2024-03-20 21:36:12
Russia said today that its troops are pushing Ukrainian forces onto the battlefield and that it will boost its military capabilities, creating two new armies and 30 new units by the end of the year, Reuters reported.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, is making slow progress after last year’s Ukrainian counter-offensive failed to achieve significant gains. Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces to continue the offensive after taking control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdeyevka a month ago.
“Russian soldiers continue to push the enemy out of his positions,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told senior generals. “The US and its satellites are extremely concerned about the success of the Russian armed forces. The combined force groups will continue to build on the successes achieved and increase firepower against enemy targets,” he added.
Shoigu said Russia, which has hired hundreds of thousands of contract soldiers, would create two new armies and 30 new formations, including 14 divisions and 16 brigades.
Some Western intelligence agencies have said the war may be at a tipping point, with Kiev needing additional armaments from its Western allies to avoid further battlefield losses. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday that Ukraine’s very survival is at stake.
The country is currently debating a new mobilization law as it faces a lack of combat-ready troops. Support from Washington has been withheld because of political infighting ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Ahead of the Russian presidential election (held March 15-17), Ukraine stepped up its attacks by shelling Russian border areas, hitting refineries on Russian territory and using “proxies” [съставените от настроени срещу Кремъл руснаци Легионът “Свобода за Русия” и батальонът „Сибир“ – бел. ред.] in an attempt to penetrate the border.
Shoigu said defenses have been strengthened. He added that Russia shot down 419 Ukrainian drones and 67 missiles during the election and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian proxies. Reuters reported that it was unable to independently confirm these figures.
Putin said earlier that Russia would punish Ukraine for the attacks and create a buffer zone in Ukrainian territories as a defense against strikes by Western-supplied artillery systems.
“The main goal is to ensure security. There are different methods – they are not easy, but we will manage,” Putin said today during a meeting in the Kremlin, BTA reported.