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Especially since the Russian losses are expected to increase in 2026.
Russia’s military leadership is pressing ahead with plans to stand up new artillery formations, according to Western analysts and open-source reporting.
Analysts caution, however, that these new units may exist largely on paper, with serious questions about whether they can be filled to their intended size.
Likely much smaller than intentet
Numbers from Ukraine’s General Staff suggest that Russia suffered more than 416,000 casualties in 2025 (with a daily average loss of more than 1,100).
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the high battlefield losses in Ukraine are limiting Russia’s ability to staff the new formations.
The thinktank notes that, if the Ukrainian estimates are correct, Russia lost roughly an entire division’s worth of personnel every 10 days during 2025.
And as Russian forces are continuing to try and storm the fortified Ukrainian positions in Ukraine’s Fortress Belt in Donetsk Oblast, the Russian losses are expected to increase in 2026.
These factors, ISW suggests, means that the newly created Russian units will likely be much smaller than intended.
New brigades forms
John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a post on X on January 7 that Russian military recruitment platforms and pro-war bloggers are advertising positions in the 1244th Guards Artillery Brigade.
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Several new units
According to the ISW, Hardie has reported on the creation of several new units:
- 1244th Guards Artillery Brigade
- 76th Rocket Artillery Brigade
- 34th Artillery Division
- 273rd Artillery Brigade
- 303rd Artillery Brigade
But as the war in Ukraine rages on, Russia is unlikely to be able to staff the new units properly, ISW assesses.
Sources: Institute for the Study of War (ISW), John Hardie / X, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Ukraine’s General Staff
