Putin says 617,000 Russian troops are fighting in Ukraine
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has revealed the number of the occupying forces in Ukraine, saying that there are 617,000 Russian soldiers along the contact line, according to Putin's statement during a Results of the Year press conference.
"The contact line in Ukraine is 2,000 km, with 617,000 Russian military personnel on the front line," Putin said.
Shortly before this, he claimed that, in addition to 300,000 mobilized under contract, 486,000 volunteer fighters were involved in the war against Ukraine.
Thus, the exact figure for the fighting Russian force, consisting of professional army personnel, is not definitively known.
Number of military and losses of the Russian Federation in Ukraine
Previusly, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced that by the end of this year, half a million voluntary soldiers would be involved in the war against Ukraine. At the same time, a second wave of mobilization in Russia supposedly is not planned.
Meanwhile, halfway through the year, Ukrainian intelligence reported that the number of Russians fighting in Ukraine amounted to 400,000 Russian military personnel, including those from private military companies and the National Guard.
As of today, the losses on the Russian side since the beginning of the full-scale invasion amount to approximately 342,800 military personnel.
According to disclosed data from U.S. intelligence, the Russian Armed Forces lost up to 90% of their initial deployment in Ukraine. In February 2022, 360,000 individuals invaded the neighboring country, with 315,000 of them killed or wounded.
Moscow plans to continue replenishing the ranks of occupiers. It was recently forecasted in the UK that Putin plans to call up an additional 170,000 people for the war against Ukraine.
