Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia is suffering more military casualties than it can replace through recruitment, as President Vladimir Putin prepares the conditions for expanding mobilisation. In his Saturday evening address on July 25, the Ukrainian leader cited intelligence reports indicating that Moscow enlisted 221,000 people into the Russian military so far in 2026. However, Russia has sustained nearly 225,500 losses among its soldiers this year, including 131,000 killed and almost 93,000 wounded.
Severe Wounds and Poor Medical Care
“A significant share of those wounds are severe, as frontline medical care in Russia is catastrophically poor,” Mr Zelensky said. Ukrainian officials have warned throughout the summer of a new wave of Russian mobilisation, as the Kremlin continues to fall short of its recruitment goals and casualty rates intensify.
Recruitment Shortfalls
Ukrainian intelligence claimed on Telegram that about 70,500 new Russian soldiers signed contracts in the first three months of 2026, falling short of the Russian Defence Ministry's goal by about 30,000. By comparison, approximately 90,000 contracts were signed during that same period last year, according to Janis Kluge, a Russia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP).
Preparing for More Troops
“Putin is preparing to simply send more Russians to war. He disguises it with different words and signals, but that is what he is preparing to do,” the Ukrainian leader added, according to The Kyiv Independent. Mr Zelensky’s latest comments come amid a wave of warnings that Moscow is planning to recruit more soldiers in the coming months. “We have clear intelligence that Russia is preparing a new and quite significant wave of mobilization for the fall. Currently, the Russians are losing more troops on the front than they are recruiting,” he said on July 24.
North Korean Troops
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader said that Moscow is preparing to receive an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to support its war against Ukraine, with preparations having been underway since June in Russia's Voronezh region to receive them.
War Toll Estimates
Over the course of the now nearly 4.5-year war, major Western think tanks, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), estimate Russia has suffered approximately 1.4 million combat casualties, including those killed, missing and wounded. Independent media outlets, including Mediazona and BBC Russian Service, have manually verified and named over 233,000 individual dead Russian soldiers using obituaries, cemetery records, social media and leaked inheritance registries.
