British and American Officials Say Russia Is Losing in Ukraine – As Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens to strike “new targets” in Ukraine if the West continues to provide military aid, Western analysts suggest that Russia is becoming increasingly desperate and could ultimately lose the war.
This week, both American and British analysts and defense officials reflected on how Russia is struggling to maintain its slow and steady gains in eastern Ukraine, and how U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket systems are helping Ukraine fight fend off Russian invaders.
British Experts Say Russia Is “Running Out Of Steam”
In an update shared on Twitter, Britain’s Ministry of Defence claimed that the Kremlin is “growing desperate.” The Twitter post included a text-based video, which showed scenes of destroyed residential areas in Ukraine and burned-out military vehicles. The video footage was overlaid with text, claiming that Russia’s campaign is “grinding” and “inefficient,” and that Russian military is increasingly reliant on outdated missile systems that are less precise and more likely to injure innocent civilians.
“Putin’s war is built on lies. Russia will not win this conflict,” the text in the video reads.
The post also reflects on how Russia has lost “tens of thousands of soldiers.”
“Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers and is using Soviet-era weapons. Their outdated missiles are killing and injuring innocent Ukrainians,” it reads.
This week, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin told CNN how legislators were briefed that as many as 75,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in the war, and that 80% of Putin’s land forces are currently “bogged down and tired.”
The Kremlin is growing desperate.
Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers and is using Soviet-era weapons.
Their outdated missiles are killing and injuring innocent Ukrainians.
Russia won’t win this unjust war.
The UK continues to #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/LBqzrwAdg7
— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) July 29, 2022
The British Ministry of Defence’s video was also shared by Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s secret intelligence service, MI6. Moore said at the Aspen Security Conference earlier this month that Russia had endured many “epic fails” recently and that the Russia-Ukraine war had reached a “stalemate.”
What U.S. Officials Say
During a press briefing on Friday, a senior U.S. Defense Department official acknowledged that, while Russia has enjoyed some successes in Luhansk Oblast recently, there is growing evidence that many Russian military units are ill-prepared and unable to fight effectively.
“First observation is that, although we continue to see Russia failing — failing on the battlefield, paying a high price for very little gain, and suffering domestic failures at home, I was really struck this week by how Russian rhetoric was trying to mask these losses, and what we saw was really very expansionist rhetoric coming out of Moscow,” the senior official noted.
The defense official noted how Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is reversing previous denials that the Kremlin was seeking regime change in Kyiv, and how Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev posted a map on his Telegram channel that showed Ukraine almost entirely conquered by Russia.
According to the defense official, Russia is “talking a big talk” while Ukraine effectively uses the $8.2 billion in equipment provided so far to counter Russian advances, destroy ammunition depots, and take out Russian military equipment and vehicles.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
