Putin orders Russia to boost size of army by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country's military to increase its number of troops by 180,000, the third time he has expanded its ranks since launching his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The increase would take the overall number of Russian military personnel to nearly 2.4 million, including 1.5 million troops, according to the decree published by the Kremlin on Monday (Tuesday AEST). The new staffing will come into effect in December, it said.
Putin's decree comes after Ukraine last month launched a lightning attack across the border on Russia's southern Kursk region – the first foreign invasion of Russian territory since World War II.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country's senior army commanders to increase the number of troops by 180,000. AP
Last week, Russia stepped up its efforts to expel Ukrainian troops from Kursk and is inching forward toward the crucial Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donbas region.
Since 2022, Putin has ordered two previous expansions in the number of combat troops, in addition to a mobilisation of military reservists and conscripts.
In August 2022, Putin ordered an increase of 137,000 troops by the start of the new year, which put the military's staffing at just over 2 million personnel, including 1.15 million troops.
The next month, after a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive that liberated most of the eastern Kharkiv region, Putin ordered the immediate "partial mobilisation" of Russian citizens. The mobilisation meant citizens with military experience were subject to conscription and that military reservists could be called up.
The mobilisation prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country – many to neighbouring Georgia and other formerly communist countries near Russia's border – and sparked angry demonstrations, particularly in Russia's ethnic minority regions that have borne the brunt of previous recruitment drives.
Since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, the Kremlin ordered two previous expansions of the number of combat soldiers. AP
The mobilisation was suspended in November 2023 after officials said the target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met.
Then in December, Putin ordered another official expansion of 170,000 troops, bringing the total to 1.32 million.
Russia's casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy. In September 2022, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5937 troops had been killed in the war. The ministry has not published an update since.
Ukrainian and Western intelligence assessments put the toll much higher. In an update published this month, the General Staff of Ukraine's military said Russia has lost 616,300 troops.
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence also estimates that Russia has suffered more than 610,000 casualties.
"Russia's casualty rate will likely continue to average above 1000 a day throughout September 2024 as Russia continues operations on a wide front from Kursk in the north to Robotyne in the south," it said.
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