Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three US officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia’s invasion.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia has failed to achieve basic objectives such as neutralising Ukraine’s air force despite vastly larger armed forces.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information, did not provide evidence to support the assessment and did not disclose what precisely was driving high Russian missile failure rates.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the figures.

Though Reuters could not determine what a standard failure rate would be for air-launched cruise missiles, two experts interviewed by Reuters said any failure rate of 20% and above would be considered high.