Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the conquest of 47 Ukrainian localities by the Russian army since the start of the year. Its troops are on the offensive in the East and South, facing Ukrainian forces in difficulty.
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“ Since the beginning of the year, 47 localities, it seems to me, have been liberated, or 880 km2 “, declared the Russian president Vladimir Poutine during the plenary session of the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg this Friday, June 7. In recent months, the Russian army has been pushing into Donbass, in the east ofUkraineand a little further north, in the Kharkiv region, where it launched an assault on May 10, without however achieving a breakthrough at this stage.
The Ukrainian army, lacking ammunition and men, is struggling, particularly due to the delay in the delivery of Western military aid.
Faced with Russian economic leaders and some foreign guests present at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin also assured Friday that “ more than 160,000 people » have enlisted in the Russian army since January 1, 2024 to fight on the Ukrainian front.
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Recruitment campaigns are mainly carried out via social networks and posters in the streets, promoting the army and promising particularly attractive conditions to future soldiers. In September 2022, the Russian authorities had to resort, faced with losses and humiliating setbacks on the front, to a partial mobilization of reservists, which made it possible to recruit at least 300,000 men, particularly in regions far from major urban centers. .
This decision caused the flight of several hundred thousand Russians abroad, some of whom have since returned. Vladimir Putin also said that the Russian authorities “ did not foresee » of a new wave of mobilization.
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