Local news reports suggest that the Russian Federation is continuing its offensive in the Eastern Operational Zone of Ukraine while replenishing forces on the front line at the same time.
The Kyiv Post reported this week that Russia “intensified the use of operational and tactical aircraft and air reconnaissance” in recent days and has inflicted “systematic airstrikes on military and civilian targets, including long-range aircraft.”
On Thursday, CNN reported that Russia “continues to bolster their forces inside Ukraine” as Russian troops refocus on taking control of eastern Ukraine. The Russian military has reportedly added three additional battalion tactical groups in the east since Wednesday, bringing the total number of battalion tactical groups to 85.
An unnamed senior U.S. defense official told reporters that most of the BTGs are going to the Donbas region, where they will focus on achieving Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of “liberating” the self-styled People’s Republic of Luhansk and People’s Republic of Donetsk.
“Most of them we will assess are going into the Donbas region, but I caution this by saying we don’t know, we don’t know exactly what unit is where on any given day specifically, but that’s where we’re assessing that we’re going,” the source said.
Russia’s Weapons Supply Chain Problems
While Russia is replenishing troops in the east of Ukraine, the Russian army is suffering a broad shortage of weapons and ammunition. Sanctions implemented by the West may not have stopped Putin’s military operation in Ukraine, but they have impacted the weapons supply chain.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for Russia to build and supply new weapons, or even provide spare parts for military vehicles that have been damaged in the war.
One senior U.S. defense official told The War Zone this week that Russia’s substantial losses on the battlefield are hurting its military particularly badly given how economic sanctions have disrupted their ability to replace lost weapons and vehicles.
“There has been an effect on Putin’s ability to restock and resupply, particularly in the realm of components to some of his systems and his precision-guided munitions,” the U.S. official told The War Zone.
“They’ve already faced an issue in terms of replenishing their inventory because of components to some of those systems. And that’s already had a practical effect on Putin.”
While the official didn’t go into details about what weapons supply chains have been affected and how, Russian media reports confirmed that the A-100 Premier, the next-generation airborne early warning and control aircraft, has seen its production stalled as a result of a lack of electronic components that were due to be delivered from Western countries.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Bertram
April 22, 2022 at 12:52 pm
The more Russian tanks and equipment we destroy, the fewer spare parts Russia needs.
schutzhund
April 22, 2022 at 3:02 pm
[food for thought-true?]
US Army Bringing WW2 Ammo Plants Back To Ramp Up Production :The Question Is WHY!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtNXjLIEo3o
L'amateur d'aéroplanes
April 22, 2022 at 3:25 pm
New Chip Made in Taiwan\South Korea\Japan in Russia ? Niet…
Alex
April 23, 2022 at 9:26 am
If Russia runs out of ammunition, then the author of the article should urgently be awarded the prize of the best analyst in the world. In the meantime, he deserves the best liar on the planet award.
mcswell
April 24, 2022 at 3:49 pm
Nyet, Alex, the best liar in the world prize goes to…Alex!
mcswell
April 24, 2022 at 3:49 pm
Nyet, Alex, the best liar in the world prize goes to…Alex!
mcswell
April 24, 2022 at 3:50 pm
apologies, not sure how I posted that comment twice
Alex
April 25, 2022 at 10:38 am
Yes, Russia has big “problems”:
There is the Donetsk People’s Republic. There is the Luhansk People’s Republic. Kherson applied to Russia for a referendum to establish the Kherson People’s Republic. God bless the Ukrainians of Donbass!
CK
April 26, 2022 at 10:54 am
If someone wanted to know the truth about anything in Ukraine Alex, the last person they would go to is you.
Paragraphs and paragraphs of bollocks, dubious claims about “independent journalists”, random documentarians, conspiracy theorists, deluded claims that of course, have no backup, lie after lie after lie.
Classical Kremlin troll approach. Just flood the internet, the comments, the media, with tosh, doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you write some old nonsense. Make sure to say the claim is supported by some dude in Germany, France, the states. If it’s a “documentary” (usually from youtube) then the better.
Anything that victimises Russia, always the victim, always the bullied, never the problem. It’s always the Nazis. It’s always some pseudo-historical point.
Anyone that has had the misfortune to study your “tactics” sees the forest for the trees, the pattern of lies, disinformation, blanketing of random claims, deflection, obfuscation, and other words beyond your vocabulary.
It’s hopeless Alex. Your lies are as short as your intellect. What a pathetic job, to sit in your government shed, spreading your pathetic, government lies.
