Russia-Ukraine war: President Vladimir Putin orders Russian military to increase number of troops by 137,000

Adeleye Kunle Reports

Russian President, Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to increase the number of troops by 137,000 to a total of 1.15 million amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine, TrackNews reports

Putin’s decree, which took effect on Jan. 1, comes exactly 6 months after he first ordered his forces to invade neighboring Ukraine leading to loss of lives and military equipment on both sides.

The decree didn’t specify whether the military will beef up its ranks by drafting a bigger number of conscripts, increasing the number of volunteer soldiers or using a combination of both.

The presidential decree will boost the overall number of Russian military personnel to 2,039,758, including 1,150,628 troops. A previous order in 2018 put the military’s numbers at 1,902,758 and 1,013,628 respectively .

The Kremlin has said that only volunteer contract soldiers take part in what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, rejecting claims that it was thinking of carrying out a mobilization.