Ukraine Russia Conflict: Russian military is weaker now, claims UK

Russian military and its troops have faced strategic and operational failure, in its invasion of Ukraine said the British defence ministry said on Tuesday.

“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 modernization program New Look,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added: “However, the modernization 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,” the British officials said.

Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched the war on Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Russia is planning to annex Donetsk and Luhansk with “sham” elections, US officials believe. Russia might also consider doing the same in Kherson, where it is already imposing roubles as the official currency. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Lavrov’s comments showed that “Russia has forgotten all the lessons of the second world war”.However, Britain has said it will provide £300m ($375m) more in military aid to Ukraine, including electronic warfare equipment and a counter-battery radar system, on top of around £200m pounds of assistance so far, Reuters reports. Also, Boris Johnson will hail Ukraine’s resistance against tyranny as an exemplar for the world as he delivers a virtual address to the country’s parliament on Tuesday. Johnson will become the first world leader to address the Verkhovna Rada since the conflict began.