97% of Russian army estimated to be in Ukraine – UK Defence Secretary

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has stated that almost the entire Russian army is estimated to be in Ukraine. 

Source: Wallace on air with BBC Radio 4, reported by European Pravda

Details: While commenting on Moscow’s offensive strategy, Wallace said that Russia has not been able to amass a single force "to punch through" Ukraine's defences. Rather, "we've just seen an effort to advance".

"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," Wallace said. 

He has added that the West is strengthening its own security by helping Ukraine defeat Russia in the war. 

"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 declared. 

"I think what Russia is doing in trying to advance, it's doing in a sort of human way, almost First World War levels of attrition and with success rates of a matter of metres rather than kilometres," Wallace pointed out.

Wallace goes on to say that the "biggest unknown" is what happens when you have Russian leaders who either have "a gap in reality" or "no regard for human life of [Russia's] own".

Background: Information from Western intelligence indicates that Russia is gathering aircraft near its border with Ukraine, which means that Moscow is preparing to engage its aircraft and helicopters to support a ground offensive. 

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