British Intelligence update on Ukraine as of Dec. 14

 British Intelligence update on Ukraine as of Dec. 14

On 06 December 2022, Igor Girkin, a well-known Russian nationalist and former military intelligence officer, claimed he had spent two months embedded with a Donetsk People’s Republic battalion on the front line.

He said his recent experiences had revealed a ‘crisis of strategic planning’ in Russia’s Ukraine operation.

Since his deployment, Girkin has also derided the Russian military’s current emphasis upon constructing extensive, positional defensive works, questioning their utility in modern warfare.

His comments highlight the fraught debate about the conduct of the war which continues within Russia’s security community.

Rumours circulating on social media within the last 48 hours suggesting that Russian Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov could have been fired cannot be verified. However, factional tensions likely extend to the top of Russia’s military hierarchy.