MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that some 244,000 Russian troops who were called up to fight in Ukraine are on the battlefield.
Putin said during his year-end press conference that the Kremlin doesn’t need a second wave of mobilization of reservists, with 1,500 men recruited into the army every day across the country.
As of Wednesday evening, a total of 486,000 soldiers have signed a contract with the Russian military, Putin said.
He did not give a total number of troops fighting in Ukraine.
“Why mobilization? There is no need,” he said.
The New York Times, citing a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment, reported this week that Russia has suffered 315,000 casualties since the launch of its full-scale Ukraine invasion in February 2022.
The Russian army’s total troop count stood 22 months ago at 360,000, noted the report.
Putin said Thursday that Moscow’s goals — “de-Nazification, de-militarization and a neutral status” of the country — remain unchanged.
He spelled out the goals the day he sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
“De-Nazification” refers from Russia’s allegations that the Ukrainian government is heavily influenced by radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. The claim is derided by Ukraine and the West.
Putin has also demanded that Ukraine remain neutral — and not join the NATO alliance.
“There will be peace when we will achieve our goals,” Putin said.
The Kremlin has since repeatedly said that the “special military operation” in Ukraine will continue until those loosely defined goals are achieved.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a report that Russian forces this year have “continued to use explosive weapons with wide area effects in their attacks on densely populated urban areas of Ukraine … both in areas close to heavy fighting and in cities far from the contact line.”
The governmental organization added in the report published Wednesday that Ukrainian armed forces, though on a much smaller scale, also shelled populated areas of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.
MarketWatch contributed.
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