Russia has deployed more than 420,000 soldiers in the occupied territories in the east and south of Ukrainesaid on Saturday a general of the Ukrainian intelligence services.

“The Russian Federation concentrated more than 420,000 soldiers in our temporarily occupied territoriesincluding Crimea,” Vadim Skibitski, deputy chief of intelligence services at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, annexed in 2014, said in a press conference.

That figure, he clarified, “does not include the Russian National Guard and other special structures charged with maintaining the occupation forces in our territories.”

A Russian attack on a market in eastern Ukraine leaves at least seventeen dead and thirty injured

Since a month ago, Russia is using the Crimean Peninsula to “attack port infrastructure” in southern UkraineSkibitski also stated this. “Drones deployed in Crimea are used against our ports of Izmail and Reni,” causing some of Ukraine’s grain production to be exported across the Black Sea until Moscow withdrew from an international agreement in July.

For her part, Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar stated that the Russians want to “take revenge” and recapture areas in the Kharkov region liberated by the Ukrainian army a year ago.

Discreet funeral in Russia for the late head of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin

According to Maliar, the Russian army still has an advantage over the Ukrainian army in terms of weapons. “We must recognize that the enemy is strong, that he has more men and more weapons,” the deputy minister added.

Last week alone, he added, Moscow’s military fired “about 400,000 shells” at Ukrainian positions on the eastern front, while Kiev’s forces can use “eight times less” ammunition, he noted. (JO)