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Russia is sending troops with no combat experience to reinforce attacks in northern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.
Vitaliy Sarantsev, a spokesperson for the Kharkiv Operational Strategic Group of Forces, said on a Ukrainian newscast that Russia was increasingly bolstering its forces with troops who are “not morally ready” for service, according to Ukrinform.
“The latest reports say that the units being brought in for assault actions in Vovchansk have received rather poor training: These servicemen have never seen combat before,” Ukrainska Pravda reported him as saying.
Ukraine and Russia have spent much of the summer fighting for control of Vovchansk, a city in the Kharkiv region about three miles from the border.
In May, an estimated 30,000 Russian troops poured over the border from the Russian region of Belgorod and into Kharkiv, opening up a new front and adding miles to Ukraine’s already-strained front lines.
But within a month, the offensive had stalled, and Russian positions have not moved significantly since — including in Vovchansk, which has been largely reduced to rubble.
Speaking on Thursday, Sarantsev said that the newer Russian troops reinforcing Vovchansk are very inexperienced.
“It is our understanding that this newly arrived personnel is a mobilization resource raised by Russia,” he said, per Ukrainska Pravda.
“It’s not yet known for certain whether these are former prisoners or representatives of other countries,” he added.
Meanwhile, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said that it had not seen any evidence supporting the idea that new conscripts had been fighting in Kharkiv.
Over the summer, there have been scattered reports — which Business Insider was unable to independently verify — of Russian soldiers being sent into battle in Vovchansk poorly equipped, with little support and with barely any training.
The use of conscripts in fighting positions — as has been widely reported in Russia’s defense of Kursk, where Ukraine launched its own offensive — is a politically sensitive matter in Russia, and one that Ukraine has a strong interest in highlighting.
Sarantsev continued, per Ukrinform: “The enemy is increasingly attracting personnel who are not morally ready to perform any tasks.”
“That is, they raise a mobilization resource, hastily prepare them, or send them to war by deception, coercion, or promises of monetary rewards.
“But people understand that they are cheated, and refuse to go into battle,” he added.
