Over the past week there has been a slight reduction in the number of combat engagements on the ground in Ukraine. However, both Ukraine and Russia have launched long-range precision strikes at each other's territories.

There were an average of 133 combat engagements per day last week, which is consistent with the decline also seen in previous weeks.

Speaking at this Friday's weekly Ministry of Defense press briefing, Kaju pointed out that the weather has played a major role in the decreasing number of combat engagements.

"Spring is approaching, but the trees have no leaves yet and the ground is soft, which makes it significantly more difficult to take cover and move across the terrain. This, in turn, has further increased the combat effectiveness of drones," Kaju said.

The most intense combat activity continues to take place in Donetsk Oblast in the direction of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka, as well as in the direction of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

According to Kaju, there have been no major changes on the front lines, though Russian units have achieved some progress in the directions of Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Huliaipole. At the same time, Ukrainian units have also been successful in their counterattacks in those same directions.

"It is important to clarify that, given the positional nature of this war, different parties may achieve success on a single section of the front or in a gray zone, but generally speaking, that success is quite limited and does not lead to significant changes to the bigger picture," Kaju added.

Ukraine has been successful in recapturing the occupied territories in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The Ukrainians have now regained nearly all of the previously occupied areas, with only around five settlements on the oblast's border remaining under Russian control.

In addition to ground battles, both sides are conducting intense long-range precision strikes.

Last week, Russia launched over 1,300 drones and approximately 30 missiles toward Ukraine—two weeks ago, they launched 1,200 drones and 40 missiles.

Kaju noted that the heaviest airstrike of the previous week hit Ukraine on March 7, when Russia launched nearly 500 drones and 30 missiles at one time. The targets of that attack were civilian, energy, port and transportation infrastructure in more than ten of Ukraine's regions. In Kyiv, nearly 1,900 buildings were left without heat, and intensive repair work continues.

"Ukraine is working intensively to address the aftermath of the attack. One important lesson is that it is impossible to protect central production facilities 100 percent, which is why they have to be dispersed, and backup systems created — this is currently being worked on intensively," Kaju explained.

Ukraine strikes Russian military industrial facilities

 Ukraine has primarily targeted military-industrial facilities in Russia, including factories. It also struck fuel and energy infrastructure facilities in the Novgorod, Samara and Belgorod regions, as well as in Krasnodar Krai.

Kaju highlighted one Ukrainian missile strike on a microelectronics factory in the Bryansk Oblast. It was the sixth attack on that facility so far, with the Ukrainians managing to hit one of the factory's key production units.

On this occasion, several Storm Shadow cruise missiles successfully struck a key production building at the plant, halting operations for an extended period.

The plant had supplied the Russian military-industrial complex with microchips, semiconductors and other necessary electronic components.

According to Kaju, the attack shows that Russia's air defense may not always be effective, as its air defense missiles are being expended faster than they can be produced. This essentially means Russia's air defense capabilities are no longer sufficient to provide equally strong protection for all of its strategic assets.

Proportion of Russian soldiers killed increases

Last week, Ukrainian intelligence released an assessment of Russia's losses. Estimates put Russian personnel losses in excess of 1.3 million soldiers.

According to intelligence data released by Ukraine, the proportion of combat deaths among Russian military casualties has risen to over 60 percent — or 1.6 deaths for every wounded soldier. Typically, in major wars, the ratio has been around one death for every three wounded.

"Looking at Russia's tactics for the use of infantry, it is clear they don't really care about human lives. They simply send them forward in mass attacks. Given the drone environment, evacuating the wounded is extremely difficult, and on the Russian side, they are often left to fend for themselves," Kaju explained.

He added that since complaints about massive losses have also come from Russian military personnel themselves, Russia has responded by restricting social media platforms to silence the criticism.

Russia has also expanded its recruitment efforts in order to compensate for these losses, even pressuring universities to encourage students to join the armed forces.

Ukrainians advising allies in Middle East

In addition to the developments on the front lines, Ukraine has also sent teams of air defense specialists to the Persian Gulf to reinforce air defenses at U.S. bases in Jordan and support the air defense of the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

For its part, Russia continued with its customary anti-Western rhetoric, claiming the West pushed Ukraine into war against Russia. The Kremlin now also claims the U.S. and Israel are attempting to do the same by pushing Arab countries in the Persian Gulf into a war against Iran.

The Russian leadership also continued to portray its country's military advances as greater than they actually were and depict the situation as hopeless for Ukraine.

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