Why has Putin added 15,000 new soldiers to Russia’s army? — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Putin signed a decree Sunday setting Russia's armed forces at 2,441,630 units (including 1,550,500 military personnel), the fourth expansion of 2025 and a cumulative 47,860 personnel added since March
- Russia's military gains in Ukraine have slowed sharply, with Ukraine claiming Russian losses surpassed 300,000 in 2026 and exceeded 20,000 in the first half of September alone
- Andrei Kortunov of the Russian International Affairs Council called the 15,500-person increase "mostly a technical decision" that won't change conflict dynamics, while Alexey Muraviev of Edith Cowan University argued it reflects longer-term NATO tensions rather than immediate battlefield needs
- Zelenskyy said Monday that more than 8,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Russia with preparations under way to deploy another 10,000, adding to an estimated 14,000-15,000 sent since 2024
- Russian attacks killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 80 across Ukraine on Monday, with drones striking the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv and forcing Taras Shevchenko National University to switch to remote classes through at least October 16
- Ukraine's forces recaptured 51 square kilometres in a recent operation in northern Donetsk, bringing the total recovered in that operation to 176 square kilometres; Donetsk remains one of the central battlegrounds and a sticking point in negotiations
- US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow and Kyiv to seek a restart of negotiations, with Washington now pursuing technical-level trilateral talks and the United Arab Emirates floated as a possible venue
Why it matters: The fourth expansion of the year shows Russia replacing losses rather than building surge capacity, with 47,860 added personnel since March against claimed casualties north of 300,000 in 2026 — a math problem that underwrites both Halushka's assessment that Moscow still believes it can outlast Kyiv and Muraviev's counterpoint that the real target is a future NATO confrontation. With Trump-era envoy diplomacy stalling on territorial terms and Ukraine rejecting cessions of annexed Donetsk, the personnel decree is the Kremlin's vote of confidence that the war remains cheaper than peace.
Ask SkimNews
