Several senior Russian commanders are joining the fighting in Ukraine after their predecessors died in battle, according to the United Kingdom.

After more than two months of fighting and thousands of Russian soldiers killed, including an estimated 12 generals, Russian military leadership is poised to become more intimately involved in the war in Ukraine. The U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that “difficulties in command and control” are drawing senior officials to the front lines of the war effort.

“Russian commanders rarely delegate operational authority to their subordinates,” the ministry said, “who in turn do not gain vital leadership experience.”

Without that “vital leadership experience,” Russian forces have failed to make much headway in their “special operation” to conquer Ukraine.

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“Flawed planning assumptions and failures in sustainment continue to undermine Russian progress,” the Ministry of Defense continued. “The forward deployment of commanders has exposed them to significant risk, leading to disproportionately high losses of Russian officers in this conflict.”

Reports of more Russian leaders entering the fray come on the heels of reports that Ukrainian forces are pushing Russian troops back to their country’s borders.

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“The Ukrainian counteroffensive northeast of Kharkiv is making significant progress and will likely advance to the Russian border in the coming days or weeks,” according to the Insitute for the Study of War. “ Russian forces may be conducting a limited withdrawal in the face of successful Ukrainian attacks and reportedly destroyed three bridges to slow the Ukrainian advance.”

Sunday’s report from the U.K. reinforces a BBC analysis from early April that 1 in 5 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine were considered to be “high-ranking.”