Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the country’s military to increase troop numbers by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million as Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine drags on for more than two and a half years.
Putin’s order, published on the government’s official website, will come into force on December 1. It puts the total strength of the Russian military at around 2.4 million, including 1.5 million conscripts, and has ordered the government to provide the necessary funding.
The previous increase in the number of Russian troops took place in December this year, when Putin ordered the total number of Russian military personnel to be raised to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million.
Russia’s most powerful forces are on the offensive in eastern Ukraine, where they have made gradual but steady advances in recent months.
In June this year, Putin said the number of troops the Kremlin is using in “special military operations” in Ukraine is approaching 700,000.
After calling up 300,000 reservists in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, Russian authorities have taken steps to fill the ranks of the forces in Ukraine with relatively well-paid volunteer soldiers.
Many commentators have noted that the Kremlin is reluctant to ask for more resources, fearing internal instability similar to what happened in 2022, when hundreds of thousands fled Russia to avoid being sent to war.
Lack of military forces is widely cited as a key reason behind the success of Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, which began on August 6.
The Kremlin has sought to avoid sending troops from eastern Ukraine and rely on reinforcements from other regions to prevent an attack on Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken control of two more villages in the Kursk region.
