Russian marines participate in part of the International Army Games in Kaliningrad (Reuters)
A US official said Monday that Russia is having great difficulty recruiting volunteers for the war in Ukraine.
The official added, “to the extent that it opened the door to recruitment for prisoners, noting that new recruits are often “old, in poor physical condition and lacking training.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an increase in the number of Russian armed forces by 10%, or 137,000 soldiers, by January 2023.
“It is unlikely that these efforts will succeed,” a senior US Defense Department official told reporters, asking them not to be named, noting that the Russian military has historically struggled to achieve its recruitment goals.
According to US estimates, the number of the Russian army at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine last February was 150,000 less than the number announced by Moscow at that time, which is one million soldiers.
Since the invasion began, Russia has tried to send professional soldiers to the front instead of conscripts, but the war has cost it a lot in terms of human and material resources.
According to the senior Pentagon official, “Russia has already begun to recruit more in order to form at least one battalion of volunteers in each region and to create a third corps in the army.”
She added that the Russians “did this by removing the upper age limit for new recruits and also by recruiting prisoners.”
“We can see that many of these new recruits were old, in poor physical condition and lacking training,” she said.
“All these things indicate that the new recruits that Russia may attract by the end of the year will not enhance the country’s fighting power,” the official considered.
Having failed to capture Kyiv at the start of the invasion, Russian forces are now concentrating their efforts on expanding their control in eastern and southern Ukraine, where the fronts have moved little in recent weeks.
The Kremlin has yet to announce a general mobilization, a measure many Russians fear.
About Author
