Increased one-time payments for signing a military contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense and other financial incentives are unlikely to significantly increase the number of Russian professional soldiers for the war with Ukraine.
This is what analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think.
The proposed three-year federal budget draft of 90 billion rubles in one-time payments for military contracts is an indication that the "Kremlin plans to continue to rely on ongoing cryptomobilization efforts to meet manpower requirements" ; about the war in Ukraine", the institute's analysts point out in a recent research report. These funds will be enough for 225,000 new professional servicemen, provided there is no change in the amount of the one-time payment, which was recently increased to 400,000 rubles, news.bg recalls.
According to ISW analysts, the significant increase in financial incentives in recent months suggests that previous "recruitment efforts have been insufficient to maintain a steady flow of new forces" needed to maintain the pace of the advance of the front.
According to ISW estimates, there are medium- and long-term limits to the number of recruits that the current Russian crypto-mobilization campaign can generate, and "increasing financial incentives is unlikely to significantly address these limits," the institute's experts conclude.
p>A recent Ukrainian missile strike near the occupied city of Donetsk reportedly killed several North Korean military personnel.
Unspecified sources in Ukraine's intelligence community told the Kyiv Post that a Ukrainian missile strike on October 3 near the occupied city of Donetsk killed 20 Russian soldiers, including six unidentified North Korean officers who had "come to consult with their Russian counterparts" ;, and three other North Korean soldiers were wounded.
Kyiv Post, citing posts on Russian social media, reported that Russian forces demonstrated infantry attack and defense training to North Korean servicemen. ISW cannot independently confirm the presence of North Korean military personnel in the occupied city of Donetsk.
ISW has already observed unconfirmed reports in June 2024 that North Korea plans to send large-scale engineering forces into the occupied Donetsk region as early as July 2024.
In July 2024, ISW also observed reports that a delegation from the North Korean Military University "Kim Il Sung" has visited Russia, which, amid deepening bilateral relations, suggests that the North Korean military may be looking to learn from the experience of the Russian military in the Ukraine war.
Russian forces have recently advanced within the main Ukrainian stronghold in the Kursk region, near Toretsk, near Pokrovsk and southwest of the city of Donetsk.
Ukrainian authorities continue to provide statistics on Russian war crimes that shed light on the scale of violations committed by Russian forces and authorities.