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Russia has no budget to purchase winter gear for its forces, and it is now recruiting reinforcements from its easternmost region, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The Russian government has announced a fund-raising campaign to purchase winter uniforms for its forces in occupied Ukraine after admitting it does not have enough funds for such gear, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Russia is now recruiting residents from the country’s Far East region, including Kamchatka, the HUR added.
“By design, they are better adapted to life in low-temperature conditions and will be more effective in winter. Also, these servicemen are not accustomed to comfort and will easily tolerate the lack of well-established living conditions,” the agency explained.
Russian recruiters have allegedly managed to attract a part of the population in the country’s northern regions with promises of high payments.
However, the new personnel have “very low level” training and know “almost nothing about the real state of affairs of hostilities in Ukraine,” according to the HUR.
Russia’s defense ministry released the country’s last official death toll from the war in late March, claiming fatalities at the time numbered 1,351.
However, independent Russian media outlet Mediazona reported 6,219 Russian military deaths as of Friday.
Russia may have already suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties in the ongoing conflict, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl revealed last month.
In its report that recorded Russian casualties from the start of the invasion on Feb. 24 to Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed the figure of combat losses among Russian personnel was 53,300.
Russian losses also included 2,175 tanks, 4,662 armored fighting vehicles, 244 aircraft, 213 helicopters and 1,279 artillery systems, among other pieces of military equipment, according to the data.
Most of the newly recorded losses were in the direction of Kharkiv and Donetsk, the Ukrainian military said.
Russian authorities recently started a recruitment drive to make up for losses in Ukraine. But “severe manpower shortages” have led to the Russian military recruiting soldiers in homeless shelters and seriously considering enlisting convicted criminals, Business Insider reported last week.
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