Chief Intelligence Directorate reveals how many troops Russia has involved in the war

VADYM SKIBITSKYI. PHOTO FROM UKRAINE-UKRINFORM MEDIA CENTRE

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — SATURDAY, 27 AUGUST 2022, 19:37

Russia has already involved about 160,000 military personnel in the war against Ukraine, not including the National Guard of Russia.

Source: Vadym Skibitskyi, the representative of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, on air during the national 24/7 newscast on Saturday

Quote: “If we talk in general about the land and air personnel fighting against our state, it is about 160,000 military personnel. I do not take into account the National Guard of Russia, which also takes part in hostilities and ensures the occupation regime in the temporarily occupied territories.”

Details: Skibitskyi added that Russia is increasing its mobilisation reserves and plans to mobilise about 90,000 military personnel.

“At the same time, different approaches are being used: so-called volunteer battalions, and reserve battalions, battalions of the so-called ‘Combat Army Reserve of the Country’ (BARS), which they are currently recruiting in each military district in order to replenish losses, increase their efforts, and to increase the numbers of the very group that can be used against our state,” he said.

According to the representative of the Chief Intelligence Directorate, today Russia “has significant problems in recruiting for the armed forces.”

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“Time is running out, they didn’t get the blitzkrieg. Will it help [a large Russian mobilisation – ed.]? Probably not, after all. Because the morale of military personnel, as they conduct combat operations, decreases, first of all. Secondly, there are fewer and fewer people willing to sign up for a contract or voluntarily join the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In addition, there was a panic among the population of large cities, because no one wants to just simply go to serve in the armed forces, let alone go to war,” Skibitskyi said.

He also stated that if earlier the “depressed” regions of the Russian Federation – the Central Military District, the Eastern Military District – were receptive of signing contracts, now it is the turn of the Moscow and Leningrad oblasts, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg directly, where conscription is taking place.

Skibitskyi also reported that during the last month there was a regrouping of Russian troops from the eastern front to the southern regions of Ukraine.

“This is a group of the Eastern Military District that has been involved from the very beginning. Initially, they were placed on the territory of Belarus, then they were transferred to the Slobozhanshchyna and Donetsk fronts. And now the relocation of the group of the Eastern Military District to the south of our country – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts – is in full progress. They are afraid of the activeness of our actions and therefore they are strengthening their defensive positions in the southern front of our state,” he said.

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