Russia Faces ‘Acute Dilemma’ Over Long-Range Strikes: UK

The British Ministry of Defense has said Russia is facing mass casualties caused by Ukrainian long-range missiles that are hitting well behind enemy lines.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said swathes of Russian soldiers have been killed by strikes as President Vladimir Putin’s commanders struggle to keep troops dispersed. In one incident, the update cites a strike on November 10 in which over 70 of Moscow’s personnel were killed.

Ukraine fired at a convoy of trucks 14.3 miles behind Russian enemy lines in the village of Hladkivka, in the Kherson region. Another attack conducted by Ukraine reached as far as 37.3 miles inside Russian-occupied territory on November 19, the update said, with a further 19 troops eliminated. They were attending an “award ceremony or concert” in Kumachove in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.

Russian stage actress Polina Menshikh was also killed in the attack, allegedly while performing on stage, according to a report by Al Jazeera, which cites the theater she worked for. The report said Menshikh was performing for soldiers from the 810th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade when a HIMARS missile hit the event.

Ukraine has put the death toll from the incident at 25 with more than 100 injured, Al Jazeera has reported. These numbers have not yet been independently verified.

The Defense Ministry update said Ukraine has suffered losses in a similar fashion, with “a Russian ballistic missile killed 19 members of Ukraine’s 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade at a medal ceremony on November 3 2023.” Ukrainian military commander Robert Brovdi said on social media that the attack in Kumachove was “revenge for the 128th.”

“Deployed soldiers are typically well aware of the ranges of their adversary’s weapons systems. However, faced with the reality of very long combat deployments, commanders face an acute dilemma,” the update reads.

“They must balance the best practice of keeping the troops dispersed, and less vulnerable to strikes, and the day-to-day requirement to gather units together to conduct administration and to maintain morale.”

Kyiv has said 322,900 Russian soldiers have been killed since Moscow began its invasion on February 22, 2022. In its latest update on Friday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said 1,100 were eliminated in the last 24 hours. Newsweek has been unable to independently verify these figures.

The numbers of casualties vary, and Kyiv’s statistics typically surpass those of its Western allies. Russia seldom discloses information about troop losses. In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu acknowledged that 5,937 troops had been killed in the ongoing conflict. Likewise, Ukraine does not release the number of casualties it has suffered.

The United Nations has estimated 10,000 civilians have died as a result of the war so far, with around half of these deaths talking place far away from enemy lines. Russia’s use of long-range missiles has been cited as one of the reasons for civilian deaths and injuries.