{"id":32097,"date":"2026-08-23T14:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/32097\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T14:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:41:08","slug":"putin-wants-to-draft-300k-new-troops-zelensky-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/32097\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin Wants to Draft 300K New Troops, Zelensky Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine thinks Russia is planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after Russian parliamentary elections in mid-September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

Moscow’s forces are pressing ahead with an effort to capture the rest of eastern Ukraine’s industrialized Donbas region, where its troops have ground forward at what Kyiv says is a great cost.<\/p>\n

In comments to reporters released on Sunday, Zelensky said Russia could draft more troops in 2027 to reach an overall goal of 500,000, part of what he described as a \u201cperipheral mobilization\u201d targeting Russia’s far-flung regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe it will not take place in the central cities,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don’t think they will be able to hide it very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parliamentary elections in Russia are set for Sept. 18-20.<\/p>\n

As fighting rages around the strategic city of Kostiantynivka, Zelensky said Russia was losing a \u201cmaximum\u201d amount of troops in its bid to advance into Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt of eastern cities.<\/p>\n

He also hailed recent gains by Kyiv’s troops in southeastern Ukraine, adding that the amount of territory occupied by Russia and liberated by Ukrainian forces in 2026 would be equal.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussia Ramping Up Missile Output, Zelensky Says\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Russia is bolstering its battlefield offensive with an escalating air war on Ukrainian cities made worse by a critical shortage of U.S.-designed Patriot interceptors.<\/p>\n

Zelensky said the 264 interceptors Ukraine is expecting to have received in 2026 represent a significant drop from 2025, when Ukraine received 364, and 2023, when it received 675.<\/p>\n

He added that Russia was aiming to develop a capacity to produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles per year.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Ukraine has escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers’ warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to \u2060Russia’s war effort.<\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments on Saturday that Kyiv had opened \u201cPandora’s box\u201d by striking \u200ceconomic targets, saying Russia would hit back at Ukraine’s \u201cmost sensitive economic sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Ukraine Braces for New Energy Strikes, Faces Funding Gap\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Zelensky said Ukraine was facing another difficult winter of Russian strikes on its energy grid, a prospect that had prompted Kyiv’s air force to ask for 360 missile interceptors for the season.<\/p>\n

He also said he had reached an agreement with France on at least one SAMP\/T air-defense system this year, and with Germany on the supply of about 600 PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors through 2028.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s war effort is further complicated by a $27 billion defense funding gap this year, Zelensky said, a result of higher-than-expected spending in the first half of the year.<\/p>\n

At least $8 billion is needed for \u201ca normal start\u201d to 2027, plus about $20 billion more for military salaries, payments to families of the dead, as well as other financing, he added.<\/p>\n

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