Putin plans ‘war of attrition’ with mass shelling of Ukrainian cities, UK defence chief warns

ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo reports on a capital city bracing for the worst

Vladimir Putin has embarked on a war of attrition in Ukraine after their initial lightning offensive failed in the face of fierce resistance, Britain’s chief of defence intelligence has warned, while ITV News understands the Russians have enough ammunition to keep up the bombardment of the capital for weeks.

Lieutenant-General Sir Jim Hockenhull said the Kremlin has been forced to switch tactics, turning to the “reckless and indiscriminate” use of firepower which will inevitably lead to more civilian casualties.

He said the Russians have “enormous” stocks of artillery ammunition and could maintain their bombardment for weeks of the country in an attempt to force Ukraine into submission.

ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo, who is in Kyiv, said the Russians have enough ammunition to keep up the bombardment of the capital for weeks.

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The warning came as Mr Putin, Russia’s President, made a rare public appearance to address a mass flag-waving rally at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of his country’s annexation of Crimea.

He praised the efforts of Russia’s forces, declaring: “Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other.”

Gen Hockenhull said that more than three weeks into the campaign, it is clear the Kremlin has still not achieved any of its initial objectives.

“It has been surprised by the scale and ferocity of Ukrainian resistance and has been bedevilled by problems of its own making,” he told journalists.

“Russian operations have changed. Russia is now pursuing strategy of attrition. This will involve the reckless and indiscriminate use of firepower.

“This will result in increased civilian casualties, disruption of Ukrainian infrastructure and intensify the humanitarian crisis.”

Russia also further widened the conflict on Friday after shelling Lviv airport in the west of the country, an area that had previously been mostly untouched by the conflict.

At the same time, Mr Putin is tightening his control over Russian media in a bid to disguise the heavy losses his forces have suffered in battle, Gen Hockenhull said.

“The Kremlin is attempting to control the narrative, hide operational problems and obscure high Russian casualty numbers from the Russian people,” he said.

As many as 7,000 Russian troops have died so far in the fighting, including four major generals and a number of other senior officers, American sources estimate.

Western officials are concerned that as Russia uses up its stock of precision weapons, it will turn increasingly to “dumb” bombs resulting in even more casualties among the civilian population.

“There is an enormous amount of artillery ammunition which the Russian forces hold. It may be a logistical challenge for them to get all of it in place,” one official said.

“But if they are able to get those supplies forward then they could mount that artillery bombardment for a very, very considerable period of time. Those bombardments could be very intense."

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