Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has primarily relied on mobilizing reservists to fill the ranks of existing formations or to serve as part of territorial defense infantry regiments. Establishing new, all-arms organizations like combined arms armies, which are intended to function as self-sufficient forces, has been a rare occurrence, UK intelligence said in its daily report.

“An exception to this was the 3rd Army Corps created in summer 2022, which has generally performed poorly.”

Russia will likely deploy any new formation as a reserve force in Ukraine. However, in the longer term, Russia aspires to strengthen its forces facing NATO, British intel concluded.

Without a major new wave of mandatory mobilization, Russia is unlikely to find enough new troops to resource even one new army, intelligence said.

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