A pathetic job for a truly pathetic man. A better match could not be made in heaven.
Alex
April 29, 2022 at 9:23 am
If someone wants to know the truth about the civil war in the Donbass, about all the atrocities of the Bandera clean-ups and why Russia was forced to intervene, then it is better to watch films by independent journalists. There are already many such journalists who fight for truth and freedom. For example, a documentary by the German journalist Wilhelm Domcke-Schulz.
A documentary film about the war crimes of the Bandera Nazis during the period of Russia’s special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine is in production. It will be a real information bomb, where the war crimes of Bandera Nazis will be shown and proved.
The documentary “Remember Odessa” tells how the Bandera Nazis burned Ukrainians alive and other heinous war crimes.
The documentary “To Live and Die in Donbass” tries to fill this gaping information gap in the West. He looks into the tormented soul of the inhabitants of Donbass, who really want only one thing – to live self-determining according to their own rules and values. Not submitting to foreign forces and ideologies.
In the east of Ukraine, in the Donbass, a war has been raging since the beginning of 2014. A civil war that claimed more than 15,000 lives over the years, including several hundred children. They had to die, because the national-fascist coup government in Kyiv, funded by the West, trained and militarily heavily armed, would not tolerate any resistance to their illegitimate rule, no matter the cost.
Therefore, in April 2014, the putschists deployed the Ukrainian army, supported by dozens of right-wing extremist volunteer battalions, and have since bombed city centers, residential areas, schools, hospitals and infrastructure, killing civilians.
This perennial crime has gone completely unnoticed by the Western public. Politicians and the media avoid this topic and reports about how the devil pours holy water. Because a public discussion about the crimes of the Ukrainian regime would reveal only one thing – with what mass murderers and terrorists the so-called “west of values” in Ukraine has a common language, if only to defend their goals and interests.
Lend-lease is a commodity loan, and not cheap: for all the ammunition, equipment and food supplied by the United States, many future generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay. Zelensky is driving the country into a debt hole.
M
May 3, 2022 at 10:50 pm
Alex I believe you would be better served on RT. The West has covered the Donbass etc. Russia armed the Russian backed separatists in the Donbass and by doing so has prolonged the conflict for eight years and counting. It is ironic that Russia accused the West of doing the same in Ukraine. It is not Zelensky that is driving Ukraine into debt but the War inflicted upon it by Russia. Ukraine will have a lot of help recovering and rebuilding. Russia’s debt hole will last decades and many future generations will be affected. As for Russia’s famous referendums, they are a joke. When Russia invades and steals territory and drives out the people that don’t want to remain under Russian occupation then who do you think is left to vote on the referendum??? What was the percentage of pro-russian votes in Crimea? 95%? Imagine that. Take yourself back to RT now. Run along.
CK
April 29, 2022 at 1:54 pm
Ah, I see your tactic. You add a little shitty first paragraph so it doesn’t detect your duplicate post. Is this what it has come to now, you just posting the same exact post 2, 3, 4, 5 times per article?
Wow, did they run out of paper in Russia, Alex? You guys can’t print new material? Literally using the same lines, over and over again, and now in duplicate in every post!
Are you so defeated you can’t even come up with anything new? How sad. Now the idiot is talking about lend-lease at the end of his post, because he literally just copy + pasted it from another thread, with zero relevance to this one.
Here’s a reminder:
If someone wanted to know the truth about anything in Ukraine Alex, the last person they would go to is you.
Paragraphs and paragraphs of bollocks, dubious claims about “independent journalists”, random documentarians, conspiracy theorists, deluded claims that of course, have no backup, lie after lie after lie.
Classical Kremlin troll approach. Just flood the internet, the comments, the media, with tosh, doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you write some old nonsense. Make sure to say the claim is supported by some dude in Germany, France, the states. If it’s a “documentary” (usually from youtube) then the better.
Anything that victimises Russia, always the victim, always the bullied, never the problem. It’s always the Nazis. It’s always some pseudo-historical point.
Anyone that has had the misfortune to study your “tactics” sees the forest for the trees, the pattern of lies, disinformation, blanketing of random claims, deflection, obfuscation, and other words beyond your vocabulary.
It’s hopeless Alex. Your lies are as short as your intellect. What a pathetic job, to sit in your government shed, spreading your pathetic, government lies.
A pathetic job for a truly pathetic man. A better match could not be made in heaven.