Ukraine needs at least 500,000 new recruits to replace combat losses and outfit new units, lawmaker Roman Kostenko has said in an interview. Kiev’s current plans would fall 300,000 men short.
Kostenko is the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada’s Defense and Intelligence committee and a former officer in the Ukrainian military. His comments came in an interview with the TV channel Priamyi (Direct) over the weekend.
Taking into account the situation, the estimate floated at the end of last year by former military chief Valery Zaluzhny seems more relevant than Kiev’s current figures, Kostenko said.
“Zaluzhny did not take those numbers randomly. I rather agree with him here that after all, such a number is more relevant than what we’ve gathered, than what we were told before, that we don't need that many,” Kostenko said.
Zaluzhny had called for a mobilization of 500,000 men in December 2023. Vladimir Zelensky initially agreed with that assessment, but backtracked due to a public backlash. Zaluzhny was relieved of duty in February – reportedly due to disagreements about the draft – and was named Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.
While Zelensky did not specify how many troops would have to be drafted, authorities in Kiev spoke of 160,000 by the end of the year, following changes to the mobilization rules this spring.
According to Kostenko, the goal was actually 200,000 troops but mobilization rates dropped in September and again last month. This “cannot be allowed under any circumstances,” he said, as mobilization rates need to keep up the pace with battlefield attrition.
According to Ukrainian media, Kiev’s armed forces currently number 1.05 million. Additional troops are needed to replace combat losses and to allow frontline units to be rotated out for fresh brigades. Ukrainian lawmakers have revealed that over 100,000 troops have deserted since the start of the conflict. Mobilization officers have resorted to hunting men down in the streets and markets, often hauling them away by force as onlookers record such incidents.
Moscow is currently waging “one of the most powerful” offensives since 2022, according to Zaluzhny’s replacement, General Aleksandr Syrsky. Ukrainian units are in “constant demand for the replenishment of resources,” Syrsky has said.
Russian forces have made major advances in Donbass over the past several months, taking Ugledar and Selidovo and approaching Kurakhovo while maintaining pressure all along the line. The Russian Defense Ministry has estimated Ukraine’s total losses – killed and wounded – at over 500,000, or around half of its total manpower.