British report points out that after a year of war, Russian forces in Ukraine are now mostly composed of inexperienced soldiers with antiquated equipment, unable to carry out complex operations
The British Ministry of Defense estimates that Russian forces in Ukraine, while retaining their numbers and structure, have seen their capability and effectiveness decline considerably since the war began in February 2022.
According to a report released this Sunday (May 14), the British assess that the Russian military contingent in Ukraine has largely turned into groups of reservists incapable of carrying out complex operations.
The British Ministry of Defense also considers that although the so-called Russian Combined Forces Grouping – the Russian Combined Forces or CGF – maintains about the same amount of personnel on the battlefield as it did a year ago – 200,000 personnel divided into 70 regiments – it is no longer composed of professional soldiers or “reasonably modern vehicles.”
“Now the force is composed mostly of poorly trained mobilized reservists and increasingly reliant on antiquated equipment,” the assessment points out.
Russian grouping reduced to “very simple operations”
Also according to the British, Russia is now only capable of carrying out “very simple infantry-based operations,” compared to the regular “complex joint operations” carried out by the military at the beginning of the war.
“More importantly, it is unlikely to have been able to generate a mobile reserve capable of responding to emerging operational challenges,” the British ministry pointed out.
The ministry further added: “It [the Russian Grouping] is unlikely to be a cohesive organization that effectively has a large-scale military effect along the 1,200-kilometer front line under pressure.”
Experts had previously pointed out that Russia lost much of its most experienced military in the first weeks and months of the war, eventually filling its units with less experienced and mobilized personnel as the invasion effort dragged on.
In September 2022, the Russian government announced a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists.
Recruitment of convicts
More recently, Russia’s military has begun to step up efforts to recruit convicts directly from prisons to fight in Ukraine. This week, the UK Ministry of Defense estimated that in April alone, the Russians recruited 10,000 convicts. The tactic of using prisoners to fight has already been applied by the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary organization. In March, United Nations experts had criticized the strategy.
“We are deeply disturbed by reports of visits by members of the so-called Wagner Group to correctional facilities in various regions of Russia, offering pardons to prisoners who join the group and participate in the war in Ukraine, as well as a monthly payment to their relatives,” the experts said.