Russia's ground forces participating in combat against Ukraine amount to almost 580,000 soldiers, Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), told Interfax Ukraine on Nov. 21.
Russia has been looking to increase the number of personnel to fight its war against Ukraine. The Russian government's recently exempted defendants from criminal liability if they join the Russian army and introduced additional financial rewards for contract service to shore up more manpower.
Skibitskyi clarified that the number of Russian troops includes those serving in Russia's Kursk Oblast as they fight off Ukraine's incursion into the area, Interfax Ukraine reported.
About 60,000 Russian military personnel are currently serving in Kursk, Suspilne reported previously, citing its undisclosed source in the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
Skibitskyi added that a grouping of almost 35,000 Russian Guard troops, also known as Rosgvardia, was also deployed to the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that nearly 700,000 Russian troops were fighting in Ukraine. In October, Russian casualties amounted to 600,000 since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to Pentagon estimates.
The figure came at a particularly deadly stage of the war for Russian troops. According to reports from the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, September was the second-most lethal month for Russian soldiers since February 2022.
As casualties climb, Russian forces continue to press on in eastern Ukraine, focusing on the cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ukrainian soldiers are slowly losing ground under Russian pressure.
Chris York
