A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Apr 20, 2023

Russia Created New Dnipr Group of Forces Due To Predecessor's Heavy Losses

Russia has announced the formation of a new force called the Dnipr Group, intended to defend Russian occupied territory in southwestern Ukraine, including the approaches to Crimea. 

But rather than an upgrade, analysts believe this reorganization is due to heavy losses suffered by its predecessor units, now joined and combined. JL 

Ellie Cook reports in Newsweek, image Anatolii Stepanov AFP:

References to the existence of an apparently new Dnipr Group of (Russian) Forces (DGF),suggest that the original force organisation has evolved "due to heavy losses." Russia's military uses this designation of a "group of forces" to specifically refer to a "large, task-organized operational formation." This grouping of forces has likely been deployed to defend Russia's southwestern flank currently identified by the Dnipro river running through the Kherson region.

Russian forces fighting in Moscow-occupied southern Ukraine have likely suffered "heavy losses," the British Defense Ministry has said, after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had traveled to the annexed Ukrainian territory.

On April 18, the Kremlin said Putin had met with military commanders in areas of Russian-controlled Ukraine, including the southern Kherson and eastern Luhansk regions. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the visit took place on April 17, according to Russian state media, dismissing reported inconsistencies in footage published of the visit and this claimed date.

In a press release, the Kremlin said the Russian leader had visited the "Dnipr Group of Forces" in the annexed Kherson region, using the Russian spelling to refer to Ukraine's Dnipro river, the British Defense Ministry noted on Thursday. "This is one of the first references to the existence of a Dnipr Group of Forces (DGF)," the ministry said in its daily intelligence update. Russia's military uses this designation of a "group of forces" to specifically refer to a "large, task-organized operational formation," the ministry added.

"The existence of an apparently new DGF suggest that the original force organisation has evolved, probably due to heavy losses," the British defense ministry wrote on Twitter. However, Russia does not provide regular updates on Moscow's casualties.

 

This grouping of forces has likely been deployed to defend Russia's southwestern flank currently identified by the Dnipro river running through the Kherson region, the ministry said. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment via email.

Russia announced it was annexing Kherson and the southern Zaporizhzhia region, along with the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk areas, in September 2022. However, Moscow's forces do not fully control the territories, and a counteroffensive effort from the summer of 2022 saw Ukrainian forces retake the captured city of Kherson, which had fallen to Russian soldiers in the early days of the war.

Western analysts have reported in recent weeks that Russia has prepared defenses in southern Ukraine in anticipation of a spring counteroffensive by Kyiv's fighters.

On Wednesday, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said Russian forces had continued to carry out defense operations in southern Ukraine, including Kherson. The think tank then cited Kherson Oblast occupation administration head, Vladimir Saldo, as saying on Tuesday that Russian forces had built defensive structures on the Dnipro's east bank in the Kherson region.

1 comments:

timothyferriss said...

This development showcases the ongoing retro bowl complexities and challenges in the region, with both sides maneuvering strategically to maintain or gain control over territories.

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