While Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Tuesday that the situation in the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow was “extremely difficult”, he set, this Wednesday, December 21, during a meeting with senior military officials, the objectives of the army for 2023.
A war against “the combined forces of the West”
Far from shrinking from the difficulties in meeting the objectives of the “special operation”, Vladimir Putin indicated that Russia would continue, in 2023, “to develop its military potential”, including in the nuclear field, which is a strategic issue. since the beginning of the conflict. He thus announced that the Russian fleet would have, “from the beginning of January”, a new hypersonic missile. During this meeting, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recalled that Russia had to fight against “the combined forces of the West”, and specified that the Russian army was going to deploy “naval bases to support the fleet in Mariupol and Berdyansk”, towns occupied by Moscow in southern Ukraine. Also, he considered “necessary to increase the number of the army to 1.5 million soldiers”, and to raise “the age limit for military service”. Vladimir Putin said he approved of his minister’s remarks. A decree signed in August already provided for increasing the number of combat personnel to 1.15 million from January 1, 2023.
Earlier in the day, the Kremlin had estimated that the new arms deliveries to Ukraine, notably announced by France, would only “aggravate” the conflict with Russia. “All of this does not bode well for Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. During the meeting, Putin also assured that if the conflict in Ukraine was “a common tragedy”, Russia was “not responsible”, unlike “third countries”.