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Battle for Luhansk: A pro-Russian separatist fighter controls a street in the village of Rubishne
Photo: Alexander Reka / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
As the fighting in Donbass intensifies, British military intelligence assumes that Russia will soon resort to reservists.
According to a daily updated information letter from the British Ministry of Defense, their convocation is "very likely".
For this purpose, London is trying to compare losses on the Russian side in Donbass.
The Kremlin has not published any official figures on fallen soldiers since the end of March.
The pro-Russian separatists in the so-called People's Republic of Donetsk, on the other hand, report that 2,128 soldiers have been killed and 8,897 wounded since the beginning of the war up to June 16.
According to the British Ministry of Defence, the separatists' losses correspond to around 55 percent of the original strength of the armed forces.
This is evidenced by the "extraordinary wear and tear" of the Russian and pro-Russian troops in the hard-fought Donbass region.
According to Ukrainian sources, the total losses of the Russian and pro-Russian troops are now well over 30,000.
This information cannot be independently verified.
The British Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily security updates on the situation in the Ukraine war for several months.
The analyzes are based on observations of troop movements, video recordings on the Internet and intelligence findings.
Russians just before taking the Donbass
British intelligence believes the separatists are fighting with outdated equipment.
According to the security briefing, the extent to which reserve units could be mobilized would be decisive for the course of the war on both sides.
London also observed that Russian troops are probably preparing to surround the city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Luhansk region.
The neighboring city of Lysychansk, which is only separated from Sievjerodonetsk by a river, is already almost entirely under Russian control.
With a capture of the area and the two cities, Russia would control the entire Donbass sub-region of Luhansk.
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