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UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made unwanted headlines with his comments about 'gratitude' and 'Amazon' over Western aid to Ukraine, but his press briefing at Nato contained some fascinating, and largely unreported, intel on Kyiv's counter-offensive. 1/
Wallace dismissed concerns over the pace of Ukraine’s offensive. He said Kyiv’s forces were ‘advancing every day’, but had been somewhat slower than expected because Russia's lessons learned and they've adapted accordingly. /2
Ukrainians have been forced to dismount from their Western-supplied vehicles and wade through dense Russian anti-tank minefields on foot, Wallace said, because Kyiv's lack of 'combat engineering capabilities', often under heavy fire from Russian drones and artillery. /3
Having adapted, Moscow's forces now lay mixed minefields, combining anti-personnel and anti-tank mines to further slow any Ukrainian advance. Russia is also learning, and adapting its forces, to deal with new, long-range weapons introduced onto the battlefield, Wallace added. /4
Ukraine is attacking on three main axes (Bakhmut, Orikhiv-Tokmak, Velyka Novosilka), Wallace said. 'The main line of defence at some parts, the Ukrainians are only 300 metres away,' he added, 'Instead of there being lots of Russians behind those lines, there aren’t.' /5
Wallace said Ukraine hadn't yet committed reserves from its 12 offensive brigades, the majority of which were trained and armed by Nato allies. He said Kyiv hadn't yet made a choice on what potential axes of attack to 'really pile it on' in an attempt to breach the lines. /6
On UK-donated Storm Shadow missiles, Wallace said in one recent hit on a Russian ammunition dump, shown by 'open source', Ukraine had destroyed 2,500 tonnes of ammo. He didn't confirm where but video from Makiivka, seven miles east of Donetsk, showed a vast explosion. /7
On future security guarantees for Kyiv, Wallace said: 'You could expect more British troops in Ukraine after this conflict than you did before.' He suggested these troops would be as part of 'capacity building' training missions, building on operations Orbital and Interflex. /8
Interestingly, Wallace confirmed Kyiv had asked Britain to manufacture 'some capabilities' in the UK, without confirming what they are for security reasons. 'Ukraine has asked us to make them but you know, after this conflict, we would inevitably move them back into Ukraine.' /9
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