Russia has begun deploying units of its fresh 25th Combined Arms Army "piecemeal" to reinforce the over-stretched lines, indicating that a new Russian offensive is unlikely in the coming weeks, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence report on Sept. 27.
The ministry pointed out that Russia had "only rarely maintained an uncommitted army-size grouping which could potentially form the basis of a major new offensive thrust" since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The report noted that since mid-September, Moscow had most likely started committing elements of the 25th Army to action for the first time. Russia started building the new formation earlier this year to "add depth to its ground forces" in Ukraine, the U.K. ministry said.
Forces of the 67th Motor Rifle Division and the 164th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade are reportedly fighting west of Sievierodonetsk and Kreminna along the border between Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the ministry said.
Russia began concentrating its forces in the northeastern part of Ukraine since the summer, trying to take back initiative as Ukraine pushes forward on the southern front and around Bakhmut.
Ukrainian troops in Kreminna, a town in Luhansk Oblast not far from the administrative border with Donetsk Oblast, have sustained a particularly heavy onslaught by Russian forces.
Francis Farrell
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