Putin Desperately Recruits 400,000 Additional Soldiers

The Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has revealed that the country has stepped up its wartime recruitment drive, with more than 400,000 soldiers having already been enlisted into the Armed Forces this year.

Medvedev’s remarks come as the Kremlin continues to push for expanded manpower amid ongoing battlefield pressures and soaring casualty estimates reported by Western intelligence.

Speaking during a meeting on Wednesday, December 10, the former Russian President stated that his country had nearly fulfilled President Vladimir Putin’s conscription objectives for the year.

“Today, we will continue our work on completing the contract with the Armed Forces. It can be stated that the objectives set by the Commander-in-Chief for this year are practically achieved. More than 400,000 servicemen have arrived in the military units. In addition, more than 34,000 people have been enlisted in volunteer units. These are the current results, but we will discuss what to do next.”

Medvedev’s latest announcement builds on previous updates that highlight Russia’s rapid expansion of its military ranks throughout 2025.

Accelerating push for recruits from Russia

In May, he disclosed that nearly 175,000 contract soldiers had joined the Armed Forces since the start of the year, alongside 14,000 new members of volunteer corps.

“As of today, nearly 175,000 service members have arrived at military units, if we speak about the results we currently have,” Medvedev said at the time.

“In addition, more than 14,000 people have been admitted to volunteer units since the beginning of this year.”

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This followed Medvedev’s December 2024 announcement that 440,000 service members had signed contracts with the Russian military over the course of the previous year.

President Putin has repeatedly claimed that interest in joining the army remains high. He previously asserted that up to 60,000 volunteers were signing contracts each month, though independent verification has been difficult due to tight state control over military data.

In October, Ukraine’s state project “I Want to Live” released what it described as official Russian military loss statistics for the first eight months of 2025.

According to the data, Russia lost 281,550 personnel between January and August, including the killed, wounded, and missing in action — figures the project said were comparable to Soviet losses in major World War II offensives.

Massive Russian losses revealed

The initiative, created by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), is designed to help Russian soldiers safely surrender to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Of the total losses reported, 86,744 Russian soldiers were killed, including 1,583 officers and 8,633 convicts recruited from prisons. A further 33,966 were listed as missing, 158,529 wounded, and 2,311 captured by Ukrainian troops.

Equipment losses were equally severe as the project documented 13,145 units destroyed beyond repair and another 48,458 damaged but potentially restorable. On average, Russia was losing 35,000 soldiers and 7,700 pieces of equipment every month, including 1,643 irrecoverably destroyed.

“Every day, the Russian army loses an average of one battalion in killed and missing personnel – 496 people,” the report said, noting that roughly seven full brigades are effectively wiped out each month.

The assessment also highlighted what it called a systemic failure in battlefield medical evacuation. For every soldier killed, only 1.3 were reported wounded — a ratio far below normal military average. The project said this reflected poor tactical medicine training and the frequent abandonment of wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

In September, the BBC Russian Service, Mediazona, and volunteer researchers published a separate investigation confirming 128,000 Russian soldiers dead by name since the full-scale invasion began.

Also Read: Russia Loses Over 1.18 Million Troops: Full December 10 Combat Loss Update

As of early September, the team had identified 128,115 deaths, with 23,305 new obituaries recorded between June and August alone, up to 420 new death notices per day, nearly triple the 2024 pace.

The investigation noted that these figures represent only confirmed deaths and therefore “likely capture only part of total losses.” It found that 14% of the identified dead were prisoners recruited from penal colonies, while 29% were volunteer fighters.

Intense fighting continues in Pokrovsk

Medvedev’s announcement of mass recruitment comes as heavy fighting continues on multiple fronts, including the embattled town of Pokrovsk. Earlier on Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it was repelling a fresh mechanised assault launched by Russian forces.

“The Russians used armoured vehicles, cars, and motorcycles,” Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook.

“The convoys attempted to break through from the south to the northern part of the city.”

Russia has claimed full control of Pokrovsk, but Kyiv insists it still holds the northern sector. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is finalising a 20-point peace document, which will soon be presented to the United States following coordination with President Trump’s team and European partners.

In a statement online, Zelenskyy said the document could “define the parameters for ending the war,” adding that Ukraine and the U.S. would hold further talks later today on post-war reconstruction and economic development. The discussions will be followed by a virtual meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing.”

“We are working very productively to guarantee future security and prevent a recurrence of Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, in the occupied Kherson region, Russian-installed governor Vladimir Saldo accused Ukraine of shelling a hospital in Oleshky, killing three medical workers and injuring two others.

“All the dead and injured are employees of the medical institution,” Saldo wrote on Telegram, calling the strike “another disgusting war crime.”

He said the injured were receiving medical care, with one person in intensive care. Oleshky has remained under Russian occupation since the initial invasion in February 2022.

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