Russian Army Increases Number of Soldiers to 1.5 Million

According to Ukrainian intelligence and a Washington D.C.-based think tank, Russia is planning to boost its armed forces by 30%, bringing the total number of soldiers to 1.5 million, according to Remix News.

This would result in the formation of 24 new divisions.

Oleksiy Hromov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) stated, “To fulfill its occupation plans, the Russian command has announced extensive measures to reform its armed forces. Above all, it increases the total number of soldiers to 1.5 million and creates 20 new divisions.”

The news comes as Russia’s military leadership looks set to carry out sweeping military reforms this year, and as NATO countries signal they are increasingly likely to send main battle tanks and other advanced NATO weaponry to Ukraine.

Hromov further added that the Kremlin is preparing for a war that could go on for years and is now actively participating in the preparation of large-scale military operations.

The revelation comes as the level of Russian citizens’ confidence in President Vladimir Putin has inched back by 0.1 percentage points to 78.4% in the past week, according to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, TASS reports.

“When asked about trust in Putin, 78.4% of the respondents answered positively (-0.1 p.p. over the week), the approval rating of the Russian president’s work was unchanged at 74.3%,” the pollster noted as it published the results of a survey conducted from Dec 26–30 among 1,600 Russian respondents aged over 18.

The Russian news agency also reported that Russian forces destroyed over 700 Ukrainian troops and more than 300 weapon systems in the past three days of battles in Soledar.

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