The Russian military has been transitioning to a long-term defensive position on most areas of the front line in Ukraine; however, even if Russia manages to build up those defensive lines, its "operational design will remain vulnerable," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 28.
To retake the initiative, Russia will need to regenerate higher quality, mobile troops that can resist Ukrainian advances and conduct their own large-scale offensive operations, reads the report.
Currently, Russia's "severely undermanned, poorly trained force in Ukraine is only capable of defensive operations," the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote.
Russia has likely augmented its units west of the Dnipro River with mobilized troops but of "an extremely low level of manning," according to the report. In September 2022, Russian officers said that companies in the Kherson sector consist of six-eight men each while they should deploy with around 100 personnel.
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