Russia’s armed forces recruited another 127,000 contract soldiers for the war in Ukraine in the first four months of 2026, former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.
“Another 10,000 have signed a contract for service in volunteer battalions,” said Medvedev, who remains influential as deputy head of the National Security Council, at an education forum in Moscow.
In 2025, 450,000 soldiers signed contracts to fight, he said.
Medvedev said Russians’ patriotism was the source of the continued inflow of soldiers for the war in Ukraine. Regions in Russia are now paying record bonuses to lure more men for the war.
The recruitment figures are an important indicator of Russia’s potential to continue waging the war. Until now, experts have assumed around 30,000 new Russian soldiers per month. Medvedev’s figures correspond to a monthly rate of just over 34,000 men.
Ukraine’s goal is to render more opponents permanently incapable of fighting, meaning to kill them or seriously injure them. That has been achieved in recent months, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s drone forces.