Russia invited more volunteers a few months ago to help form a new group of fighters for the war in Ukraine. A “lucrative” cash reward was offered to those who would eventually become the country’s Third Army Corps.
Recent intelligence indicates that the Army’s Third Corps is moving forward through the railroads.
“Our volunteers in recent days have discovered photos and videos of the transport of Russian military equipment by rail. The video shows the entire warehouse of the Buk complex, and the photo shows T-80BV and T-90M tanks,” the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reported on its Telegram channel.
Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images
The Third Corps is stationed at Molino, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about four and a half hours east of Moscow.
Intelligence and Railways database reports indicate that trains loaded in Molino and departed on August 22 and 24, bound for the Niklinivka railway station in Russia’s Rostov region, near the border with Ukraine’s Donetsk region in the east.
“To date, it is impossible to say with certainty where the Russian leadership plans to use the Corps’ forces,” CIT said. “However, the last point of the levels (Neklinivka station), located in the south of the Rostov region, is closest to the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions on the front.”
What is the Third Legion in Russia?
This year Russia enlisted men between the ages of 18 and 50 to help fill the void after the failures in Ukraine and the mass battlefield losses. The new group of volunteers is not required to have any prior military experience, nor any education beyond middle school or high school.
Reportedly, the number of casualties among the Russian forces exceeded 46,000 as the war entered its 27th week. The Army’s 3rd Corps is trained to fight along the front lines, providing the necessary relief to their compatriots.
Russia began building forces along Ukraine’s northern and western borders in late January, and began attacking Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, heavy losses have taken place on both sides. This includes Ukrainian civilians, foreign fighters, the Ukrainian military, and more than 46,500 Russians.
Russia failed to conquer Kyiv, Lviv and Odessa, but it occupied many areas in the eastern part of Ukraine. Russia occupied most of the Donbass Oblast, which includes Luhansk, Severodonetsk, Donetsk, and Mariupol. They occupied Crimea in 2014.
Russia also occupied the major southern cities of Kherson and Melitopol, and slowly made its way towards Odessa and the southwestern Transnistria region near the Moldova border.
While some believe Russia has lost its grip on the war, and perhaps its aggressiveness, a new batch of soldiers on the front line could restore some morale, too.
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