Putin orders Russian army to increase troop strength by 180,000

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday increasing the number of troops in the Russian army by 180,000, bringing the total number of active-duty troops in the coming winter to 1.5 million.

The decree, which comes into force on December 1, sets the total number of troops in Russia‘S The army numbers 2,389,139 people, including 1.5 million soldiers.

It is also the third military build-up since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Previous increases in the armed forces included an increase of 137,000 in August 2022 and another 170,000 in December last year.

The latest expansion comes as Putin’s warnings intensify that allowing Ukraine to use longer-range weapons to attack targets deep within its own country would mean NATO “war” with Russia.

The Russian leader has repeatedly warned that Western military support for Ukraine could lead to nuclear confrontation.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Western powers, especially Great Britain and the US, to allow the use of British Storm Shadow missiles and American ATACMS missiles to attack Russian territory.