British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said on Friday July 29 that Russia was failing in “many areas” in its war against Ukraine. For him, Russian President Vladimir Putin could even seek to change strategy again.
“The Russians are currently failing on the ground in many areas […] Putin’s plans A, B and C have failed and he could now consider a plan D”said Ben Wallace to the television channel “Sky News”.
The British politician is referring here to the slow progress of the Russians in the Donbass. For example, it took 80 days for the Russian army to take full control of the Lugansk region, although it already controlled nearly 93%.
“Russian forces are paralyzed by huge losses”
Note that later in the day, Ben Wallace also spoke about the Ukrainian conflict to the BBC. “Russian forces are paralyzed by huge losses”said the Briton, according to comments reported by “The Telegraph”. “Putin did not change his desire to occupy all of Ukraine, to take kyiv and Odessa…but his army was effectively crippled by huge losses. More than 25,000 dead. Perhaps twice as many wounded”. “The Telegraph” specifies that American analysts have put forward the figure of 75,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded in Ukraine.
Ben Wallace, who asserts that the Russians “operate their army at around 40-50% combat effectiveness”described the Russian strategy as “meat grinder”before explaining: “When I talk about meat grinder, what they’re doing is they’re using some sort of Soviet tactic, moving very slowly. […] And in addition to the meat grinder, they recruit from the poorer neighborhoods of Russia and ethnic minorities, and they use mercenaries, pushing these people regardless of the outcome, advancing.”