Russia trained 300,000 reserve soldiers for war in Ukraine, Russian defense official claims

Russia has trained 300,000 contract soldiers as reserves for the currently fighting regiments, a Russian official said in an article for the propaganda outlet Krasnaya Zvezda on Dec. 2.

"Seven companies of instructors and eight training companies for specialists… have trained over 300,000 service members," said Ivan Buvaltsev, the head of the training department of Russia's Armed Forces.

The claim comes as Russia's advance in Ukraine's east is picking up pace despite allegedly suffering record losses.

Buvaltsev did not specify when the 300,000 reservists were supposedly trained, but the article's context suggests he refers to 2024.

Former Defense Minister Seiger Shoigu set up nine reserve battalions to train and prepare contract soldiers to offset Russia’s casualties in Ukraine at the end of 2023.

According to Shoigu, 335,000 people signed up voluntarily to fight in 2023. In 2024, this number was 200,000, according to former President Dmitry Medvedev.

Russia reportedly suffered record losses in military equipment and personnel in the war against Ukraine in November. Moscow's losses steadily grew since the beginning of the fall as Russia continued to advance in the Donetsk sector, aiming to capture the towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.

Only in November, 45,720 Russian soldiers were wounded, killed, or captured and thus unable to continue participating in operations, Kyiv said. This number is equivalent to more than three motorized rifle divisions of the Russian army.

November also saw the record for enemy personnel losses in one day broken: 2,030, the highest figure since Feb. 24, 2022, according to Ukraine's military. As of Dec. 2, Russia lost 743,920 troops, 9,478 tanks, and 19,397 armored fighting vehicles, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said.

The figures could not be independently verified.

Russia loses almost 46,000 troops, over $3 billion worth of military equipment in November, Defense Ministry says

In November, the Russian military lost 2,030 soldiers in one day, which is the highest rate of Russian losses in a day since Feb. 24, 2022.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova

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