Russia deploys over 420,000 troops in occupied Ukraine
Russia has deployed over 420,000 troops in the occupied eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, a Ukrainian military intelligence official said on Saturday, according to AFP, cited by Agerpres.
“The Russian Federation has concentrated over 420,000 troops in our temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea,” Vadim Skibitsky, deputy chief of the intelligence service within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, said at a news conference.
This figure “does not include the Russian National Guard and other special structures responsible for maintaining the occupation power in our territories,” Skibitsky added.
In the past month, Russia has used the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, to “attack port infrastructure” in southern Ukraine, he said.
“Drones deployed in Crimea are being used against our ports of Ismail and Reni,” through which Ukrainian grain was transported through the Black Sea until Moscow withdrew from an international agreement in July, the official said.
Vice-Minister of Defense Ganna Maliar, for her part, said that the Russians were aiming to recapture the areas in the Kharkiv region (northeast) liberated a year ago by the Ukrainian army.
“They want to get their revenge,” she said. “Their task in the east is also to disperse our forces, so that we cannot concentrate them in the Bahmut area, where we are advancing successfully,” Maliar stressed.
The Russian army continues to have an advantage over the Ukrainian army in terms of weapons, against the backdrop of the slow Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has been underway since June, she acknowledged.
“We have to recognize that the enemy is strong, that he has more people and more weapons,” Maliar said.
Only last week, the Russian army fired “nearly 400,000 shells” on Ukrainian positions on the eastern front, while “we can use eight times less” ammunition, she added.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
