Russian armored forces suffered another defeat in the Donetsk region, trying to surround the city of Avdiyivka, the British Ministry of Defense said in the latest assessment of the war in Ukraine.

“In recent days, Russia continues to give priority to the operation to encircle the city of Avdiyivka, Donetsk region. But Russian forces have made only modest progress with heavy losses in armored vehicles,” said an assessment released Tuesday morning by the Ministry of Defense in London.

It also said Russia’s 10th Tank Regiment likely lost a large number of its tanks trying to encircle Avdiyivka, a city some Ukrainian officials describe as a “second Bakhmut” because of heavy fighting from the south.

“The regiment is part of the 3rd Army Corps, the first major formation that Russia has created to support the invasion of Ukraine starting in August 2022. Numerous open source accounts indicate that the 3rd Army Corps experienced particular problems due to poor discipline and poor morale,” the British assessment explains.

Although the servicemen of this Russian army corps have been training in Belarus for some time, according to the British, their effectiveness on the battlefield remains limited.

“The 10th Panzer Regiment’s losses were probably mostly caused by tactically flawed frontal attacks similar to other recent unsuccessful Russian armored assaults, such as those around the town of Vugledar,” concluded the assessment released on Tuesday by the UK Ministry of Defence.

Volunteers of the Russian army do no better than conscripts

In its own assessment published as recently as mid-September last year, Forbes noted that, at least on paper, the 3rd Army Corps is a strong force of 10,000 soldiers divided into more than 10 battalions equipped with hundreds of T-tanks 80 , T- 90 and other combat vehicles.

But in fact, it turned out to be more of a “straw man”, which included, among other things, volunteers who had problems with alcohol or drugs.

The vanguard of the 3rd Army Corps was thrown into northeastern Ukraine, into the Kharkiv region, in early September to try to block a Ukrainian counteroffensive that had led to the collapse of the Russian front there.

But his units “dispersed” before the Ukrainian attacks, several videos appeared on social networks showing their abandoned equipment and Russian soldiers hastily retreating from defensive positions.

“The fact that the 3rd Army Corps was unable to turn things around is very bad news for the Russian military effort,” Forbes noted at the time.

Only a few days later, on September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree on “partial” mobilization in Russia.

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