'Putin preparing to send more Russians to war' — Zelensky warns of mobilization, reveals figures showing Russian losses exceed recruitment
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President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on July 25, citing intelligence reports, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "preparing the conditions for expanding mobilization" as the toll of mounting Russian losses on the battlefield continues to surpass Russian recruitment efforts.
In his evening address on July 25, Zelensky said that Moscow enlisted 221,000 people into Russia's Armed Forces thus far in 2026, while sustaining nearly 225,500 losses among Russian soldiers, including 131,000 killed and almost 93,000 wounded this year alone.
"A significant share of those wounds are severe, as frontline medical care in Russia is catastrophically poor," Zelensky said.
Ukrainian officials have warned throughout the summer of a new wave of Russian mobilization, as the Kremlin continues to come up short of its recruitment goals, as casualty rates intensify.
"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 president added.
While reliable data on Russian recruitment efforts is not possible to verify, previous reports by Ukrainian intelligence claimed that about 70,500 new Russian soldiers signed contracts in the first three months of 2026, falling short of the Russian Defense Ministry's goal by about 30,000.
For comparison, about 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).
Zelensky latest comments come amid a chorus 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," Zelensky said a day earlier on July 24.
In addition to recruiting Russian citizens, Zelensky said in his evening address that Moscow is preparing to receive an additional 30,000 North Korean troops to support its war against Ukraine.
"Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea," Zelensky said in his nightly address. "Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia's Voronezh region to receive them."
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