Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated intention to increase the size of the army to 1.5 million troops, this plan is likely to be hampered by Russia’s heavy losses in the war against Ukraine.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense on social networking site X, citing intelligence data.
“Russia’s aspiration to expand its military is well-established In December 2022, then-Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called on the Russian forces to be enlarged to 1.5 million. Russia will likely increase the number and size of units in its ground forces to accommodate the majority of the additional 180,000 personnel. Despite the stated intent to expand its force, it is likely that this ambition will be hampered by continued heavy losses sustained in the conflict against Ukraine and recruitment challenges,” the ministry said.
It is noted that this is the third decree signed by Putin to increase the size of the army since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin has again increased the number of army personnel. Now it will amount to 1.5 million soldiers, which is 180,000 more than before.
Read also: Ukraine condemns Swiss film festival’s plans to show ‘Russians at War’ documentary