Russia’s lack of workers because of the war in Ukraine is becoming a significant problem, British defense officials said this week. Russia was short almost 5 million workers last year, with the country unable to fill 25% of its truck driver vacancies.

The labor shortage has been exacerbated by restrictions on migrant employment that were implemented after the March 22 ISIS terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others, U.K. intelligence analysts said on X in an assessment of the battlefield conditions in Ukraine.

The worker shortage in Russia has prompted a group of parliamentarians to consider amending the country’s labor code.

“If enacted, it would mean that excess labor forces could be moved under state supervision to a place of work which lacks sufficient labor,” U.K. analysts said.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.