Putin expands the size of Russia’s army for the sixth time since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree raising the army’s authorized size to 2,426,130 personnel, with service members now numbering 1,535,000, up from 1,510,000.
The decree takes effect August 1 and ties the change to the creation of military construction units within the Russian Armed Forces.
A little more than a month earlier, Putin had signed the previous decree, which raised the army’s authorized size to 2,399,130 personnel. The reason for that increase was not specified.
It is the third change to the army’s size in the past six months, following two earlier decrees signed in March and June 2026.
Putin has now increased the army’s size six times since the start of the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine.
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