Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2022 to Question 105235 on Russia: Armed Forces, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of the morale of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine since December 2022.

We estimate that approximately 200,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in the conflict, including up to 60,000 killed in action. Since summer 2022, Wagner and regular Russian forces have likely suffered over 30,000 personnel killed and wounded in the Popasna-Bakhmut area alone. We estimate that over 5,500 Russian armoured vehicles, including nearly 2,000 main battle tanks, 80 fixed wing aircraft, 84 helicopters, 230 unmanned aerial vehicles, 12 naval vessels of all classes, and over 810 artillery systems of all types have been destroyed. Morale amongst Russia's armed forces has been low since the start of the conflict. Heavy losses, poor leadership, and inadequate equipment have all contributed to this. Moreover, a large proportion of Russia's land forces are now made up of mobilised personnel who likely have low motivation to fight in the conflict.