Ukrainian soldiers continue to maintain the line in that region, utilizing wooded terrain to their advantage, the ministry said.
“Over the coming weeks, Russia’s campaign will highly likely increasingly rely on echelons of reserve forces,” the MoD said in a tweet. “These consist of several distinct components which Russia has almost certainly already started to field.”
Russia's Combat Army Reserve is a recent innovation of part-time but voluntary reservists that deploy in large formations primarily tasked with rear area protection.
“The Human Mobilisation Resource is the sizable pool of all veterans who have served in the regular military in the last five years. Russian authorities are likely using volunteers from this category to fill out the third battalions within regular brigades,” the ministry said in a report.