🎙️Comment by the Embassy of Russia in Norway to the Norwegian news agency NTB on the progress of the special military operation (14 August 2026) ❓Is Russia capable of escalating the conflict in the coming months? Are Russian troops facing a severe shortage of weapons and personnel? 💬 Answer: Claims regarding a shortage of weapons and personnel are untrue. The rate of recruitment of contract soldiers meets the army’s needs. Russia possesses sufficient mobilisation potential. In July this year, Professor J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago noted that Russia’s offensive is relentless, whilst Ukraine finds itself in a dire situation. ❓Has the Ukrainian army been strengthened by the construction of defensive lines? 💬 Answer: The key factor is the depletion of Ukraine’s own resources. On 5 August this year, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny, stated explicitly: ‘In 2026, Ukraine used all types of weapons... Resources have been exhausted. Russia has found a countermeasure to all of this.’ On the same day, the European Union tightened the rules on granting temporary protection to Ukrainian men of conscription age, which points to an acute shortage of manpower in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. ❓Are Russian troops really poorly trained? 💬 Answer: Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space, warned in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on 29 May this year that Russia possesses an army with real combat experience and capable of deploying millions of drones. He also stated that Russia is significantly ahead of Europe in military terms and has become much stronger than it was in 2022. ❓Is it true that Russia is recruiting inexperienced soldiers to deplete Ukrainian ammunition stocks? 💬 Answer: By definition, any recruit lacks combat experience – it is the command’s task to train them. The problem of a shortage of trained reinforcements is currently more acute for Ukraine. According to the Polish think tank OSW, around 290,000 cases have been brought against Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel who left their posts without authorisation. Two million citizens of conscription age are evading mobilisation. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ monthly losses amount to at least 40,000 personnel, whilst mobilisation yields only 15,000–16,000 new recruits. ❓Does Russia use its soldiers as ‘cannon fodder’? 💬 Answer: This claim is unsubstantiated and ethically unacceptable. Defending the Motherland and its citizens is a sacred duty for the Russian state. The Russian Ministry of Defence gives the highest priority to preserving the lives and health of its servicemen. As for ‘human resources’, it is the NATO countries that are using Ukraine and the lives of Ukrainian citizens as ‘cannon fodder’ to contain Russia. Link to the publication