Russian President Vladimir Putin

As Russian forces continue to take significant battlefield losses in Ukraine, the Kremlin is struggling to plug the gap as Russian President Vladimir Putin ...

But as Russia is trying to throw more forces into the fight, it is sometimes bringing in combat groups at less than full strength, including units that took losses in their failed effort to capture the capital, Kyiv. Western officials believe that Russia has already put nearly two-thirds of its front-line ground combat units into the fight in Ukraine. But the senior U.S. defense official said Russia has still struggled to move large masses of troops because of failures in logistics and sustainment efforts. But as Russia is trying to throw more forces into the fight, it is sometimes bringing in combat groups at less than full strength, including units that took losses in their failed effort to capture the capital, Kyiv. On Wednesday, a senior Pentagon official speaking on background under ground rules set by the Defense Department said Russia is beginning to scale back the size of its attacks using smaller units in the northern Donbas, likely in response to the heavy attrition sustained in the war so far. “There just isn’t a wave of trained personnel that they can bring in that can really rejuvenate it in any short period of time.” And the Pentagon believes that the paramilitary Wagner Group is active in the Donbas region. In lieu of a mass mobilization campaign, which is likely to prove unpopular, Russia has cobbled together reinforcements by redeploying troops from occupied territories in Georgia, bringing in mercenaries from Syria, recruiting civilians in occupied regions in the Donbas, and coercing soldiers to stay on the battlefield by dangling financial incentives at new recruits. On Friday, British defense intelligence assessed that Russian commanders are under increased pressure to achieve their objectives, forcing them to redeploy forces exhausted by battle without sufficient time to replenish, risking further losses. For the first several weeks of the Donbas campaign, after Moscow’s disastrous effort to storm Kyiv ended in failure, Russia tried to overwhelm Ukrainian forces with strength in numbers on its flatter terrain by saturating targets with heavy rocket and artillery fire before sending in waves of ground units. And the Pentagon believes that the paramilitary Wagner Group is active in the Donbas region. In lieu of a mass mobilization campaign, which is likely to prove unpopular, Russia has cobbled together reinforcements by redeploying troops from occupied territories in Georgia, bringing in mercenaries from Syria, recruiting civilians in occupied regions in the Donbas, and coercing soldiers to stay on the battlefield by dangling financial incentives at new recruits. The current cap stands at 40 years old for Russians and 30 years old for foreign citizens.