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A number of Russian soldiers are demanding that they be returned home, according to a video highlighted by British defense chiefs on Monday.
Troops from the 5th Separate Guard Tank Brigade, part of Russia’s eastern military district, were said to be “mentally and physically exhausted” by their role in the invasion of Ukraine that began nearly five months ago.
British military leaders stressed that the lack of “scheduled breaks” in the intense fighting for Russian forces was a major problem facing Vladimir Putin’s army.
However, they have not commented on the difficulties faced by Ukrainian troops who have suffered a series of defeats in Luhansk province, in the eastern Donbass region, where the Russian president is focusing his military campaign. .
In its latest intelligence update, the London Ministry of Defense said: “In late June, a Russian-language media agency based in the Lake Baikal region on the eastern tip of Russia posted a video in which the women of the soldiers of the Eastern Military District (EMD) The 36th Combined Arms Army made a direct call to a local politician for her husbands to return home from service in Ukraine.
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“A woman claimed that the staff of EMD’s 5th Separate Guard Tank Brigade is” mentally and physically exhausted “because she has been in active combat service since the launch of the” special military operation “on 24 February 2022.
“The lack of scheduled breaks due to intense combat conditions is very likely to be one of the most damaging of the many personnel problems that the Russian Ministry of Defense is struggling to rectify among the deployed forces.”
The briefing added: “As of Sunday 10 July, artillery bombardment continued in the northern sector of Donbas, but probably without any major territorial progress.
“Ukrainian forces continued to apply localized pressure to the Russian defensive line in the northeast of Kherson province, also probably without achieving territorial gains.”
The U.S.-based military think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said Russian forces are in the midst of an operational break across the theater in Ukraine.
He added: “This operational pause has been largely characterized by the fact that Russian troops have regrouped to rest, equip and reconstitute; heavy artillery fire in critical areas to establish the conditions for future ground advances; and attacks of limited polling to identify Ukrainian weakness and structure appropriate tactical responses.
“As ISW has noted above, an operational pause does not mean a complete cessation of hostilities, but ongoing hostilities are of a more preparatory nature.”
The defense leaders of the UK, US and other allied countries are fighting in an information war against Russia, which is a key part of the conflict in Ukraine, so their claims must be addressed in this context.
However, Russian claims must be treated with great caution, as the Kremlin does not even accept that there is a war in Ukraine and its denial of war crimes and the death of thousands of civilians are at odds with reports widespread of the conflict zone.