “devastating” casualties among its mid- and low-ranking officers, according to Britain’s Defense Intelligence services. They are likely to move to the front lines “because they are held to an uncompromising level of responsibility for the performance of their units”.

An update released by the British Ministry of Defense asserted: “With several credible reports of mutinies located among Russian forces in Ukraine, the lack of experienced and reliable platoon and company commanders is likely to result in an even greater decrease in morale. and continuing lack of discipline.”

Source: With Agencies