Thread by @RALee85

The official # for servicemen in the Russian military was previously more than 1 million but the actual size was ~850k. There is no easy way for Russia to increase its size at this point, other than simply declaring LDNR, Wagner, or volunteer units part of the Russian military.

https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1562767909122109442

It isn't as simple as drafting more soldiers. Russia has lost a lot of officers and NCOs, and conscript units particularly need to have competent officers and NCOs for them to function. Not to mention, Russia doesn't have the personnel to train more conscripts.

Conscripts still aren't supposed to be deployed into Ukraine unless they sign a contract. The conscripts who were deployed in the 1st week were sent back. Even if Russia increases the manpower of the military, that doesn't mean it will have more guys available to send to Ukraine.

The Russian Ground Forces committed 80%+ of its permanent readiness units to this war in Feb-March. The longer this war goes on, each biannual draft will involve conscripts who get even less training, and fewer who sign contracts. The situation will only get worse.

And Russia isn't producing enough officers either. That is why I thought Russia would try to keep this war as short as possible, and why it was such a mistake for Putin to not walk away from the war in March with some reduced concessions.

So there are structural impediments to enlarging the Russian military, and political impediments to deploying many of its soldiers to Ukraine. Conscripts and refuseniks still aren't forced to deploy. Not sure this announcement is that significant in practical terms yet.