Russia is preparing to mobilise 600,000 additional soldiers over 2026 and 2027, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate and Foreign Intelligence Service said, as mounting losses at the front and a collapse in voluntary recruitment push Moscow toward a second formal wave of conscription.
Ukrainian intelligence said Russia planned to call up 300,000 this year and another 300,000 in 2027, and that the Russian leadership had already made the decision.
Kyiv said the trigger was a combination of heavy battlefield losses, a loss of military initiative and a sharp fall in voluntary contract signings in its ongoing all-out war against Ukraine.
Russia's losses have been severe. Ukraine's General Staff said total Russian losses since the February 2022 full-scale invasion had exceeded 1.4 million killed and wounded.
In the first half of 2026 alone, Ukrainian intelligence estimated Russia lost around 240,000 troops, of whom 140,000 were killed or severely wounded.
