The war in Ukraine entered its second year, on Friday, amid Western talk regarding Moscow’s stumbling and its inability to achieve what it was aspiring for, while Russia says it is determined to move forward until the desired goals are achieved.
According to the Washington Post, estimates by the Ukrainian army and Western intelligence indicate a significant increase in the number of Russian soldiers stationed in Ukraine.
The source stated that the number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine doubled during the year following the launch of military operations on February 24, 2022.
The number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine has reached more than 320,000, while the number was much less when the war began.
Military experts say that this increase occurred at the level of “quantity” and not “quality”, because they believe that Russia has sent in insufficiently trained soldiers to continue military operations.
This increase in the number of soldiers comes while the military operations in Ukraine witnessed a major turn, as it moved from battles on various fronts with the beginning of the war, to focus on combat operations in a specific axis in eastern and southern Ukraine, at the present time.
Max Bergman, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that the Russian army will involve more insufficiently trained soldiers in the battles of Ukraine.
He added that the soldiers who will be sent to battle not only lack sufficient experience, but also are not equipped with the equipment they need in combat.
Russian Soldiers and Doubts of the Future
He added that there are doubts regarding the ability of those military personnel to carry out offensive operations of a high degree of complexity, which indicates that Moscow will not tip the scales soon due to the increase in the number of soldiers.
In view of this situation, the expert and political researcher believes that the current war is regarding to get more bloody as it enters its second year, adding that what the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is betting on is breaking the strength of the Russian army and its ability to continue fighting.
In a recent speech, ahead of the first anniversary of the war, Putin affirmed his country’s determination to move forward with the war, which has created unprecedented tension on a global level.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies stated that Russia suffered the loss of regarding half of the combat tanks on the battlefield in Ukraine, despite sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
For their part, Western countries sent generous military aid to Ukraine, while promising to do more to help Kiev stand up to Ukraine.
However, this aid does not go as Ukraine wants, as popular support for Ukraine’s assistance has declined in a number of Western countries, led by the United States.
Kiev’s supporters fear that any decline in Western aid will tip the scales in favor of Russia, which seems determined to move forward with military operations, especially following it paid a heavy price due to the severe sanctions imposed by Washington alongside its allies.
