ARTICLE
Putin Removes Age Limit for Conscripts as Russian Forces Devastated
By Isabel van Brugen On 3/28/23 at 7:05 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-removes-upper-age-limit-conscripts-national-guard-ukraine-1790807
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree removing an upper age limit for Russian National Guard members serving in parts of Ukraine that are under the control of Russian forces.
The presidential decree, signed on March 27—which Putin designated as National Guard Day in 2017—states that age restrictions for its citizens in the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation serving in the affected regions have been lifted until January 1, 2026.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were illegally annexed by Putin in the fall of 2022 following “sham” referendums. Russia is not fully in control of any of the regions, and foreign governments, including the United States, have said the move was illegitimate.
Russia created its National Guard, or Rosgvardia, in 2016. It is separate from the Russian Armed Forces, and reports directly to Putin. National Guard soldiers have been heavily used in Ukraine throughout the full-scale invasion launched last February, and many have been sacked for refusing to fight in the war-torn country.
The decree notes that Russian citizens serving in the annexed territories will instead be assessed by a military medical examination conducted in absentia, which will determine whether they are fit to serve.
In a speech on Russia’s National Guard Day, Putin described its key tasks as “countering terrorism, extremism and organized crime, guarding significant strategic facilities, maintaining law and order during mass events, and monitoring the arms trade.”
“These are all complicated and highly responsible aspects of your work requiring high professionalism and a systemic approach, strict compliance with the law and a constant commitment to achieving specific and tangible results in the interests of maintaining the security of our society and state and reliably protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens,” he said.
The Russian president also said that during what he still calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Rosgvardia members “are acting boldly and resolutely; they are defending Russia, our citizens, and they are fighting bravely, displaying fortitude and an intrepid spirit in the most difficult situations.”
Just months into the war, in May 2022, court papers showed that 115 members of the Russian Guard were sacked for refusing to fight in Ukraine. Rosgvardia soldiers were also deployed across the country in October over “increased attacks” on military registration and enlistment offices since President Vladimir Putin’s decision to partially mobilize reserve troops to fight in Ukraine, according to State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein.
Putin’s latest decree comes more than a year into his faltering war. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think tank based in Washington, said in an assessment this month that Russia’s new offensive in Ukraine appears to have stalled already.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, told Newsweek in a February interview that Russia had already begun an offensive, and that a counteroffensive from Kyiv was coming. The ISW said Russia has barely expanded its territory in Ukraine in a month of its new offensive.
VIDEO
28 Mar: NICE. Russians FIRE THEIR GENERAL FOR CATASTROPHIC INCOMPETENCE | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
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Mar 28, 2023 8:30 p.m. DST
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COMMENTS:I am a Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the three hundred and ninety eighth day of the war.
Day 897: March 28
The freshest reports suggest that the grey zone areas around Orikhiv have been reduced significantly. If previously, Bilohiria was not permanently occupied by any party, then now it is clear that Ukrainians have established total control over this village and are slowly pushing further.
The intensity of fights in front of Novodanylove has also increased. Here Ukrainian 128th Assault Brigade has consistently been using up to two platoons for reconnaissance-in-force operations in the direction of Robotyne. Russian sources reported that Ukrainians are attacking from multiple directions at once and sometimes multiple times per day to catch the Russians off-guard.
The area of operations seems to be slowly expanding because Ukrainians also started assaulting Russian strong points between Robotyne and Bilohia. The openness of the area significantly complicates the situation, which is why not all attacks go according to the plan. Sometimes Russians manage to stop a Ukrainian assault unit by spotting it with a drone and timely coordinating with the artillery. The latest updates suggest that Ukrainians started to use smoke screens extensively in order to mask the movement and location of troops and prevent precise correction of artillery fire.
Ukrainians also started assaulting Russian positions near Myrne. Previously, it was reported that Ukrainians only engaged assault helicopters for conducting airstrikes to soften up Russian defenses, so the assaults here are not surprising. The increasing scope of the operations has already brought some results and revealed the weakest aspect of the Russian primary defense line. Despite the fact that Russians hold extensive trench networks, they are too sparsely located to protect one another, which is why they can easily be surrounded and collapsed during more comprehensive actions.
However, storming of trenches may not be needed if an intense enough artillery preparation is conducted. Ukrainian artillery is already working on the revealed main Russian strongpoints in the region. Ukrainian artillery has also recently conducted a series of precision strikes. Yesterday, Mariupol Mayoral Advisor reported that Ukrainian HIMARS crews received an extensive fire mission and targeted Russian bases in Melitopol, Tokmak, Volnovakha, Novotroitske, and Donetsk. In Melitopol, Ukrainians destroyed a dormitory quartering Russian military and Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel, while in other places, Ukrainians targeted ammunition depots and warehouses with equipment. Today the strikes continued, and Ukrainians also hit objects in Fedorivka and Berdyansk. Berdyansk is one of the main Russian logistical hubs, with a lot of ammunition and equipment.
Interestingly, Russian sources previously highlighted that if Ukrainians increase the frequency of HIMARS use in the Zaporizhzhia region, then the counteroffensive operation is imminent, and the closer the strikes are to the zero line, the closer is the offensive.
Even though, so far, Ukrainians are mainly targeting the deep rear, Russian forces have already started making massive changes in the structure of the command. Several days ago, rumors started spreading that the Russian Ministry of Defense fired the commander of the Russian forces in the south, Rustam Muradov. Muradov took command on 6th October, and has overseen a series of disastrous offensive operations, including the high casualties, suffered in the assault against Pavlivka in October-November and the prolonged and failed effort to take Vuhledar. At first, Russian military bloggers were positive about the news, in hopes that the Russian command was taking the threat seriously and trying to promote competent leaders. However, today it was announced that Muradov just went on vacation, so they temporarily assigned Andrey Kuzmenko. Many Russian military analysts are not happy with the change and have started to speculate that they just made him responsible in case they lose Zaporizhzhia and need to have someone to blame.