In a conflict where by nature the information is difficult to verify, each asserts its own truths. Moscow is thus trying to reassure on its ability to contain the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kherson. kyiv ensures for its part that its enemy is losing ground and especially that its army is struggling to recruit. A message supported by American intelligence, which said Monday, August 29 that Russia was struggling to enlist new soldiers.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week to increase the number of his armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The challenge for the Russian army will be to strengthen itself and make up for the human losses on the ground. But the mission could turn out to be much more difficult than expected.
- Russia, new soldiers “old, in bad shape and poorly trained”
The Russian army is struggling to recruit in the midst of the conflict with Ukraine, seeking volunteers even in prisons, to the point that new recruits are often “old, in bad shape and poorly trained”, said Monday a senior Pentagon official.
The United States still estimates that the strength of the Russian army was 150,000 less than the stated objective of one million men in February 2022, before the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Russia has tried to send professional soldiers to the front rather than conscripts, but the conflict is costly in terms of human and material resources. “Russia has already started to recruit more to form at least one volunteer battalion per district and to raise a Third Army Corps,” she said. “They did this by removing the age limit for new recruits and also by recruiting prisoners.”
Russia has committed at least 160,000 troops to the war in Ukraine, according to figures from the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. According to the same ministry, Moscow is planning to mobilize 90,000 more, currently recruiting in all military districts. Russia has not provided official figures on the subject.
- “Intense fighting” in southern Ukraine
“Intense fighting” between Ukrainian forces and the Russian army is taking place in “almost all” of the occupied region of Kherson (south), where troops from kyiv have launched a counter-offensive, the police said on Tuesday. Ukrainian presidency. “Powerful explosions took place all day (Monday) and all night in the Kherson region”, specifies the same source, adding that the Ukrainian troops “launched offensive actions in various directions”.
If the Ukrainian forces report significant breakthroughs on the southern front thanks to repeated strikes on bridges and a dam along the Dniep River, Russia claims to repel “offensive attempts”. The Ministry of Russia even speaking of “dismal failure”.
In the rest of the country, strikes continue. “Ukraine is taking back what is hers and will take back everything in the end – the regions of Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Crimea, the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov ( …)”, hammered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The cities of Zaporijjia where there is a nuclear power plant and Mykolaiv will be the other strategic points of confrontation in the days to come.
- Gazprom further reduces gas deliveries to France
The French energy company Engie announced on Tuesday August 30 that the Russian giant Gazprom had informed it of additional and immediate reductions in its gas deliveries to it “due to a disagreement between the parties on the application of contracts” .
Deliveries of Russian gas to Engie had already decreased considerably since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, recently falling to only 1.5 TWh per month, said in a press release Engie, which had mentioned at the end of July a share of Russian gas in its supplies. around 4%. The group recalls that it has already put in place measures to be able to supply its customers even in the event of an interruption in Gazprom flows.
- Russian occupation official shot dead
He had crossed over to the other side of the military forces. Alexei Kovalev, elected deputy in 2019 in the ranks of the formation supporting President Volodymyr Zelensky, had joined the Russian occupation administration and had established himself as a framework of the regime. “The deputy head of the military and civil administration of the Kherson region, in charge of agricultural issues, Alexei Kovalev, died after being wounded by bullets,” acknowledged the Russian Investigative Committee on its Telegram account.
He had already survived an assassination attempt since the start of the war. The attack was carried out at his home on Sunday 28 August. A young woman who lived with the deceased was also killed. At 33, Alexei Kovalev was a pillar of the Kremlin’s Russification policy.
- Students, indirect victims of the war
In 2021, Ukraine had 4.2 million students. More than 2 million children have fled abroad since the start of the war, according to Unicef. 3 million are internally displaced. In kyiv, now far from the front, 132,000 children are expected in classes on September 1, announced the mayor of the city Vitali Klitschko.