LIBKOS
- Ukraine and Russia are fighting along a 745-mile front line, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
- And they're struggling to break through because of how scattered their troops are, the MOD said.
- Ukrainian forces are 'static' in the south, and Russian troops are collapsing in the east, it said.
Ukraine and Russia are struggling to make any significant breakthroughs because of how scattered their troops are along the front lines in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Friday.
The UK MOD pointed to the sheer scale of the front, which it says stretches for 745 miles.
Both countries are engaged in fierce fighting across the whole line of contact, which has prevented both Russia and Ukraine from building striking forces capable of achieving a breakthrough, the MOD said.
While Ukrainian forces have remained "relatively static" in the south, it said, Russian soldiers have collapsed against Ukrainian defenses around the eastern town of Avdiivka.
The commander in chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, made a similarly stark assessment in an op-ed published in The Economist this week.
Zaluzhnyi, known as Ukraine's "Iron General," told the outlet that the country's counteroffensive is unlikely to break through Russia's lines because of the lack of significant technological and weaponry assistance.
"There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough," he said.
Ukraine's counteroffensive, launched in early June, has so far failed to secure any kind of breakthrough or major territorial gains against Russia's heavily fortified defenses, military analysts previously told Insider.
According to an analysis by The New York Times, only 0.2% of Ukraine's landmass changed hands from January to September 2023, another sign that both sides have largely remained entrenched.
The UK Ministry of Defence cited airpower as a major factor in the apparent standstill.
"Both sides have maintained credible air defenses, preventing combat jets from providing effective air support for assaults," it said.
Zaluzhnyi, in his Economist op-ed, said that "control of the skies is essential to large-scale ground operations."