Russian army suffers high staff turnover in Ukraine – UK Defence Intelligence

UK Defence Intelligence has drawn attention to the relatively rapid pace of change of commanders of one of the most prestigious airborne regiments of Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source: UK Ministry of Defence intelligence review on 23 September, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The regiment in question is the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces. It is likely that its last commander, Colonel Vasily Popov, was killed on the Orikhiv front in early September 2023.

Just a few weeks before, in August 2023, his predecessor, Colonel Pyotr Popov, resigned.

Quote: "Independent Russian media sources claim he acted in protest over the military’s failure to recover the bodies of Russian casualties," the UK intelligence review said.

In addition, it is mentioned that the former commander of the 247th regiment, Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, was killed in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion near Mykolaiv.

"The experience of the 247th highlights the extreme attrition and high turnover in Russia’s deployed military, even amongst relatively senior ranks," the summary concludes.

Earlier, UK intelligence reported that the shortage of workers in Russia's non-defence industries has increased due to mobilisation and conscription, especially in the IT sector after the massive departure of specialists from the country. The Russian Federation is recruiting migrants from Central Asia to fight in the war in order to cover the losses.

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