Sailors from Russia’s only aircraft carrier sent into battle in Ukraine

Forbes writes about this with reference to analysts of the OSINT project Moklasen.

The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier has not been deployed for almost 8 years, and this is becoming “more unlikely.”

“That helps explain why, in recent months, the Kremlin reportedly reassigned the aging ship’s sailors to the army—and sent them into battle in Ukraine,” the article says.

Open-source analyst Moklasen first reported the reassignment of Kuznetsov’s approximately 1,500-person crew. The sailors formed a so-called “frigate” mechanized battalion within the 1st Guards Tank Army, Moklasen concluded after scouring Russian social media for clues.

“That the Russians are apparently pulling people from Kuznetsov isn’t surprising. The Kremlin is taking extreme measures to mobilize the 30,000 fresh troops it needs every month just to replace battlefield losses—killed, wounded and captured—in Ukraine,” Forbes writes.

The frigate battalion fought around Kharkiv in northern Ukraine before shifting to the Pokrovsk axis in the east.