The next phase of Russia's invasion of Ukraine will be an 'attritional conflict' in the Donbas, UK ministers told

• Russia's invasion of Ukraine is moving into "attritional conflict", UK ministers have been briefed.
• This next phase, focused on the Donbas, could last several months, a senior official told ministers.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is moving into a new phase likely to be an "attritional conflict" in the Donbas region, British ministers have been told.

A readout of the UK government's cabinet meeting Tuesday said ministers had been given a briefing by a senior national security official that this stage of the conflict "could last several months".

The senior official, not named in the readout, suggested Russia would "aim to exploit its troop number advantage," though this was unlikely to be decisive in the conflict by itself.

"There were some signs that Russia had not learned lessons from previous set-backs in northern Ukraine," the official explained.

There was evidence that Russian troop deployments were "piecemeal" and that there were continued reports of poor Russian morale with soldiers and units "refusing to fight", they added.

Insider spoke with a different UK official about what the consequences of the conflict in Donbas could be for the humanitarian situation in the region. The individual was given anonymity to speak frankly about the British government's understanding of the conflict.

They told Insider they expect to see more movement of people from the region, westward into the "perceived safer areas of Ukraine."

"The real people in need are those who cannot move," the official added. "There are people, particularly disabled, the elderly, who just find it very difficult to move or people who are out of resources. They are the most desperate in need, because they get caught up in the fighting."

They said there had been widespread attacks on civilian infrastructure and the use of indiscriminate weaponry, and estimated that three quarters of attempts to get convoys of supplies into cities by the UN and Red Cross had been unsuccessful.