Russia is losing its most elite troops thanks to 'complacency' by commanders and Ukrainian fightback, UK says

• Russia has seen "significant losses" among its elite army units, the UK's defense ministry said.
• The ministry attributed it to Ukrainian resistance and the "complacency of Russian commanders."

Russia is losing many of its elite troops due to expected Ukrainian resistance and "complacency" among its commanders, according to UK intelligence.

"The failure to anticipate Ukrainian resistance and the subsequent complacency of Russian commanders has led to significant losses across many of Russia's more elite units," the UK Ministry of Defence said in a Thursday update.

It said that issues with the work of Russia's elite airborne troops, or VDV, in Ukraine showed how Russia's army has been "unbalanced" in the way Russia invests in it.

It said the VDV had been used in situations where "heavier armored infantry" would have been more suitable, and as a result "has sustained heavy casualties during the campaign."

"Its mixed performance likely reflects a strategic mismanagement of this capability and Russia's failure to secure air superiority," it said.

The VDV is a cadre of elite airborne troops who specialize in rapidly seizing key territory via parachute jumps or being launched in helicopters, and their status in the Russian military means they are often used as a rapid-reaction force. These paratroopers use more heavy systems like tanks and infantry fighting vehicle than their counterparts in the US, as Insider's Stavros Atlamazoglou has reported. The VDV are easily distinguised by their blue berets and the blue-striped undershirts worn under their fatigues.

The UK also said that the VDV "have been heavily involved in several notable tactical failures since the start of Russia's invasion."

In the inital invasion, VDV forces assaulted an airport 20 miles outside Kyiv via helicopters whose seizure would have allowed Russia to quickly fly in more troops, weapons and armored vehicles. But the paratroopers lost the field to a Ukrainian counterattack.

Russia failed to meet its strategic aims from the onset of the invasion, failing to capture key parts of the country as it expected, and with Russia ceding control of many areas back to Ukraine three months on.

What started as an assault on much of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, has turned into a battle focused in the east, near Russia's border. Western intelligence has noted that Russia had expected quick victory in its invasion and that it did not expect a strong resistance from Ukraine.

The exact number of Russian troop losses is unknown, as Russia has not shared them. The UK defense ministry estimated that Russia has lost a third of its forces.

A BBC investigation in April found that Russia's army was losing many elite troops, which are extremely expensive and lost a lot of money to train.

Retired Adm. James Stavridis, former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, also said earlier this month that "in modern history, there is no situation comparable in terms of the deaths of generals."

A Russian veterans group recently criticized Russia's so-called "special military operation" a failure, and said it needed to officially declare war on Ukraine and mobilize additional forces.