The British secret services see Moscow's military planners in a dilemma. Due to a lack of personnel, Russia is faced with the decision of either strengthening the offensive in the east or strengthening defense lines in the south. Meanwhile, Kyiv is reporting successes in the Donbass region of Donetsk.
According to British intelligence services, the Russian military is facing growing difficulties in Ukraine. From the very beginning of the invasion, Russia had had problems maintaining the offensive power of its troops, the Ministry of Defense said in London, citing intelligence reports.
"In addition to the severe undermanning, the Russian planners have to contend with the dilemma of whether to move reserves to the Donbass or defend against Ukrainian counterattacks in the southwestern Kherson sector." These problems would become more and more acute. According to the information, Moscow is using six armies with a theoretical total strength of 150,000 soldiers for the Donbass offensive. In recent weeks, however, Russia has often deployed no more than 100 men at the same time in offensive operations. Even if Russia could make further gains in territory, the advance without operational breaks will probably only make very slow progress in the future.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military reported repelling a Russian advance on a strategically important city in the Donetsk region. After several days of attacks, the Russian troops were pushed back near Avdiivka, said the head of the military administration there, Vitaly Barabash.
Avdiivka is located just a few kilometers north of the city of Donetsk on the way to the two cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk that remain under Ukrainian control. Claims by Russia to control the road between Avdiivka and Kostyantynivka in the direction of Kramatorsk are false. Information about the fighting can not be checked independently.
The Ukrainian military reported unsuccessful attacks on Avdiivka on Monday. The attacks were preceded by an order from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At the weekend he called for the attacks in Ukraine to be stepped up in order to reduce the shelling of infrastructure in Russian-occupied Donbass. Donetsk has recently been the target of Ukrainian artillery attacks. Moscow's declared war goal is to completely conquer the region. Since the fall of the twin cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk, Russia has already had the neighboring Luhansk region in its grip.
