The prime minister updated cabinet on the latest situation in Ukraine. He said Ukraine’s position remained perilous with Putin angered by defeats, but determined to claim some sort of victory regardless of the human cost. He said this meant it was more vital than ever to increase global support …
Cabinet were updated by a senior national security official, who confirmed Putin was focusing his attention on the Donbas region and that the next phase of the war was likely to be an attritional conflict, which could last several months. Russia would aim to exploit its troop number advantage but Ukraine had already shown that this was unlikely to be decisive on its own. There are some signs that Russia had not learned lessons from previous setbacks in northern Ukraine. And there was evidence of troops being committed to the fight in a piecemeal fashion. Reports of poor Russian morale continued with claims of some soldiers leaving units and refusing to fight.
The chief of the defence staff updated cabinet on ongoing efforts to support the Ukrainian military. He said other countries, including the US, were expanding military aid to Ukraine and the UK continued to play a leading role, including in sourcing suitable equipment from other countries which could be used as part of Ukraine’s defence.