iStories: Kremlin expects to lose 100,000 soldiers by spring — but will replace them with conscripts

Russia plans to stabilize the front in Ukraine this winter and then to “start anew in the spring,” the independent outlet iStories reported on Friday, citing a source close to the FSB and another one close to the Russian army’s General Staff.

According to the sources, Russia’s political and military leaders are under no illusions about the fact that their plan will entail heavy losses. “By spring of next year, the number of soldiers killed and wounded could be around 100,000 [according to one projection]. But that doesn’t scare anyone: they can be replaced by compulsory service conscripts,” said the source close to the FSB.

iStories's source close to the General Staff mentioned the same number, 100,000, noting that most of the soldiers killed and injured would be mobilized ones. By the spring of 2023, he said, the Defense Ministry plans to prepare 120,000 conscripts to be sent to Ukraine to compensate for the lost mobilized soldiers. “That’s why he [Putin] isn’t revoking the partial mobilization decree,” said the source.

Vladimir Putin declared mobilization in Russia in late September. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 300,000 people would be drafted, but the section of the decree that officially indicated how many people would be called up was classified. In early November, Russian officials announced that mobilization was complete, but Putin has yet to issue a decree officially ending the campaign. Russian authorities deny that they plan to mobilize additional soldiers