Putin: More than 700,000 Russian soldiers on front line in Ukraine
More than 700,000 Russian soldiers are currently fighting in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Putin made the announcement at a meeting with parliamentary leaders in Moscow, the TASS news agency reported.
The meeting was primarily about creating quotas for the subsequent employment of veterans of the war.
“You see, there are more than 700,000 people on the front line,” Putin was quoted as saying.
Whether the figure Putin quoted corresponds to reality cannot be independently verified.
Military experts recently estimated the total strength of the Russian armed forces, including those outside Ukraine, at just under 1.3 million men.
Kiev’s forces are estimated at around 900,000 active soldiers.
Russia has been at war with Ukraine for over three and a half years and has occupied around a fifth of the country. Neither side has offered precise details of their losses to date.
