8.09.2023 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP

The so-called 25th Army, which the occupying country Russia is creating to strengthen its positions in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, is not actually an army. This is a unification “on paper” of several units already involved in this area, without providing them with additional weapons.

This opinion was expressed in an exclusive interview with OBOZREVATEL by a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, reserve major of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexey Getman . “These are not some new people who were somewhere on the territory of the Russian Federation, trained somewhere and then were transferred to Ukraine. This is not true,” he emphasized.

In this context, the war veteran explained that a full-fledged army has tens of thousands of troops. At the same time, Russia does not yet have the resources to create a new army – neither human nor technical.

Thus, “units that were directly on the front line were added to the “new army.” They united several military units into a new military unit, which they called an army,” Getman explained.

“There is also no reason to say that from some unknown warehouses the invaders extracted the latest weapons for this “army” – tanks, armored vehicles, artillery systems. They do not have such reserves, they do not have such warehouses with both ammunition and equipment.” , added the major.

According to his estimates, a 130,000-strong group located in the Lugansk region, as well as 20,000 occupying soldiers who were trained in Belarus, were added to the “army.” “So, this “army” is a union on paper of those groups that were already there. By and large, the number of fighters and the amount of equipment remained the same. The only thing that has increased is the number of general positions. Because if there is an “army”, then there must be an “army headquarters”, leadership, etc.,” the war veteran summed up.

As OBOZREVATEL wrote, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Alexander Syrsky, said that in the east of Ukraine the invaders are trying to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions , there are fierce battles near Bakhmut, and in the Liman direction the enemy is introducing fresh units of its 25th Army.