CNN
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has increased the country’s troop strength by 180,000 men. This is the third troop reinforcement since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The total number of Russian soldiers would thus increase to almost 2.4 million, including 1.5 million soldiers, according to a decree published by the Kremlin on Monday. The new personnel levels will come into force in December, it said.
Putin’s decree followed a lightning attack by Ukraine last month on Russia’s southern Kursk region – the first foreign invasion of Russian territory since World War II. Last week, Russia stepped up efforts to expel Ukrainian troops from Kursk and is slowly advancing on the key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donbass region.
Since 2022, in addition to the mobilization of reservists and conscripts, Putin has also ordered the two previous increases in the number of combat troops.
In August 2022, Putin ordered an increase in troop strength by 137,000 men by the beginning of the new year, bringing the army’s strength to just over 2 million, including 1.15 million soldiers.
The following month, after a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive that liberated most of the eastern Kharkiv region, Putin ordered the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens. Mobilization meant that citizens with military experience were subject to conscription and military reservists could be called up.
The mobilization caused hundreds of thousands to flee the country, many to neighboring Georgia and other former communist countries near the Russian border, and sparked angry demonstrations, particularly in ethnic minority regions that had borne the brunt of previous recruitment drives.
The mobilization was suspended in November 2023 after officials said the target of recruiting 300,000 troops had been reached.
In December, Putin ordered a further official increase in troops by 170,000 men, bringing the total number to 1.32 million.
The number of Russian casualties remains secret. In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that 5,937 soldiers had been killed in the war. The ministry has not released any updated figures since then.
According to estimates by Ukrainian and Western intelligence services, the number of casualties is much higher. In an update published this month, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said that Russia had lost 616,300 soldiers. The British Ministry of Defense also estimates that Russia has suffered more than 610,000 casualties.
“The casualty rate in Russia is likely to continue to average above 1,000 per day in September 2024 as Russia continues operations on a broad front from Kursk in the north to Robotyne in the south,” it said.
