80,000 Russian soldiers in special operation zone: Putin

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Nov 2022 18:36

Russian President Vladimir Putin says of the 80,000 Russian soldiers in the special operation zone, 50,000 are in combat units.

Russian troops on training grounds

During a visit to the Tver region on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Tver Governor Igor Rudenya that about 80,000 citizens are mobilized in the zone of the special operation, of which 50,000 are in the combat zone.

"We now have about 50,000 in combat units. The rest are not yet taking part in hostilities. But there are up to 80,000 in the zone of special operation. The rest are all at the training grounds," he said.

On October 28, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that the goal to mobilize 300,000 citizens in Russia has been reached, and no additional activities are required.

The Defense Minister stated that "during the partial mobilization, more than 1,300 representatives of executive authorities of various levels, over 27,000 entrepreneurs, 13,000 citizens were called upon and sent to the troops, without waiting for the summons, expressed a desire to fulfill their duty and were sent to the troops as volunteers. The average age of mobilized citizens is 35 years," adding that the Russian military will only accept volunteers from now on.

Western and Ukrainian reports of drafted Russians being sent to fight with insufficient training and “barely usable” equipment have abounded for weeks.

The reality however is that unscalable amounts of money are still being spent to fund a struggling Ukrainian army, yet Kiev is still unable to recapture the territories of the zone of the special operation.

Brave Russian soldier with amazing skills! - survived several consecutive grenade attacks by Ukrainian drones.

Twice he grabs the grenade and throws it away.#Ukraine #NATORussiaWar pic.twitter.com/RV0hTY8yug
— UkraineNews (@Ukraine66251776) November 6, 2022

Latest updates reveal that the EU council announced on October 17 a new package of aid worth 500 million euros ($486 million) to the Ukrainian military along with a Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) to train Ukrainian soldiers.

On October 15, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebestian Lecornu, announced that France will host and train 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Since June, military bases in the north, southwest, and southeast of the UK have been set up to train Ukrainian personnel, with commanders intending to largely expand the training. The new training mission includes instructors from various countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Lithuania.