The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT
1:10 p.m.: Ukraine’s government said that its forces are constructing fortifications in areas in the northeast where it recently regained territory from Russia’s military, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine is building new fortifications on recently liberated territories to prevent their recapture by Russian forces,” the media outlet reported.
12:50 p.m.: Some 1,500 troops have been sent from a vast Russian military base in Tajikistan to Ukraine, where the Russian Army is said to have suffered enormous casualties in its unprovoked war, multiple sources told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
About 600 more soldiers are set to be dispatched to the front lines from Russian military facilities located in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and the southern city of Bokhtar, the sources said.
It comes as hundreds of contract soldiers were deployed from Russia's Kant Air Base in neighboring Kyrgyzstan to Ukraine in recent months, according to residents, activists, and soldiers' relatives. Both Central Asian countries — allies of Moscow — host one Russian base each with multiple facilities in several locations.
The number of Russian personnel in Tajikistan is estimated at up to 7,000 troops, while Kyrgyzstan reportedly hosts about 500. The exact figures haven’t been made public.
Officials at the Russian military bases have not yet responded to RFE/RL’s requests for comment on the reported redeployments, and RFE/RL cannot independently verify the movement of Russian troops from Central Asia to Ukraine.
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