Russia has continued expanding its military bases in the Arctic region despite significant losses in its war on Ukraine, according to a new series of satellite images obtained by CNN.

Russia’s Arctic ambitions have attracted increasing attention in the West over the past decade as climate change opens up new opportunities in the region for navigation and exploration of its riches.

Russia also has over half of the world’s Arctic population along that shoreline, further cementing a foundation in the area. In May 2019, the Department of Defense announced that the September Arctic ice was receding at a rate of 13 percent per decade.

Russia is testing hypersonic missiles, capable of evading American defenses, in the Arctic. This August, a joint Russian and Chinese military flotilla was observed patrolling waters near...

From a military perspective, Russia has long been building up a military presence in the region, modernizing and expanding “military installations … along more than 6,000km of Arctic coastline” as well as reorganizing and updating “Russia’s fifth, military district …