Russia has announced that it will send musicians and singers to the front lines of its conflict in Ukraine to improve the morale of its troops.
This Monday, the defense ministry announced the formation of the “front-line creative brigade,” which would include circus performers.
The British Ministry of Defense announced the formation of the brigade in a Sunday intelligence update.
Moscow said that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Ukrainian frontline troops.
The defense ministry said in a statement uploaded to Telegram that Mr. Shoigu “flew around the regions of force deployment and inspected the advanced positions of Russian units in the zone of the special military operation,” referring to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
The ministry said that he “spoke with troops on the front line” and at a “command post”.
Commenting on Mr. Shoigu’s rumored visit, Ukraine’s military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Ukrainian television stations, “I don’t believe he’s that courageous” to travel to the battlefield.
According to British defense authorities, low morale remains a “serious weakness” for the majority of the Russian military.
The United Kingdom stated that the new creative brigade – which follows a recent campaign encouraging the public to contribute musical instruments to troops – is consistent with the traditional usage of “military music and organized entertainment” to raise troop morale.
But they questioned whether the new brigade would truly divert troops, who have been preoccupied with “extremely high fatality rates, weak leadership, pay issues, a lack of equipment and ammunition, and a lack of clarity over the war’s objectives.”
According to the Russian news agency RBC, the brigade would comprise both personnel mobilized as part of President Vladimir Putin’s recruiting push and “professional artists who willingly enlisted in the military.”
The new unit would be entrusted with maintaining “a high moral, political, and psychological status” among the special military operation’s members, the defense ministry was quoted as saying.
Saturday saw the continuation of intense fighting around the Ukrainian-controlled town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region, according to Ukraine’s military.
Since the beginning of the year, Russia has suffered a series of major defeats in the northeastern and southern regions of Ukraine. As a result, Russia is currently attempting to entirely capture the territory.
Western intelligence agencies have already stated that Russia’s private military contractor, Wagner Group, is spearheading attacks on the city.
Moscow aims to utilize Bakhmut as a staging area to launch operations on Ukrainian-held Kramatorsk and Sloviansk further west.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that heating has been restored in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv following broad Russian attacks on electricity and water infrastructure on Friday.
Moscow unleashed 76 missiles on Friday, striking nine power stations and putting a large portion of the nation into darkness. Ukraine reported intercepting sixty.
Separately, President Putin is scheduled to visit Belarus on Monday, amid media rumors that he will exert additional pressure on Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally, to join Russia’s war effort and send troops to Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Russian forces have used Belarusian territory as a launching pad, but Mr. Lukashenko has thus far resisted all of Moscow’s attempts to deploy his military in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with top military and security officials in Kyiv to examine potential threats posed by Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbor.
“We are ready for every imaginable defense scenario. Whoever persuades Minsk to do anything, it will not help them in their fight against Ukraine and Ukrainians, as will any other ludicrous notion “Mr. Zelensky stated in his Sunday night video speech.
