A report by the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based defence think tank, said the use of Chechen fighters and mercenaries “in addition to conventional military units to lead an assault is unusual”.
The report went on: “It likely indicates that the Russian military is struggling to amass sufficient combat power on this axis from the available conventional military units.
“Observed and reported casualties among Russian mechanised and airborne forces in the vicinity of north-western Kyiv Oblast have been very high, and various reports suggest that the morale and combat effectiveness of the remaining conventional forces there are low.”
Russian forces have captured towns to the north-west of Kyiv, including Irpin, Bucha and the military airfield at Hostomel. However, an armoured convoy 40 miles long stalled en route to Kyiv, vulnerable to attack from Ukraine forces.
The CIA said on Wednesday that it believed between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in fighting across the country. Ukraine military and independent observers studying photographs and videos have also logged the destruction of Russian equipment, including hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles as well as aircraft.
Military strategists believe Russia will launch an attempt to encircle Kyiv from the east and the west within the next 72 hours. They expect Chechen fighters to be involved.
One Chechen warlord, Magomed Tushayev, was reportedly killed at the start of the invasion in the fight for Hostomel, one of the key battlegrounds which has changed hands a number of times.
Philip Ingram, a former colonel in British military intelligence, said Putin had “failed to achieve any of the objectives I would have anticipated him to achieve by now”. He said the “traditional method for Russia is to become much more violent” as a consequence.
Mr Ingram added: “Bringing in Chechens and the promoting of it may be as much about information operation as military capability. They are supposed to be these big scary murderers and scaring the local population into surrendering is what Putin is now hoping for.”
Meanwhile in Moscow, police have been accused of stopping commuters and demanding to check their phones, as they suppress any sign of dissent – prompting tens of thousands of people to flee the country.
