Russia uses "volunteer corps" for offensive operations, which is not suitable for such task – UK intelligence

For offensive actions in the war against Ukraine, Russia is actively using the "volunteer corps", which, by its characteristics, is not very suitable for such tasks.

Source: UK Ministry of Defence review of the Russian-Ukrainian war on 14 June 

Details: "The Russian Ministry of Defence has increasingly centralised their command and control of pro-Russian irregular forces, highly likely to facilitate their use in offensive operations in Ukraine," the review notes.

In February 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defence created a so-called volunteer corps under a single command and leadership, which brought together about 20,000 reservists, mercenaries and former convicts willing to fight. Since then, this formation has been actively involved in offensive operations in Ukraine, although analysts say it is ill-suited for such purposes. 

"Russia's irregular formations are mainly light infantry units which lack integrated artillery or air support making them more brittle than Russian regular formations. Consequently, during the last 9 months, Russian irregular units have likely sustained proportionally higher casualty rates than Russian regular units," they said.

Background: 

• In a previous review, the UK Ministry of Defence noted that reports of Russia's attempts to recruit African nationals to fight against Ukraine indicated that Moscow was already experiencing a shortage of recruitment resources among prisoners, a category that it had previously relied on to reduce public discontent. 
• UK intelligence also reported this week that the Russians had achieved a limited breakthrough in Chasiv Yar. 

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