Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an event on Aug. 15 in Kubinka, outside of Moscow, Russia. Photo: Contributor/Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday to increase the size of Russia's armed forces as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month.
Driving the news: The decree calls for the augmentation of Russia's forces from 1.9 million troops to 2.04 million, Reuters reported.
- This will include an increase to the number of combat personnel by 137,000, to a total of 1.15 million.
- The changes will go into effect on Jan. 1, though the decree did not spell out how the troop increase would be carried out, per Reuters.
The big picture: Russia has never officially disclosed how many of its troops have been killed in the war in Ukraine, though Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov admitted in April that its losses have been “significant."
- In July, CIA Director Bill Burns said that U.S. intelligence estimated that about 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine "and maybe three times that wounded."
- Earlier this week Ukraine disclosed that nearly 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the fighting.