According to the source quoted by BelNews“this is due to the urgent request of the Russian side in connection with the losses and shortages of equipment, both in the Kursk region and in other directions.” Moscow is suffering large losses on the front, not only in personnel, but also in military equipment.
Russia: Putin's “urgent request” to Lukashenka regarding military equipment
The British Ministry of Defence announced at the beginning Augustthat the last three months were the most costly for Russia in terms of casualties since the beginning of the war. In May, nearly 1,300 soldiers could have died per day – informs Bloomberg. As reported in turn “The Moscow Times”the Russian army may have lost about 100,000 soldiers over the past three months. “Vladimir Putin needs about 500,000 people over the next 12 months to compensate for the losses and rotate his troops deployed in Ukraine,” Bloomberg Economics Russia economist Alex Isakov said. Ukraine's surprise attack in Russia's Kursk region has caused Russia to urgently fill the gaps on this section of the front. Kiev claims to control nearly 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory. Alexey Smirnov, acting governor of Kursk Oblast, estimated that Ukrainian forces have taken control of 28 towns, according to Reuters. The BelNovosti portal recalls that this is not the first time that Vladimir Putin has turned to Alyaksandr Lukashenka with a request to transfer military equipment.
Vladimir Putin asked Alyaksandr Lukashenka for equipment also in 2022.
The Russian president asked his Belarusian ally for military equipment two years ago, after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These included T-72A tanks, trucks, and ammunition stocks pulled from storage. BelNovosti emphasizes that while in 2022 Belarus transferred ammunition and equipment from storage, now it is talking about transfers directly from combat units.
“This may indicate that warehouses and arsenals Belarus were emptied in 2022 and currently Alexander Lukashenka can respond to Moscow's request only with equipment from existing units,” we read. “The Russian command has no reserves that it could send to defend the Kursk region,” he said on TV. Rain political scientist Ivan Preobrazhensky.