The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has released an update on the situation in Ukraine where it has stated that Russian forces have suffered losses of one-third of its ground force combat since February. It added in its report that the Russian campaign in the East of Ukraine had lost momentum and was significantly behind schedule.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 15 May 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/VBPIqyrgA5
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/n6dBVZHAos
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 15, 2022
In one of the points released, the ministry said, “Russian forces are increasingly constrained by degraded enabling capabilities, continued low morale and reduced combat effectiveness. Many of these capabilities cannot be quickly replaced or reconstituted, and are likely to continue to hinder Russian operations in Ukraine.”
According to intelligence reports, quoted by the UK’s Ministry of Defence, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry adviser Vadim Denisenko had earlier told a television network in the country that Kyiv’s troops in the Kharkiv region had almost reached the border with Russia.
According to a Reuters report, Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a Facebook post that the 227th Battalion of the 127th Brigade of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces had reached the border with Russia, adding: “Together to victory!”
Ukraine’s ex-ambassador to Austria has now shared a video on Twitter showing Ukrainian soldiers reaching the Ukraine-Russia border.
Translating the video in the caption, Mr Olexander Scherba says, “Mr. President, we reached Ukraine’s state border with the enemy state. Mr. President, we made it! Glory to #Ukraine! Glory to Heroes!””
At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock said it would provide military assistance “for as long as Ukraine needs this support for the self-defence of its country”.
“Ukraine can win this war. Ukrainians are bravely defending their homeland,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg added.
Local officials in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv in the north have said Russian troops were withdrawing from the surrounding region amid Ukrainian counter-attacks.
