UK Defenсe Secretary questions Russia's ability to continue its offensive in Ukraine

Ben Wallace told the Financial Times on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

The FT article states that despite fears that Russia is ready to launch a major attack around the first anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ben Wallace said: "there is no evidence of a large concentration of Russian forces" similar to the attack on February 24 last year.

In particular, the head of the British defence ministry noted that the Russian army is suffering huge losses in Ukraine, shows no signs of improving its "meat grinder" tactics, and is trying to maintain a relentless offensive that "if it advances at all, it advances by meters, not kilometers."

Ben Wallace said that the best Moscow has managed so far is a series of probing attacks along the front line, reinforced by recruits after the recent mass mobilization. But he clarified that these attacks have only resulted in heavy Russian casualties.

"Russian recruits are still being shoved into a meat grinder," Wallace said. "And I'm not sure that's acceptable, even to Russia, because 180,000 people have wives, mothers, sisters and friends, and it becomes impossible to hide the scale of this loss from the Russian people."

• A representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Chernyak, assured that Russia would not be able to launch a large-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine before February 24 due to a lack of resources.

• Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate, said that the Russian forces continue to attack eastern Ukraine, as the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive is inevitable.