Putin expands Russian army as Ukraine counterattacks in Kursk region. Serhiy Zgurets' column

Putin expands Russian army by 180,000 personnel

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has issued a decree to increase the size of the Russian army, which will now number 2.389 million people. Of these, there will be 1.5 million military personnel, which means an increase in the number of Russian soldiers by 180,000. The document comes into force on December 1 of this year. Consequently, Russia will suffer significant losses on the battlefield, and it seems that he pace of recruitment for monetary incentives is failing to meet the Russian military leadership’s demand for over 30,000 soldiers per month. This shortfall has caused a sharp increase in compensation for contract soldiers. It is known that one-time payments for signing a contract have risen to nearly 1 million rubles, which is more than $10,000. In Moscow, even up to 2 million rubles. However, in any case, the rate of collecting dead souls in Russia still does not meet the needs. Now Russia has an extremely high number of casualties, and this decree, we can assume, is an attempt to increase the number of contract soldiers. If we are talking about increasing the size of the Russian army, these actions will bring results only in the first half of 2025. Because this decree will only increase conscription. In any case, Russia does not have time to quickly provide new personnel with equipment and commanders. Therefore, it is likely to rely on a gradual increase in numbers.

It is worth emphasizing once again that such actions by Russia's military and political leadership will have an impact only next year. However, even now the situation on many parts of the front is extremely difficult. As there are already at least 600,000 Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine, and by the end of the year it is planned to increase the number to about 700,000-800,000. This, of course, will also put pressure on the Ukrainian defense line. The main thing here is to have the ability to counteract through more efficient use of Ukraine's forces and means. To do this, Ukraine's partners must increase the number of weapons and ammunition.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are conducting counterattacks in the Kursk region

Regarding the Kursk region, which is the center of media attention and the center of military attention. For a week, the Russian army has been trying to conduct counterattacks. At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are also carrying out offensive actions. We now know that the Russian army has carried out a number of attacks using marine brigades and a parachute regiment, and has made some progress and captured certain areas. First of all, around Snagost itself and attempts to move further towards Sudzha. However, Russia is not succeeding in this advance. Ukrainian units are counterattacking and have entered the Kursk region in three places. In particular, from Novy Put and Veseloye, where they are now attacking to ensure a rear attack on Russian groups that are advancing eastward. In any case, everything will depend on the balance of power and means. The situation is extremely dynamic, so we will follow the information.

Russia is constantly amassing forces and means for assault operations

The commander of the 4th mechanized battalion of the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Separate Presidential Brigade, call sign “Sumy,” said that the situation in his battalion's area of responsibility is most tense because of the number of Russian infantry. According to him, the occupying Russian forces are constantly trying to storm Ukrainian positions in small groups of two or three soldiers. This has been going on for 2.5 months. They are constantly accumulating forces and means and trying to break through the defense of the Ukrainian military. They are mainly trying to assault with infantry, but also use motorcycles and other types of equipment.

The Ukrainian serviceman said that on September 11-12, Russia gathered the maximum number of personnel and equipment, deploying all available forces to launch attacks along the entire front line. This concentration allowed them to make minimal advances in a small area. According to the serviceman, Russian forces are continuously replenishing their troops and equipment to sustain the pace of their assaults. However, many soldiers do not survive more than a week in such intense combat conditions. As Sumy noted, this information comes from intercepted Russian communications, revealing chaos and demotivation among them. Russian commanders show complete disregard for the lives of their own personnel.

Sumy said that Russian troops do not use equipment very often in the area of responsibility of his battalion. According to him, they use equipment mostly to bring infantry to the front line for assault operations. Then the Russian infantry tries to advance towards the Ukrainian positions and accumulate at certain points. The Russian forces do not directly advance their equipment to the front lines. However, if there have been such attempts, as Sumy emphasized, the equipment is detected by the Ukrainian military at the early stages and effectively destroyed.

The lives of personnel are a priority for the unit commander

The battalion commander with the call sign Sumy also spoke about the difficulties of managing the battalion and its personnel. According to him, the most difficult aspect is the equal distribution of tasks among the troops. Sumy also emphasized the critical importance of accurately assessing the direction of Russia's attacks. When identifying the enemy’s attack trajectory, commanders must decide whether to deploy all available forces and resources to halt the advance. In this process, it is crucial not to make any mistakes, as the lives of the personnel depend on these decisions. Therefore, commanders must carefully allocate forces along the entire front line to effectively counter the enemy. This requires continuous surveillance, thorough analysis of intelligence data, and coordination with the combat order of their own units. Each of these components plays an essential role

According to the commander of the 4th mechanized battalion of the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Separate Presidential Brigade, all the assigned collective firepower, including machine guns, mortars, drones, grenade launchers, and others, is available in sufficient quantities. As for ammunition, sometimes there is a lack of it due to the high intensity of the fighting. However, as Sumy noted, if distributed rationally, there is enough ammunition to repel Russia's attacks. Many units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces use drones. Sumy emphasized that his battalion's soldiers have considerable experience using drones. Some soldiers even retrained to fly drones from other military professions. Sumy emphasized that the key to success on the battlefield lies in the integrated actions of all units.