Russia has effectively exhausted its forced mobilization resources in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories due to heavy frontline losses, the Main Intelligence Directorate’s (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Chernyak said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on March 23.
“There is simply no longer any viable mobilization resource capable of fighting or holding weapons in the temporarily occupied territories, especially in Donetsk and Luhansk oblastss. The remaining men are capable of maintaining infrastructure, but they can no longer join paramilitary groups,” he said.
Chernyak noted that a similar situation exists in the temporarily occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts.
On March 3, Russian media reported that at least 70 universities and colleges in the country, including those in temporarily occupied Crimea, are recruiting students for the war against Ukraine under contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.