Russia has seized 90 per cent of Luhansk Oblast and is likely to take complete control within the next two weeks, British defence chiefs have warned.
However, they stressed that Russia has achieved these successes at a “significant resource cost” after failing to “achieve their initial objectives to seize Kyiv”.
The Kremlin has launched an all-out assault to encircle the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in recent days.
The operation is part of their campaign to seize the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine.
In its latest intelligence report, on the 100th day of the war, the British Ministry of Defence said: “Russian forces failed to achieve their initial objectives to seize Kyiv and Ukrainian centres of government. Staunch Ukrainian resistance and the failure to secure Hostomel airfield in the first 24 hours led to Russian offensive operations being repulsed.”
The update said that Russia then “adapted its operational design to focus on the Donbas” following the “failure of the initial plan”.
It adds: “Russia is now achieving tactical successes in the Donbas. Russian forces have generated and maintained momentum and currently appear to hold the initiative over Ukrainian opposition.
“Russia controls over 90% of Luhansk Oblast and is likely to complete control in the next two weeks. Russia has achieved these recent tactical successes at significant resource cost, and by concentrating force and fire on a single part of the overall campaign. Russia has not been able to generate manoeuvre or movement on other fronts or axes, all of which have transitioned to the defensive.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 3 June 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 3, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/J6pg0zEINb
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/gtepCytay9
However, it added that Russia has achieved “none” of its strategic objectives in line with its “original plan” following the invasion of Ukraine in February.
It comes after President Zelensky conceded on Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s forces control 20 per cent of his country.
"We have to defend ourselves against almost the entire Russian army," the Ukrainian leader told Luxembourg’s parliament in a video address.
"All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression," he said, adding that the battle was now stretched along a front line of more than 620 miles (1,000km), and 100 people were dying per day.
Serhiy Gaidai, the regional governor of Luhansk, told reporters that 70 per cent of Severodonetsk was under Russian occupation, 10 to 15 per cent was disputed and the rest was still in Ukrainian hands.
About 800 people were sheltering under a chemical plant in the city where dangerous materials could be stockpiled, he added.
