Today, Putin ordered the armed forces to be increased to 2.38 million people, of which 1.5 million will be active servicemen. This is the third time Putin has ordered an expansion of Russia’s military forces since the invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago. Professor of military strategy Tormod Heier believes the orders are a bad sign for the Russians: – The strategy the Russians are pursuing is based on sending forward personnel and not combat vehicles, because they don’t have any more, he says. British intelligence has claimed that an average of around 1,000 Russian soldiers die on the battlefield every day. Ukrainian intelligence believes the number is higher. Putin has asked the military leadership to increase the number of standing soldiers to 1.5 million. Photo: AP – Where will Putin get these people from? – It is starting to thin the ranks in prisons and out in the districts where Putin has brought many of the soldiers until now, says Heier. Russia has begun to focus its recruitment campaign more and more closely on the more densely populated, urban areas of St. Petersburg and Moscow, says Heier. – There is a higher risk that people will protest, says Heier. Up to 700,000 Russian men escaped Until today, Putin has ordered two increases in the number of soldiers. In addition, Russia mobilized over 300,000 soldiers in September and October 2022. This led to several hundred thousand young men leaving the country. Estimates vary between 500,000 and 700,000 men who sought refuge in neighboring countries. Russian conscripts who have been called up for military service leave a recruitment center in Bataysk on May 16, 2024. Photo: Sergey Pivovarov / Reuters – Then Putin lost more men than he has lost in two and a half years in the war. So it is very risky, and this is probably his biggest threat – Putin has therefore not mobilized more strikes, but only ordered ones, which means that soldiers volunteer to fight, says Heier. Afghanistan a “small war” compared to Ukraine When the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989, they lost around 15,000 soldiers. Now, after two and a half years of war, estimates of lost Russians are far higher. A Russian estimate in June was 71,000 killed, while American intelligence believes the number is over 350,000. British intelligence is operating with half a million dead Russian soldiers. Something that is now hitting the economy hard, says Heier. – The fact that inflation in Russia is rising is a sign of a labor shortage. Because then wages skyrocket. Russia has had to import labor from North Korea. It’s a vicious circle the Russians are in. The Russians are waging a personnel-intensive war, says professor at the Norwegian Defense College, Tormod Heier. Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKAKN / news – Perhaps they have to take comfort in the fact that the Ukrainians are probably also in a vicious circle. Where it becomes more difficult for the Ukrainians to recruit soldiers. Heier believes that the Ukrainians have changed their war strategy, preferring to wage war from a distance with precision-guided missiles and drones. – It is to avoid waging war on Russian terms. Namely, this worn-out, personnel-intensive method, which the Ukrainians cannot afford. Published 16.09.2024, at 21.42 Updated 16.09.2024, at 21.47
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Putin’s military ability is weakened – asks for 180,000 new soldiers – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
