Russian forces in Ukraine have largely stopped deploying as BTGs - UK intelligence

Over the last three months, Russian forces in Ukraine have likely largely stopped deploying as Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) over the flaws in their concept.

The UK Ministry of Defense said this in its latest intelligence update published on Twitter on Tuesday, Ukrinform reports.

According to the update, the BTG concept has played a major part in Russian military doctrine for the last ten years, and saw battalions integrated with a full range of supporting sub-units, including armor, reconnaissance and (in a departure from usual Western practice) artillery.

Several intrinsic weaknesses of the BTG concept have been exposed in the high intensity, large-scale combat of the Ukraine war so far. BTGs' relatively small allocation of combat infantry has often proved insufficient.

"Decentralized distribution of artillery has not allowed Russia to fully leverage its advantage in numbers of guns; and few BTG commanders have been empowered to flexibly exploit opportunities in the way the BTG model was designed to promote," the ministry said.