Russia needs to conduct further form of mobilisation to continue war - British intelligence
The UK Defense Ministry said this in its latest intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, Ukrinform reports
According to the Defense Ministry, on February 9, 2023, Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin stated that Wagner had halted its prisoner recruitment scheme.
“Data from the Russian Federal Penal Service had already suggested a drop-off in the rate of prisoner recruitment since December 2022. News of the harsh realities of Wagner service in Ukraine has probably filtered through to inmates and reduced the number of volunteers,” the report says.
It is noted that a key factor in the termination of the scheme is likely increasingly direct rivalry between the Russian Ministry of Defence and Wagner. According to the British intelligence, the regular Russian military has likely now also deployed the vast majority of the reservists called up under ‘partial mobilisation’.
“The Russian leadership faces the difficult choice of either continuing to deplete its forces, scale back objectives, or conduct a further form of mobilisation,” the report says.
As reported by Ukrinform, despite Russia's claims of an alleged shortage of ammunition experienced by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in reality, the Russian invaders have significant supply problems of their own, Canada’s defense intelligence wrote on Twitter.
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