A Russian-appointed official was killed in a car bomb this week amid growing anti-Russian sentiment in occupied areas throughout Ukraine.
Velykyi Burluk, the Moscow-appointed mayor of a small town in northern Ukraine located in the Kharkiv region, was reportedly targeted and killed by Ukrainians on Monday.
“Anti-Russian sentiment in occupied Ukraine is leading to Russian and pro-Russian officials being targeted,” U.K. officials said in Wednesday’s Defense Intelligence update. “The targeting of officials is likely to escalate, exacerbating the already significant challenges facing the Russian occupiers and potentially increasing the pressure on already reduced military and security formations.”
Kharkiv, which shares a border with Russia, was one of the strategic launch points used during Russia’s second wave of its invasion earlier this year. Russian military pushed southeast through Kharkiv into the Luhansk region and have since occupied the eastern half of the region.
This comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a program that would fast-track Russian citizenship for Ukrainians following reports that Russian troops have forcibly confiscated Ukrainian passports and identification cards.
“Russia continues to seek to undermine the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state and consolidate its own governance and administrative control over occupied parts of Ukraine,” a U.K. defense official said in response to the program.
In addition to this, Russia has reportedly begun mobilizing its military reinforcements, which are designed to replace ineffective units already on the ground in Ukraine’s contested eastern border regions with Russia, without declaring an infusion of forces.
“Reserve battalions can be formed from officers, contractors not yet participating in the war in Ukraine, as well as reservists who were persuaded to sign a short-term contract,” said Conflict Intelligence Team founder Ruslan Leviev.
Russian Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu also added that the country will create 12 new units in its Western Military District amid increased Western military activities in the area.
“We are taking adequate countermeasures. Under these conditions, we are actively improving the combat composition of the troops. By the end of the year, 12 military units and subunits will be formed in the Western Military District,” Shoigu said.
The White House announced last month that President Joe Biden has ordered to increase America’s military presence across Europe as a counter-offensive to Russia’s plans.
