Syrskyi warns: Russia stockpiling reserves for prolonged war

Syrskyi stated that Russia continues to build its strategy around numerical superiority.

According to him, in the past year alone, the aggressor state’s army was reinforced with more than 440,000 contract soldiers who joined for money and bonuses.

According to estimates by the Ukrainian command, around 695,000 Russian troops are currently stationed in Ukraine, including operational reserves.

Moreover, Russia maintains an additional 121,000 troops in its strategic reserve—comprising 13 divisions, as well as various regiments and brigades—that could be deployed to the battlefield if necessary.

Syrskyi emphasized that Russia's main strategy is a war of attrition. Moscow is attempting to pressure Ukraine through sheer manpower, hoping to break resistance with quantity rather than quality.

"This means their army grows by an average of 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers every month," the Commander-in-Chief noted.

As a reminder, in November 2024, an RBC-Ukraine source in Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Russia had up to 575,000 troops in Ukraine at the time. The source said Moscow had aimed to boost that number to 690,000 by the end of the year, but failed to do so.

In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently reported that the Defense Forces captured two Chinese nationals fighting on Russia’s side. This occurred in the Donetsk region, near Tarasivka and Bilohorivka. According to reports, Ukrainian forces encountered six Chinese soldiers in combat, two of whom were taken prisoner.

More details are available in the report: "China’s soldiers now in Ukraine’s war? What is known."