Russia-Ukraine war: Unclear how Russia will increase troops, says UK

The ongoing war in Ukraine is moving towards its seventh month, with both sides seeing decreased numbers in their armed forces. Following a recent decree to increase troops, the British defense ministry said it remains to be seen how Russia would be able to increase its troops in the war.

The British defense ministry said in its intelligence bulletin Sunday it is not clear how Russia would be able to increase its troops that are invading Ukraine. The ministry added that even with an increase in troops, it is not an indication that their combat power would also be increased as tens of thousands of Russian troops have already been killed.

“It remains unclear whether Russia will attempt to fill this increased allocation from recruiting more volunteer ‘contract’ soldiers, or from increasing the annual targets for the conscription draft,” said the ministry in its bulletin.

“In any case, under the legislation currently in place, the decree is unlikely to make substantive progress towards increasing Russia’s combat power in Ukraine. This is because Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops; very few new contract servicemen are being recruited, and conscripts are technically not obliged to serve outside of Russian territory,” said the ministry, referring to the decree Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed last week.

In the decree Putin signed last week, the size of the Russian armed forces is to be increased to 2.04 million from 1.9 million. The Russian government was also directed to provide funding for such an increase in troops.

The United States Sunday said Russia does not want to acknowledge the radiological risk that surrounds the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility and that this was the reason why Moscow blocked the final draft of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Russia blocked the review of the UN treaty Friday last week, which was considered a cornerstone of nuclear disarmament over backlash from its invasion of Ukraine.

The area surrounding the facility has been subject to shelling, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of doing so. The UN has also called for the area around the facility to be a demilitarized zone.