The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update on Feb. 11 that the Russian military appears to have been unable to prepare its mobilized personnel to conduct effective mechanized offensive operations in the short period of time since their call-ups.
"The lack of adequate vehicles and ammunition is likely contributing to the ineffectiveness of Russian mechanized maneuver tactics thus far," the ISW added.
"The Russian military is unlikely to be able to scale its approach from the Bakhmut area to the wider (war) theatre because the tactics it is using in Bakhmut are more suited to dense urban environments and because Russian forces lack the number of elite formations needed to conduct a larger offensive in eastern Ukraine in the same fashion."
The Russian military command is deploying its most elite units to the Bakhmut area in smaller formations using urban infiltration tactics, according to the limited footage of Russian tactics in the area that ISW has observed.
