"Russia has highly likely cancelled Exercise ZAPAD (‘West’) 23, its planned ‘joint strategic exercise’ (JSE) and major annual event intended to be the culmination of the military’s training year," the UK defence ministry said in its latest Intelligence Update on the Situation in Ukraine.
"The exercise should have taken place in September 2023," it added.
"From 2010 Russia ran a four-year cycle, rotating JSEs around the country. However, since 2021, Russia has based the JSE in western Russia at least every second year as it prioritises confronting what it perceives as the threat from NATO," according to the UK defence ministry.
"This follows ZAPAD 21, the largest Russian exercise since Soviet times," the British defence ministry also said.
'Too few troops and equipment are available'
It added: "The Russian military’s "under-performance in Ukraine has highlighted how JSEs have had limited training value and have largely been for show. Russia has likely cancelled ZAPAD 23 because too few troops and equipment are available."
"There is a realistic possibility that the Russian leadership is also sensitive to domestic criticism liable from running another slickly presented JSE during wartime," according to the British defence ministry.
Two years ago, Russia and its ally Belarus held the Zapad-21 war games on sites close to the European Union's borders, alarming Ukraine and some NATO countries, the Reuters news agency reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Monday is day 551 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: tvp.info, Reuters