97% of Russia's army is now in Ukraine, claims UK intel, meaning Putin may struggle to have enough trained troops to throw at the war

• 97% of Russia's army is now in Ukraine, the UK's defense minister said.
• He said that despite this, Russia is yet to show much progress in its offensive.

Almost all of Russia's army is already in Ukraine, the UK's defense minister said, making it hard for Russia to have enough trained troops to help reverse its losses in the war.

Ben Wallace told the BBC on Wednesday that Russia had not been able to amass a single force to "punch through" Ukrainian defenses.

"That has come at a huge cost to the Russian army. We now estimate 97% of the Russian army, the whole Russian army, is in Ukraine."

He also reiterated the 97% number as he defended the UK's military support for Ukraine, saying that "helping Ukraine defeat Russia in Ukraine actually adds to our own security at home."

"If 97% of the Russian army is now committed to Ukraine, with an attrition rate very, very high, and potentially their combat effectiveness depleted by 40%, and nearly two thirds of their tanks destroyed or broken, that has a direct impact on the security of Europe," he told the BBC.

Wallace also compared Russia's efforts to advance to "almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres rather than kilometres."

It is unclear how many troops Russia has in Ukraine in total.

Russia could keep adding more troops through mass mobilization efforts or smaller, more stealthy conscription drives.

But those efforts would be calling on men who likely do not have military experience, and who Russia would need to spend time training if they wanted them to enter Ukraine with any real skills.

Russian defectors and Western intelligence have repeatedly highlighted that many Russian troops received almost no training before being sent to Ukraine.

Some Russians called up in the September mobilization recieved so little training that some were sent home in body bags within just one month of being called up to fight in Ukraine.

But experts also caution that a high troop death rate does not appear to bother Russia's leaders, and indeed fits into its strategy when fighting Ukraine, a country that has Western help with troop training.

Russian soldiers have described being used as cannon fodder.