The War in Ukraine, An Update: The Russian military is trying everything to stop the unfolding Ukrainian counteroffensive from achieving an operational breakthrough.
The latest measure the Kremlin took is to deploy an entire new unit to the battlefield.
The 25th Combined Arms Army Joins the Fight in Ukraine
“Elements of Russia’s new 25th Combined Arms Army (25 CAA) have highly likely deployed to Ukraine for the first time.
The formation is likely focused on Luhansk Oblast in the north-east of the country,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in its most recent estimate on the war.
The 25 CAA relieved the experienced 76th Air Assault Division, which transferred to the south in an attempt to contain the Ukrainian progress in the western part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
“It is likely that units have been rushed into action early partly because Russia continues to grapple with an over-stretched force along the front and Ukraine continues its counter-offensive on three different axes,” the British Military Intelligence added.
Moscow has been on the attack in eastern Ukraine, and the deployment of the 25 CAA in the region could be part of that offensive.
“However, there is also a realistic possibility that Russia will attempt to use parts of 25 CAA to regenerate an uncommitted reserve force in the theatre to provide commanders with more operational flexibility,” the British Military Intelligence stated.
The most recent recruitment ads for the units suggested that it would only deploy to Ukraine in December, though this could have been a deception campaign on the part of the Russian military to fool the Ukrainians.
Russian Casualties in Ukraine
Meanwhile, on day 566 of the Kremlin’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine, the Russian military and pro-Russian separatist forces continue to take serious casualties on the ground.
The rate of Russian losses continues to be high compared to the average of the counteroffensive. Over the past 24 hours, the Kremlin lost just shy of 600 troops killed, wounded, or captured as well as approximately 100 heavy weapon systems and vehicles.
For the better part of the three-month fighting in southern Ukraine and the Donbas, the Russian forces were losing between 400 and 500 men each day. But the recent progress of the Ukrainian forces has increased the intensity of the fighting and, with it, the casualty levels on both sides. Indeed, that has been the goal of the Ukrainian military leadership for some weeks now.
Seeing that the Ukrainian forces on the ground had a tough time penetrating the complex, in-depth Russian lines of defense, Kyiv opted for an attrition strategy that would slowly degrade the Russian frontline units and create the conditions for an operational breakthrough. Over the past two weeks, we have been seeing the first signs that this strategy might be working.
Overall, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Wednesday, Ukrainian forces have killed and wounded approximately 270,350 Russian troops, destroyed 322 fighter, attack, bomber, and transport jets, 316 attack and transport helicopters, 4,584 tanks, 5,902 artillery pieces, 8,792 armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles, 766 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 18 boats and cutters, 8,444 vehicles, and fuel tanks, 517 anti-aircraft batteries, 4,650 tactical unmanned aerial systems, 884 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, and four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems, and 1,455 cruise missiles shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses.
A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and is pursuing a J.D. at Boston College Law School. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
