UK Defense Ministry: Impact of mud on spring campaign often exaggerated

Springtime weather conditions are "highly likely" slowing down both Ukrainian and Russian forces, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote in its intelligence update on April 21.

However, Russian online outlets are "likely exaggerating" the impact of mud on Ukrainian operations in an effort to boost Russian troop morale.

This disinformation campaign is also likely intended to demoralize Ukrainians ahead of the planned counteroffensive, according to the ministry.

Conditions are expected to improve "in the coming weeks" and mines are likely to be more of an inhibiting factor to off-road maneuvers than mud, the ministry wrote.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on national television on April 19 that "complex measures" of Ukraine's planned counteroffensive are "already underway" in the east and that the push to reclaim Ukrainian territory should not be reduced to specific dates and actions.

Season of offensives: What to expect from the spring campaign in Ukraine

On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, with the first days of March came the all-consuming mud. Videos of trucks and armored vehicles bogged down in fields heralded the arrival of a time traditionally known in Ukrainian as bezdorizhzhia, or “roadlessness.” Though the mud may present a brief challe…

Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell