Russia has suffered its bloodiest month since the war began, British military intelligence has said, as its forces made a series of gains in high risk attacks along the front line.
The Kremlin’s forces have pushed back Ukrainian soldiers and captured a string of towns and villages around the two-year anniversary of the war.
But the gains came at a cost of some 29,000 men killed or wounded in February alone. On Sunday Russian soldiers were thought to be closing in on their next target: the town of Chasov Yar, near to Bakhmut.
“The increase in the daily average almost certainly reflects Russia’s commitment to mass and attritional warfare,” the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence briefing.
Its data showed that for the past four months, the Russian army has sustained an average of more than 936 casualties every day. This is four or five times higher than its losses in the first few months after its February 2022 invasion.
The Kremlin launched a full-frontal attack against Avdiivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in November, eventually capturing the destroyed town in mid-February.