Russia Has 'Lost Momentum'; Third Of Ground Combat Force Gone, UK Military Intel Says

Russia's offensive into the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas has "lost momentum" and "fallen significantly behind schedule," according to British intelligence.

"Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month while sustaining consistently high levels of attrition," the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement released Sunday.

Aside from experiencing delays, Russia has also likely lost a third of the ground combat forces it initially committed in the invasion of Ukraine back in late February, the department said.

"Russian forces are increasingly constrained by degraded enabling capabilities, continued low morale and reduced combat effectiveness. Many of these capabilities cannot be quickly replaced or reconstituted, and are likely to continue to hinder Russian operations in Ukraine," the MoD's statement read.

Russia is unlikely to "dramatically accelerate" its rate of advance in the war over the next 30 days under the current conditions, according to the department.

The Russian invasion's initial goal was to sweep across Ukraine and topple the country's government, but the offensive was hampered by stiff Ukrainian resistance and logistical issues, the BBC reported.

Russian forces withdrew from areas around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv after they were unable to seize the city, and they have focused their efforts on Ukraine's eastern provinces since mid-April.

"Russia's war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives," Jens Stoltenberg, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) secretary general, told foreign ministers at a Sunday meeting in Berlin.

The NATO chief urged the alliance's members to "continue to step up and sustain" their support of Ukraine, which he believes "can win this war."

At least 1,351 Russian soldiers have died in combat in Ukraine, according to the latest official death toll released by Russian authorities in late March.

The number has reached 27,200 as of Saturday, Ukraine's defense ministry claimed in its latest Russian casualty report.

Russia's losses also included 1,218 tanks, 2,934 armored fighting vehicles, 200 aircraft and 163 helicopters, among other vehicles, according to the report.

A coup to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from power is currently underway, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, told Sky News in an interview.

“[I]t is impossible to stop it,” said the Ukrainian military intelligence head, who claimed that Putin has cancer and other illnesses.