Russia’s depleted armed forces are turning to a disputed region of Moldova to recruit troops for their offensive in Ukraine, British intelligence believes.
The Kremlin is also said to be turning to retired personnel as Russia’s losses mount after more than six weeks of war.
Ukraine claims that more than 19,000 Russian troops have been killed during the invasion and that 700 tanks and 150 aircraft have been destroyed.Western powers say Russia has used the Wagner mercenary group, a private army widely believed to be close to the Kremlin, to supplement its forces in eastern Ukraine.
But Britain’s defence ministry said in a regular intelligence update that Moscow was also trying to recruit from the unrecognised Transnistria region of Moldova, which borders Ukraine.Russian troops have long been stationed in Transnistria, whose status has been unresolved since a war in the early 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The majority Russian-speaking area is outside the control of the Moldovan authorities and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has compared the Kremlin’s intervention there with its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Oleksandr Shputun, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military, expressed concern on Monday that Russian troops could stage “provocative actions” in Transnistria.
A false-flag operation such as this could be used “to accuse Ukraine of aggression against a neighbouring state”, he said.
Another UK intelligence update on Monday said Russia was continuing to shell the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine but that its tanks and other equipment were being destroyed by opposing forces.
It said Russia’s reliance on unguided bombs reduced their ability to discriminate between civilian and military targets and “greatly increases the risk of further civilian casualties”.
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