The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense released a time-lapse video Friday showing Russia’s territorial gains and losses during its invasion of Ukraine, calling Moscow’s effort to seize the northern part of the country a “costly failure.”
The release comes as the Russia-Ukraine war has reached the 100-day mark. It began on Feb. 24.
“Russia’s assault into northern Ukraine ended in a costly failure. Russia failed to implement its own principles of war,” the Ministry said in a tweet. “With the limited combat readiness of many units, it spread its forces too thinly without enough support from artillery and combat aircraft.”
The video shows during the first 30 days of the war, Russia steadily progressed towards Kyiv in hopes of capturing Ukraine’s capital city.
ANTI-WAR RUSSIANS HAVE THEIR HANDS TIED AS UKRAINE WAR DRAGS ON
Then in the next 20 days, Russia’s forces were completely pushed out of northern Ukraine.
The war is now focused on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, home to Russian-backed separatists.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said Russia’s initial strategy was “based on wildly optimistic assessments about the welcome Russian troops would receive in Ukraine.”
“Russia has now adopted a ‘strategy of attrition’ and is achieving slow and costly gains in the Donbas,” it added.
