Russia risks running out of ammunition as the deadlock deepens in eastern Ukraine, a Western official has revealed. Vladimir Putin ’s invaders and Ukrainian defence forces are increasingly locked in an attritional conflict in the Donbas region. An official warned: “With no strategic compromise and near stalemate on the ground, this will be a long war.” They believed the battle for the Donbas was “moving remarkably slowly”, adding: “ Russia has achieved tactical creeping success at very considerable cost.” They said Western officials were “increasingly alert that there will come a time when the tiny advances Russia is making become unsustainable in light of the costs and they will need a significant pause to regenerate capability”. Moscow was sending “significant reinforcements to the Donbas sector”, the official said, pointing to the Kremlin calling up “relatively low quality, under-manned, reservist units”. “In terms of force generation, Russia is effectively selling off the family silver,” they said. “The deployment of reserves links to a key point of assessment – there will presumably come a point when Russia will cease to be able to generate effective, offensive combat power, due to a lack of ammunition, low morale and simply a shortage of combat units.
via mirror: Russia risks running out of weapons as Ukraine deadlock deepens – Western officials