M0n 29 August 2022:
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said it is unclear how Russia will achieve an announced large increase in its armed forces, but the boost is unlikely to substantially increase its combat power in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces to 2.04 million from 1.9 million as the war enters its seventh month.
The UK ministry said in a regular update on the war that it was not clear if this would be achieved by recruiting more volunteers or by increasing conscription.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 28 August 2022
Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/WfWw8IS4aT
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Y9UN7RpEbL
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 28, 2022
Either way, it would likely not have a big effect on the war in Ukraine given that “Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops; very few new contract servicemen are being recruited; and conscripts are technically not obliged to serve outside of Russian territory”, the ministry said on Twitter.
Russia does not publicly disclose how many casualties it has suffered in Ukraine, but in May the UK Ministry of Defence said Moscow had lost as much as a third of its ground combat strength since the start of the war.
The CIA director, William Burns, last month said an estimated 15,000 Russian servicemen had died in Ukraine, “and maybe three times that wounded”.
Moscow, which has so far opted against declaring a general mobilisation, has recently intensified its efforts to recruit new soldiers, through what some experts have referred to as “covert mobilisation”.
Regions across Russia have started to form volunteer battalions, offering lucrative short-term contracts to men aged between 18 and 60. Western intelligence has also said private military companies, including the Wagner group, are being used to reinforce Russia’s frontline forces as the Kremlin faces troop shortages.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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