Russian forces in Ukraine are experiencing “significant” manpower losses due to their lack of training in “basic” types of weapons, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Thursday.
In an operational update on Facebook, the General Staff detailed some of the problems Russia’s troops are facing in the Ukraine war. These included a lack of material and technical support for Russian units participating in “hostilities” on Ukrainian territory. In the southern Kherson region, for example, there has been increased theft and looting by Russian soldiers who have no access to warm clothing, the update said.
It added that mobilized Russian troops who “came to the area to conduct combat missions have not received proper training and lack practical skills in using basic types of weapons. This leads to significant losses in enemy manpower.”
Newsweek was unable to independently verify Ukraine’s report and contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for confirmation and comment.
A mural depicting three armed Russian soldiers standing in a field is displayed on a wall in Moscow October 12, 2022. Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine are facing “significant” manpower losses due to their lack of training in “basic” types of weapons, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Thursday. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
If true, losses due to inadequate training could further hamper Russian President Vladimir Putin’s manpower. The latest estimate by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine states that more than 69,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war began on February 24. Similarly, a US Department of Defense release in late August said US officials believe Russia lost between 60,000 and 80,000 troops.
Putin launched a partial mobilization last month which he said would bolster his troops in Ukraine with up to 300,000 additional troops, and Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov announced on Thursday that Ukraine would be the “main activity” of Russians mobilized in Expect about a year and a half or two weeks.
But the new operational update underscored reported problems that have plagued Putin’s draft, such as inadequate training, shortages of supplies and an assessment by a US think tank that the mobilization may not be able to produce quality soldiers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged on Wednesday that Russia does not have enough supplies for its conscripted soldiers, but said a council newly formed by Putin is working to solve the problems.
“The vigorous measures taken to remedy the situation are already showing positive results,” he said.
Ukraine officials wrote in the Facebook post that Russia had taken military equipment from storage and sent it to Ukraine to make up for losses, but their condition was “unsatisfactory.”
“According to preliminary information, a significant part of the weapons and military equipment that the occupiers sent to the Donetsk and Novopavliv orders is of limited or completely unsuitable for combat use,” the update reads. “In particular, we are talking about T-62 tanks that have been removed from long-term storage.”
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, shared a clip on Twitter last month that appeared to show several 50-year-old T-62 tanks lined up on railroad tracks in Russia.
Donetsk is the name of a city and region in eastern Ukraine. The General Staff’s mention of Novopavliv seems to refer to the village of Novopavlivs’ke in the southern Mykolaiv region.