MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Kiev will try to call up more than 300,000 residents of the country into the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces until spring to compensate for losses, including those incurred during the unsuccessful counter-offensive. Rodion Miroshnik, former ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) voiced this opinion on the air of the Solovyov Live TV channel.
On August 23, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that the military had asked him to step up mobilization measures.
"The numbers that are being named today are somewhere around 200,000-300,000 people who are needed, in addition to the current mobilization. The current mobilization is 10,000 per month. Until spring, they need to mobilize 60,000-70,000 people and more than 300,000 people they potentially plan to select. In total, Ukraine took 1.2-1.3 million people from the mobilization reserve, of which irretrievable losses are already somewhere in the region of 400,000 people," Miroshnik said, specifying that about the same number of Ukrainian soldiers are on the front lines.
He noted that during the so-called counter-offensive, Kiev failed to show any results, the Ukrainian armed forces did not even reach the first line of defense of the Russian forces. However, Ukrainian troops keep about 40,000 trained soldiers and equipment supplied by the West in reserve, and mostly poorly trained mobilized fighters are thrown into the counteroffensive to break through minefields, Miroshnik said.
"The number of people they are disposing of now is incredible. Even according to the official data given by the Russian Ministry of Defense (the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense can either be silent or lie), only according to our data, there are more than 40,000 - this is somewhere around 10% of warring associations on the territory from the Ukrainian side. During this time, in two and a half months, they disposed of 10%. Plus, the approximate figures that the military registration and enlistment offices give, in order to restore the number, they must collect at least 10,000 people. In this mode, they work, starting from April-May," Miroshnik said.
Since February last year, general mobilization has been announced in Ukraine and has been repeatedly extended, while the country's authorities are doing everything possible so that men of military age cannot evade service. In particular, they are prohibited from traveling abroad, and summonses are handed in state institutions, on the streets, in any crowded places. According to Ukrainian media, many men literally do not leave their homes for months, so as not to be sent to the war zone.