Reinforcements suggest efforts to replace heavier than expected casualties — or a surge for a future offensive
Early on Wednesday, Russian forces were seen leaving the occupied territory of Ossetia in Georgia, headed for the Ukrainian front in a rumbling convoy of tanks and other heavy armour.
The footage, posted multiple times on social media and from different viewpoints, seemed to confirm that after three weeks of heavy fighting, Moscow is seeking to bolster its forces in Ukraine by bringing in fresh troops from elsewhere.
Some have taken that as a sign of Russia’s faltering attack. But it also raises the question about whether the cycle of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine is little more than a ploy to regroup and win time while reinforcements arrive.
Even ahead of the invasion, figures such as retired Gen David Petraeus, the architect of the US’s 2007-8 surge in Iraq, contended that Russia lacked the forces it needed for counterinsurgency. Today the question is whether Moscow even has the troops it needs to take the territory it seeks.
“Russia is increasingly seeking to generate additional troops to bolster and replace its personnel losses in Ukraine,” Britain’s Ministry of Defence said this week. To do that, Moscow is redeploying forces from as far away as Russia’s “eastern military district, Pacific fleet and Armenia. It is also increasingly seeking to exploit irregular sources such as private military companies, Syrian and other mercenaries,” it said.
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