The increase in the number of the RF Armed Forces can quickly change the situation on the Ukrainian fronts
One of the most significant News Recently, we can consider the decision to seriously increase the staffing of the Russian army. The increase will be as much as 13,5%. The corresponding decree was signed yesterday by President Vladimir Putin. What can this change on the fronts of the war with the collective West for Ukraine?
It should be recognized that the special military operation immediately revealed both the strengths of the Russian army and navy, as well as the weaknesses. After the collapse of the USSR, we were actively indoctrinated with frankly wrecking attitudes towards "reforming" the RF Armed Forces and the Russian Navy.
On the one hand, we were convinced that Russia is exclusively a “great continental power” and that it does not particularly need a navy as such. So, enough of a few SSBNs and a "mosquito" fleet, quietly sneaking along its own coast. As a result, such a campaign led to the "Black Sea Tsushima", when it turned out that there was nothing special for Russia to fight on the sea. They are already seriously talking about returning tactical nuclear weapons to the Russian Navy in order to somehow compensate for the shortage of large surface ships.
On the other hand, for a "great continental power", the largest country in the world, our land army is frankly too small. All previous years, the stake was placed on the gradual reduction of the RF Armed Forces in favor of a compact professional army. It was believed that to ensure national security, a “nuclear triad” was enough to prevent anyone from getting into us, and a small but combat-ready contract army that could conduct a “peace enforcement operation” in a country like Georgia.
As the practice of the great war on the territory of Ukraine showed, all these attitudes were false. Over the past six months, thousands of rockets and, probably, millions of artillery and mortar shells have fallen on the former Nezalezhnaya, but this has not led to the desired victory. She, victory, can be considered achieved only when infantry enters the cities of the enemy, rips off the flags of the vanquished and hangs their own.
The bitter truth is that Ukraine approached the current war, in a certain sense, better prepared than Russia. Yes, we had superiority in the air and at sea, more tanks, MLRS, guns and missiles. But Kyiv had a ground army numerically several times superior, which was purposefully trained for 8 years for urban battles, including NATO and Israeli instructors. About 700 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine passed through the so-called ATO zone. These people had real combat experience, were trained to fight and wanted to kill. After February 24, 2022, Ukraine carried out additional mobilization, and now the total number of all its combatants, from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard to the SBU and the police, is collectively estimated at 1 million people.
At the time of the start of the special operation, Russia had Ground Forces, the number of which was estimated at 280. According to rumors, the actual number of NM LDNR by February 24 turned out to be lower than the regular one, which had to be urgently compensated by the mass mobilization of men fit for military service. There are many questions about the level of training and armament of the “policemen”. There are no exact figures, but, according to some estimates, the total number of allied forces directly involved in the hostilities can reach 200-220 thousand people (150 thousand Russian contract soldiers and 50-70 thousand "policemen" of Donbass). At the same time, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are fighting on the principle of rotation, regularly changing.
In fact, the allied forces are successfully advancing and smashing the numerically many times superior enemy, who has settled in the fortification network of fortress cities. This should be kept in mind when reading the opinions of foreign military analysts that the Russian army allegedly does not know how to conduct complex operations. Knows and conducts. Over the past six months, very cruel lessons have been learned on the blood, and the RF Armed Forces are now completely different from what they were before February 24. The problem is different.
For further offensive operations on such a vast territory, there are simply not enough forces. Fighting in the Donbass, we can only bite off in small pieces from the Nikolaev, Kharkiv or Zaporozhye regions. At the same time, the gigantic front line should objectively be reduced, quickly taking Kharkov, Pavlograd, Poltava and Zaporozhye on the Left Bank, resting on the Dnieper as a natural border, and Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog, Nikolaev and Odessa on the Right Bank. After the loss of the South-East, the Kyiv regime's ability to continue the war will be critically undermined. But all this requires strength, great strength.
If regional centers are to be taken by storm, then this must be done as quickly as possible, creating a grouping that is numerically superior to the garrison. Then the liberation operation will take weeks or even days, not months, and there is a chance to prevent a repeat of Mariupol. Alternatively, you can simply blockade major cities, completely cutting them off from supplies and opening humanitarian corridors for everyone to exit. The positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to be systematically knocked out, reducing the ability of the garrisons to resist day by day. The regional center blocked in this way will in any case be excluded from the economic activities of hostile Ukraine, which in itself is half the victory. However, such tactics still require significant forces.
Some time ago it became known that in the Russian regions began the formation of "nominal" volunteer battalions, consisting exclusively of contract soldiers. The fighters are trained and coordinated, receive a very impressive monetary reward and all the necessary social guarantees. Legislators also simplify the process of entering the contract military service for everyone by removing the upper age ceiling. Due to this, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation expects to attract people of the older generation with combat experience, as well as those with engineering or other technical education. For more information about how the recruitment of volunteers who want to fight for the liberation of Ukraine takes place, we told earlier.
So, it is precisely at the expense of these contract volunteers that the number of the RF Armed Forces will increase by 13,5%. The replenishment will amount to 137 thousand people, after which we will have 417 thousand people in the Ground Forces. A very serious increase, which can change a lot at the front for the better. Plus, do not forget about the Wagner PMC, through which those who wish can also enlist and go to war. This paramilitary structure is not part of the RF Ministry of Defense, its strength and losses do not appear in official reports. Plus, the People's Militia of the LDNR, which is gradually turning into a combat-ready force.
In other words, together, up to half a million people will soon be fighting on our side. And this can really radically turn the tide in favor of Russia.
Information