[Epoch Times, October 9, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Takasugi compiled and reported) As the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine has entered its eighth month, the Russian army has been losing ground and declining recently. Russian President Vla Kimir Putin has appointed a new commander-in-chief to lead all troops in Ukraine.
The appointed Sergei Surovikin is an army general who also previously oversaw Russia’s air force and led Russia’s forces in Syria. His new mission will include energizing the Russian army, which has suffered a series of setbacks, which have suffered heavy losses in troops and equipment recently. Thousands of square miles of land previously occupied by Russian forces have been re-liberated by Ukrainian forces.
Sulovkin’s appointment came after Putin announced that hundreds of thousands of Russians would be drafted into the war. Previously, Putin ordered about 300,000 Russians to join the fight inside Ukraine. This is the first time since World War II that Moscow has enlisted civilians for the military.
The Kremlin’s announcement of “partial conscription” comes amid a series of stunning advances by the Ukrainian military in recent weeks.
Last week, Putin made a high-profile announcement that four regions in eastern Ukraine now belong to Russia. The Russian leader said it was the result of a referendum in Russia-occupied Ukraine. But the referendum is widely regarded by Western governments as rigged and illegal.
“The result (of the referendum) is well known, well known. Russia has four new regions,” Putin said on Sept. 30, referring to Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Helsinki. Elson region.
After Putin’s remarks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would submit an “accelerated” application to allow Ukraine to join the NATO military alliance more quickly.
Backed by advanced Western weapons and intelligence, Ukrainian forces have recaptured swathes of territory occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war. Their success on the battlefield has seriously affected the Kremlin’s reputation as a powerful war machine.
At the same time, the cost to Ukrainian civilians has been enormous as Ukraine recaptured occupied villages and towns one by one.
So far, the United Nations estimates that the Russian invasion has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 Ukrainian civilians and injured more than 8,600. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also added that the actual death toll in Ukraine may be higher.
Responsible editor: Sun Yun