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Thousands of newly mobilized Russian soldiers ill-equipped
Many of the "several thousand" newly mobilized soldiers Russia has deployed to the front line in Ukraine in recent weeks are "poorly equipped," possibly with arms in a "barely usable" condition, British defence intelligence analysts believe.
The MoD said: “Russia has deployed several thousand newly mobilised reservists to the frontline in Ukraine since mid-October. In many cases they are poorly equipped.
“In September, Russian officers were concerned that some recently mobilised reservists were arriving in Ukraine without weapons.”
It adds: “Open source images suggest that those rifles which have been issued to mobilised reservists are typically AKMs, a weapon first introduced in 1959. Many are likely in barely usable condition following poor storage.
“AKM fires 7.62mm ammunition while Russia’s regular combat units are mostly armed with 5.45mm AK-74M or AK-12 rifles.
“The integration of reservists with contract soldiers and combat veterans in Ukraine will mean Russian logisticians will have to push two types of small arms ammunition to front line positions, rather than one.
“This willlikely further complicate Russia’s already strained logistics systems.”
On Sept. 21, President Vladimir Putin declared partial mobilization to enlist up to 300,000 people between the ages of 18 and 50 in the Russian military.
Russia's partial mobilisation is complete, Defence Minister says
On Monday (Oct 17), Moscow has completed tasks on partial mobilization set by the Russian Defense Ministry, the city mayor announced.
"According to the military commissar of Moscow, the partial mobilization tasks established on the basis of a presidential decree and the tasks of the Defense Ministry have been completed in full," Sergey Sobyanin said in a statement on his website.
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