Russia’s daily Ukraine casualties are likely higher now than at any other time in the war: UK intelligence

But the MoD said the figures are “plausible,” putting it down to mounting casualty figures from Russia’s attacks on Avdiivka, a small town on the edge of occupied Donetsk.

Russia’s military has suffered heavy losses in the region because of its reliance on Soviet-era military tactics, according to military analysts.

Russian troops are resorting to the “classic military manoeuvre” of encircling the enemy on three sides, which they have used “many times” in Bakhmut, Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic International Studies, told Business Insider last week.

George Barros, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, made a similar assessment, telling Business Insider that Russia is launching brutal attacks with an enormous quantity of combat power.

Russia downs drones over Moscow in Ukrainian retaliatory strike

Russia has lost so many soldiers in the city that a Ukrainian drone operator compared it to scenes from a “zombie movie”, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday.

The drone operator, who goes by the call sign “Trauma”, told the news agency that “columns of tanks and armoured personnel carriers” fell one by one into minefields and were hit by drones and anti-tank missiles.

Russian assaults have caused massive losses to armoured vehicles, according to aerial footage shared by General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukraine’s Tavriia Operational Strategic Group.

Despite their efforts, Russian forces have made only marginal gains, bringing them about 4 miles away from Avdiivka, the Institute for the Study of War think-tank reported on Sunday, citing geolocated footage.