Putin’s elite unit, the First Guards Tank Army, should defend Moscow in an emergency and carry out counterattacks in a war with NATO. It was also deployed in the Ukraine war, but was withdrawn due to high casualties, according to British intelligence.
It is one of the most renowned troop units in the Russian army: the First Guards Tank Army. Where it is is in front – at least according to the ideas of those in power in Moscow. But the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east of the country severely weakened the elite fighters, as the British Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday.
According to a military intelligence report: “The Russian forces that were withdrawn from the Kharkiv region in the past week belonged to the First Guards Tank Army, which is subordinate to the Western Military District (WEMD).” suffered heavy losses and was not fully recovered before the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv.
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“Since the First Armored Guard Army and other WEMD units are severely depleted, Russia’s conventional forces that are supposed to oppose NATO are severely weakened,” the information from London continued. It will likely be years before Russia can rebuild this capability.
These statements cannot currently be verified independently. The British Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression at the end of February. In this context, Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign, but is not stingy with publishing false information.
A former high-ranking NATO military officer told FOCUS online: “Basically, three wars are being waged: a military war, an economic war and an information war.” The desired truth is therefore not always necessarily the right one.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that more than 6,000 square kilometers of land had been reclaimed since early September. “Our troops remain on the move,” he said in a video address on Monday evening. In the face of Russian missile attacks on his country’s power grid, he called for faster deliveries of anti-aircraft weapons from abroad.
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Meanwhile, the Ukrainian troops are combing the retaken areas in the east for collaborators of the Russian occupiers. In addition, mines would be cleared, the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report on Monday evening. He gave no further information on the advance of the Ukrainians, who have largely routed the Russian troops in the Kharkiv region. The Russians left behind many weapons and heavy material.
