US intelligence revealed that Russian troops continue to have low morale and that “almost half” do not receive much training

Russia continues to face significant morale and unit cohesion problems as it prepares for operations in Ukraine's Donbas, a senior US defense official told journalists.

In addition, the US has indications that Russian troops and enlisted officers are frustrated with military performance and leadership. It is that the lack of adequate cohesion between the different forces, the inability to completely suppress Ukrainian air defenses and the growing popular resistance to the invasion would probably hinder Russia's rapid gains in the east.

But Russia did not have a single commander in charge when it attacked Ukraine from the north, east and south. Now, General Aleksandr Dvornikov is in command. He is 60 years old, one of the most experienced Russian military officers and, according to US officials, a commander with a reputation for brutality against civilians in Syria and other war scenarios. There are those who even dare to call him “the Butcher of Syria”.

A single person being in charge would, according to analysts, give more cohesion and ordering to the Russian attack.

However, the US believes that the mood in the Russian ranks is not improving, with new intelligence reports of low morale even at the officer level, which is clear from the fact that Russia has also had high levels of murdered generals.

The source said that the US has recent evidence that Russian forces “have become disillusioned with this war, were not properly informed, not properly trained, not prepared, not just physically, but mentally for what they were about to do.”

“Almost half” of Russian troops in Ukraine are recruits “who do not receive much training”, leading to “problems of cohesion of unity and morale that are harassing Russians even as they are now trying to recondition, replenish and concentrate on a more concentrated geographical area.”

Observers said it could take several weeks for Russian troops to rest, resupply and regroup before they could launch a new attack in the east.

“Many Russian units withdrawing from northern Ukraine are likely to require major re-equipment and renovation before they are available to redeploy for operations in eastern Ukraine,” said a tweet from the British Defense Ministry.

The United States has long had information about the decline in the morale of Russian troops in some units in Ukraine, as some officials have warned of Defense of the United States, who speak on condition of anonymity.

“We have certainly collected anecdotal evidence that morale is not high in some units,” the official told reporters, without citing evidence, a few weeks ago.

“We believe that part of that is due to poor leadership, the lack of information that the troops get about their mission and objectives, and I think the disappointment that they have been resisted (by the Ukrainians) as fiercely as they have been,” the official said.

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