Some 700,000 are currently at the front, the Russian president said<\/p>\n
Nearly half of Moscow\u2019s active-duty personnel are currently engaged in the conflict with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
\nThe president made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with leaders of parliamentary groups. He revealed the figure while discussing the \u2018Time of Heroes\u2019 program, which aims to train veterans for public service.
\n\u201cMore than 700,000 troops are stationed along the line of contact, so we have to select from among them. We need to choose those who are willing and suited to this line of work,\u201d Putin said.
\nMoscow rarely provides updates on the exact number of troops involved in the conflict. The previous estimate came from Putin in January 2024, when he said about 600,000 soldiers were in the combat zone.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Migration, families, economy: key takeaways from Putin\u2019s meeting with MPs<\/p>\n
Russia increased the size of its standing army last September to nearly 2.4 million, including 1.5 million active-duty personnel. It remains unclear to what extent the nominal ranks are currently filled.
\nUkraine had around 900,000 active-duty personnel as of early this year, according to Vladimir Zelensky.
\nKiev has struggled to replenish its forces as the Russian army has steadily gained ground in Donbass and eastern Ukraine.
\nIn spring 2025, Russia fully expelled Ukrainian soldiers from the Kursk region, which they had invaded in August 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some 700,000 are currently at the front, the Russian president said Nearly half of Moscow\u2019s active-duty personnel are currently engaged in the conflict with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t