Russian forces face worsening counter-battery capabilities due to growing equipment shortages, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on July 17.
According to the report, the survivability of Russian ground troops relies on detecting Ukrainian artillery and striking against it. However, the British intelligence analysis said that Russia is dealing with a worsening shortage of ZOOPARK-1M counter-battery radars.
Few of the ZOOPARK radars deployed in Ukraine are likely to remain operational, the U.K. Defense Ministry estimated, pointing out the recent destruction of one such radar in early July.
The report said that the lack of counter-battery provisions was one of the main complaints of the recently sacked Major General Ivan Popov, until recently the commander of Russia's 58th Combined Arms Army (58th CAA).
As the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote on July 16, Popov is among several Russian commanders who were allegedly removed from their posts not long ago.
Other sacked officers may include Major General Vladimir Seliverstov and Major General Alexander Kornev from the Russian airborne forces, though the ISW acknowledges the information has not been officially confirmed.
The units of these generals belong to the more successful ones on the battlefield. For example, the 58th CAA carried out relatively successful counteroffensives in Zaporizhzhia Oblast while Seliverstov troops defend Bakhmut against Ukrainian forces, the British analysts wrote.
Martin Fornusek
(Updated: )
