Vladimir Putin’s forces are beefing up troops in Ukraine’s eastern provinces in preparation “for future offensive operations”, the UK Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. “Despite President Putin’s claim on July 7, 2022 that the Russian military has ‘not even begun’ its efforts in Ukraine, many of its reinforcements are ad hoc teams, deployed with outdated or inappropriate equipment,” the statement said. The intelligence assessment comes amid growing reports of Russian soldiers and potential conscripts looking to sidestep the conflict. Danila Davydov, a 22-year-old artist from St. Petersburg, said he fled Russia shortly after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, fearing he might be drafted. “I didn’t want to go to war or prison, so I decided to leave,” Davido told Reuters from Kazakhstan. “I love Russia and I miss it a lot.” Lawyers and human rights groups in Russia say cases like Davydo’s are on the rise and more Russians are trying to avoid war as the Russian military takes heavy casualties. Russia last updated its official death toll in Ukraine in late March, when it said 1,351 soldiers had died. Ukraine and the Western Allies put the toll much higher, possibly more than 10 times that number. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow, Russia on June 22, 2022. Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Photo via AP, FileDanila Davydov, 22, refused to be drafted into Russia’s war against Ukraine.Courtesy courtesy of Dana Grivtsova/Handout via REUTERS Military service in Russia is compulsory for those aged 18 to 27, and punishment for evasion can include fines and up to two years in prison. While Putin has insisted that ordinary Russians will not be drafted into the conflict, the country’s defense ministry says such conscripts have already been drafted. Russia has launched punitive rounds of missile strikes against Ukraine in recent weeks, with barrages lasting hours at a time. The US military estimates that there are between 10 and 15 Russian military battalions currently operating in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. In England meanwhile, the government has announced a new military program that will train 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers within the UK. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to send more poorly equipped troops to Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. The Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia through APARtist Danila Davydov immediately left Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Courtesy of Dana Grivtsova/Handout via REUTERS “This ambitious new training program is the next phase in the UK’s support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression,” Ben Wallace, the country’s defense secretary, said in a press statement. “Using the world-class expertise of the British military we will help Ukraine rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as it defends its country’s sovereignty and its right to choose its future.” In the US, President Biden said he would provide an additional $400 million in US aid to Ukraine, including four advanced missile systems, which would allow Ukraine to strike deep behind Russian lines in the east of the country. The package also includes 1,000 155mm artillery rounds. The aid, approved Friday afternoon, was the 15th such military package sent by the United States to Ukraine since last August, the Washington Post reported.
Although Russia’s initial war aims have shrunk significantly, they have made impressive progress in the Donbass and currently control much of the region. President Biden has pledged to help Ukraine to victory. “I don’t know how it will end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine,” he said last week.
With Post cables