A senior U.S. defense official said that there are “anecdotal reports” of Russian soldiers in Ukraine disobeying orders.
The official said that the U.S. has been seen evidence that Russian soldiers and “mid-grade officers at various levels, even up to the battalion level” are not following orders to push ahead in the Donbas offensive, CNN reported.
The official explained that the officers have allegedly “either refused to obey orders or are not obeying them with the same measure of alacrity that you would expect an officer to obey.”
The official added that Russian troops have experienced serious moral problems since the start of the invasion in February, among multiple other problems the Russian military has had to contend with as the war has not gone as planned.
Other issues include problems supplying troops with needed equipment and supplies in a timely manner that have slowed the Russian war effort, the official said.
The official told reports that Russia has increased the number of operational battalion tactical groups (BTGs) in Ukraine from 92 at the end of April to 97.
"It’s not unusual for them to move a BTG or two out of the Donbas back into Russia for re-fit or re-supply and then move them back in, that’s normal," the official said.
But he added that it was noteworthy that “they've added about five BTGs to Ukraine, and all of those BTGs are either in the east or in the south.”