The commander of the British armed forces said that Russia has lost half of its combat capability in Ukraine

Get free updates for War in Ukraine

We will send you a file myFT Daily Digest Rounding email to the latest The war in Ukraine News every morning.

The commander of the British armed forces said that the Russian army had lost half of its combat effectiveness in Ukraine, including up to 2,500 tanks, and that the main push for the counterattack in Kiev was yet to come.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin rejected suggestions that the Ukrainian counter-offensive was proceeding slowly, arguing that the response to Russia was “never a one-man action”, and that Kiev’s military strategy of “starve, stretch, strike” was gradually breaking down the Russian defensive lines.

Ukraine has struggled to breach Russia’s heavily fortified defenses in its counter-offensive a month ago, dampening hopes among some of Kiev’s western allies that Ukraine’s armed forces would make a quick breakthrough.

“The question is, how do you take a front line of more than a thousand kilometers and turn it into more of a problem for Russia than for Ukraine?” Radakin said at a parliamentary hearing. “This is why you see multiple hubs being investigated and deceived by Ukraine.”

Radkin acknowledged the “stronger-than-expected” density of Russian minefields, the lack of Ukrainian air cover and “not all [military] equipment that they are [Kyiv] Wanted “complicated the campaign.

But he also said it was unfair to bind Ukraine to a specific timetable and that “Russia is now so weak that it does not have the necessary strength.” [its own] counterattack “.

“Russia has lost almost half of the combat effectiveness of its army,” Radakin said. Last year, it fired ten million artillery shells, but at best it can produce one million shells a year. It lost 2,500 tanks and could, at best, produce 200 tanks [new] tanks in general.”

The United Kingdom is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, and has been at the forefront in providing Kiev with advanced military equipment, including main battle tanks and long-range cruise missiles.

In a series of often difficult conversations with members of the British Parliament’s Defense Committee, Radakin also defended the state of readiness of the British armed forces – although he admitted that the army was using “really outdated” armored vehicles.

“We need deeper inventories, we need to be more lethal and we need to increase our productivity,” Radakin said. “I wouldn’t say I’m happy.”

The Ministry of Defense is set to release a long-awaited leadership paper on how the British Armed Forces spend their annual defense budget of around £50 billion. Radakin said it was his “understanding” that this would be published before the start of Parliament’s summer recess on July 20.