Russia plans to annually recruit 225,000 contracted soldiers - Ukraine’s official

That’s according to Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"According to experts' estimates, the Russian authorities plan to recruit at least 225,000 contracted soldiers annually to the Russian army in the next three years. Money for one-time payments to this end has been laid down in the budget until 2027," he wrote on Telegram.

Kovalenko believes the figure points to the Kremlin's intentions to refrain from general mobilization but to sustain the war effort at the same time,

As Ukrinform reported, referring to the ISW think tank, mobilization in Russia remains an unlikely option in the short and medium term due to Vladimir Putin’s fears of it becoming a direct threat to his regime’s stability.