British intelligence points to Russian dilemma after failing Vuhledar offensive

The British Ministry of Defence writes about this on Twitter.

British intelligence draws attention to the fact that on March 4, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu's visit to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine was published. There is a possibility that this was partially a response to recent footage of the owner of Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin visiting his fighters on the front line.

The only deployed Russian field commander shown in the video was Colonel General Rustam Muradov. He is responsible for the Vuhledar sector of Donetsk Oblast, where several assaults have failed in the last three months.

"Until recently, the Russian command likely saw a breakthrough at Vuhledar as a key way to achieve an operationally significant breakthrough in Ukraine's lines. Russian planners are likely facing the dilemma of attempting another Vuhledar assault or supporting intense fighting further north near Bakhmut and Kremina," the report concluded.

• On March 1, the NYT wrote that the Defense Forces had eliminated at least 130 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers during the three-week assault on Vuhledar in Donetsk region and had defeated Russia in the largest tank battle of the war.