Russia offering men ‘lucrative’ payments to form new ground force in Ukraine, say British officials

Russian officials have begun offering men “lucrative” cash bonuses to fight in Ukraine amid “limited levels of popular enthusiasm” for combat, according to British defence chiefs.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Wednesday morning that the cash handouts were being offered in a bid to establish “a major new ground forces formulation”.

However, Russian officials are thought to be unlikely to bring the new army corps up to standard size because there are low levels of willingness to volunteer.

In an intelligence update, the MoD said: “Russian commanders highly likely continue to be faced with the competing operational priorities of reinforcing the Donbas offensive, and strengthening defences against anticipated Ukrainian counter attacks in the south.

“To support the Ukraine operation, Russia has almost certainly established a major new ground forces formation, 3rd Army Corps (3 AC), based out of Mulino, in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast east of Moscow.

“Russia likely plans to resource a large proportion of 3 AC from newly formed ‘volunteer’ battalions, which are being raised across the country, and which group together recruits from the same areas.”

Those being offered cash inducements to join are men up to the age of 50 and with only middle-school education.

However, while a Russian army corps typically consists of 15,000-20,000 troops, the new corps is not likely to reach this number, said British officials. As such it is “unlikely to be decisive to the campaign”, they said.

Russian shelling killed 21 people in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday night, according to governor Valentyn Reznychenko.

He said 11 people were killed in the district of Nikopol and 10 in the town of Marganets.

Meanwhile, powerful explosions which rocked a Russian air base in Crimea could have been the work of partisan saboteurs, a senior Ukrainian official has suggested.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Voldymyr Zelensky, also suggested that Russian incompetence could be behind the blasts.

Huge plumes of smoke could be seen in videos posted on social media from Crimea, a holiday destination for many Russians.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and used it in February as one of the launchpads for its invasion.

Mr Zelensky did not mention the blasts in his daily address, but repeated his government’s position that Crimea would have to be returned to Ukraine by Russia.

Zelenskiy did not directly mention the blasts in his daily video address on Tuesday but said it was right that people were focusing on Crimea.

“We will never give it up ... the Black Sea region cannot be safe while Crimea is occupied," he said.