An official from the US Department of Defense said that Russia was struggling to find more soldiers to fight in Ukraine, knocking on doors, including in prisons, and recruiting former, disfigured and untrained soldiers.
According to the source, a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last Thursday calls for a 10% increase in the number of army personnel from January next year to 1.5 million soldiers.
After facing significant setbacks and heavy troop losses in the six-month occupation of Ukraine, the official believes the Pentagon “is unlikely to succeed, as Russia has historically failed to meet its personnel and power targets.”
“Russia has already started trying to expand its recruitment efforts,” the official told the media, demanding anonymity.
“They’ve already done this in part by removing the age limit for new hires, and they’re also hiring inmates,” he added.
“Many of these new recruits are old, out of shape and uneducated,” the official said.
The Pentagon’s conclusion is that increased recruitment may not increase combat strength until the end of the year, the source said.
He added that even before the war, the Russian army lacked 150,000 soldiers to achieve its goal of one million.
In early August, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Khal estimated that between 70,000 and 80,000 Russians had been killed or injured since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
source: Noticias
