Putin’s plan to expand troops unlikely to steer victory in Ukraine war, UK defence ministry says

Vladimir Putin’s bid to expand his army by hundreds of thousands of troops is unlikely to have an impact on the war in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

The Russian military is set to grow with the addition of 137,000 troops from next year following a presidential decree signed on 25 August.

It comes amid reports that Russian forces have suffered heavy losses, though Moscow is yet to publish any official number of its casualties.

However, the British defence ministry has said that the decree is “unlikely to make substantive progress towards increasing Russia’s combat power in Ukraine”.

The ministry explained that this is due to the high number of troops that Moscow has already lost, estimating losses in the tens of thousands – though Russia is yet to publish any official number of its casualties.

The MoD added that “very few contract servicemen are being recruited; and conscripts are technically not obliged to serve outside of Russian territory”.

As the Ukraine invasion passes the six-month mark, Mr Putin seeks to boost the number of Russian armed forces personnel to 2,039,758 overall, including 1,150,628 servicemen.

The expansion of the army will come into effect on 1 January.

All Russian men aged 18-27 must serve one year in the military, but a large number avoid the draft for health reasons or deferments granted to university students. The share of men who avoid the draft is particularly big in Moscow and other major cities.

Meanwhile, Russian artillery fired at Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight, local officials said on Sunday, adding to residents’ anguish as reports of shelling around the plant fuelled fears of a radiation disaster.

Russia‘s defence ministry said on Sunday there was more Ukrainian shelling of the plant over the past 24 hours, just a day after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations of targeting Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, which has prompted grave international concern.

Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said it had no new information about attacks on the plant.