London, March 19 : UK Defence Ministry on Saturday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has reinforced his control over the local media and is also trying to hide the high Russian casualty. “Putin has reinforced his control over Russian domestic media. The Kremlin is attempting to control the narrative, detract from operational problems and obscure high Russian casualty numbers from the Russian people,” the ministry tweeted. The UK said Russia failed to attain its objectives and also surprised by the scale and ferocity of Ukrainian resistance. “The Kremlin has so far failed to achieve its original objectives. It has been surprised by the scale and ferocity of Ukrainian Resistance,” it said. “Russia has been forced to change its operational approach and is now pursuing a strategy of attrition. This is likely to involve the indiscriminate use of firepower resulting in increased civilian casualties, destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and intensify the humanitarian crisis,” the ministry added. VP RNJ