Russia Says It Is Withdrawing Some Troops from Crimea and the Border with Ukraine
More than 10,000 servicemen will return to permanent deployment sites.
The Southern Military District (SMD) of Russia said more than 10,000 servicemen who had spent a month conducting field training, in particular in occupied Crimea and the Rostov region, are returning to their permanent deployment sites.
«The SMD units have completed the stage of combat cohesion training for squads, crews and gun crews in motorized rifle formations, military units of branches of the armed forces and special forces. More than 10,000 servicemen as part of the units will march from the combined-arms training grounds to their permanent deployment sites», the statement said.
According to the district's press service, the training took place at combined-arms training grounds in Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions, in occupied Crimea, Stavropol and Krasnodar Krai, the republics of the North Caucasus, as well as at training grounds of Russian military bases in Abkhazia, Armenia and South Ossetia.
The district said: «Over the course of a month, on a rotational basis and under the modular system, battalion tactical groups and branch tactical groups of all SMD formations and military units underwent field training».
It is noted that to maintain high combat readiness in all SMD formations and military units during the New Year holidays, duty units, reinforcement assets, as well as forces for eliminating the consequences of possible emergencies will be assigned.
The Pentagon Considers Providing Intelligence to Ukraine
The Pentagon is working on a plan under which the United States would provide Ukraine with real-time intelligence, in particular images of Russian troops, data that could help Ukraine respond more quickly to a possible Russian invasion.
US officials from the administration of President Joe Biden told The New York Times about this on condition of anonymity, because they were not publicly authorized to disclose the plans.
According to the officials, a list of ideas being developed at the Pentagon, State Department and White House includes redirecting to Ukraine helicopters and other military equipment previously earmarked for Afghan forces. The US and Britain have sent several experts to support defenses in case Putin launches a cyberattack on Ukraine.
Two American officials said the Pentagon's proposal regarding "actionable" intelligence is potentially more significant. The data would include images of Russian troop movements toward the border. Such information, if shared in time, could allow Ukrainian forces to repel an attack, according to reports.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Evelyn Farkas said, "The main thing we can do is provide real-time operational intelligence saying: 'The Russians are crossing the berm.'"
The publication writes that the Biden administration has recognized how important real-time information is for Ukrainian authorities. A source briefed on the Biden administration's actions said US intelligence agencies already provide Kyiv with access to more material than before Russia's military buildup.
American officials acknowledge that one of the potential problems with providing actionable intelligence is that it could push Ukraine to strike first, a scenario that Western officials say Vladimir Putin has tried to sell to the Russian public.
Satellite Images
New satellite images taken by a private American company show that Russia has continued to build up its forces in Crimea and near Ukraine over recent weeks.
Reuters could not independently verify the latest images from the company Maxar Technologies. The images show a base in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, filled with hundreds of pieces of armored vehicles and tanks as of December 13.
An earlier Maxar satellite image of the same base in October showed that the base was half-empty. The company said a new brigade-level unit, consisting of several hundred pieces of armored equipment including infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, artillery and air defense systems, had arrived at the Russian garrison.
A statement from Maxar says: "Over the past month, our high-resolution satellite imagery has observed a number of new Russian deployments in Crimea, as well as at several training areas in western Russia along the Ukrainian border."
Other images show concentrations at the Solotye training ground in Russia near the Ukrainian border, and photographs taken in early December show a greater concentration of military equipment than in September.
The images also show continued buildups in Yelnya, a Russian town about 260 km north of the Ukrainian border, and at the Pogonovo training ground near Voronezh in southern Russia.
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