Kremlin plans to mobilize about 500,000 more people to its army – Ukraine’s General Staff

The Kremlin plans to mobilize up to 500,000 people to the Russian armed forces by recruiting contractors to equip and replenish units lost in the combat zone.

The Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov, said in an interview with Ukrinform that "officially," mobilization in the Russian Federation has been suspended, but Russia is recruiting servicemen under contract.

"The level of training and provision of servicemen signing contracts is insufficient to perform the assigned tasks. They gain the necessary experience directly during hostilities," the military officer said. "However, given its significant mobilization resources, Russia can fully provide its armed forces with personnel to wage a long war of attrition." 

The General Staff representative also clarified that the Russian Federation recruited only 6,000 to 15,000 people for contract service from the beginning of the spring conscription.

At the same time, Hromov said, the leadership of the Russian Federation plans to quickly improve the situation by "infusing" fighters from private military companies into the armed forces, which, in addition to Wagner, have about 40,000 people.

The brigadier general also informed that 3,000 to 5,000 mobilized Russian servicemen are currently training in training centers on the territory of Belarus.

Hromov said there was no mass recruitment of prisoners to the regular army in Russia. "Only full-time 'storm-z' companies operate as part of the combined military units, which are staffed by convicts who agreed to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation," he added.

In this context, the deputy chief said that the mass recruitment of prisoners, according to different estimates, up to 27,000 people, was carried out in the Wagner group.

These units performed tasks in the interests of the regular troops of the Russian Federation and were actively used in hostilities in Bakhmut.

As was reported, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law establishing legal guarantees of exemption from criminal liability for persons who have entered into a contract for military service in the armed forces during mobilization, martial law, or wartime.

As Rubryka reported, the counteroffensive actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces are going according to plan, and Ukraine is saving its potential for now. At the same time, the Russian occupiers suffer eight or even ten times more losses, especially in the number of dead service members.

Also, American experts believe that the military operations around Bakhmut in the Donetsk region may turn out for the Russian command to either withdraw the invaders from the south of Ukraine or risk in the Kherson and Luhansk regions.

On July 4, the Ukrainian Defense Forces eliminated about 700 invaders; since the beginning of the Russian aggression, the invaders have lost almost 231,700 soldiers.