Putin boosts troop numbers as Russia launches airstrikes across Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the regular size of the Russian army to increase by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million soldiers, the third time he has expanded its ranks since sending the military into Ukraine in February 2022.

In a decree published on the Kremlin’s website, Mr Putin ordered the overall size of the armed forces to be increased to 2.38 million people, of which he said 1.5 million should be active servicemen and women.

Mr Putin since 2022 had previously ordered two official increases in the number of combat troops – by 137,000 and 170,000 respectively. In addition, Russia mobilised over 300,000 soldiers in September and October 2022 in an exercise which prompted tens of thousands of draft-age men to flee the country.

The Kremlin has said that no new mobilisation is planned for now, however, and that the idea is to continue to rely on volunteers signing up to fight in Ukraine on lucrative contracts.

The new order came as Ukraine fought off a massive Russian drone barrage across Ukraine – including the capital Kyiv – in the latest aerial assault of Vladimir Putin ’s 30-month-old invasion.

Ukraine ’s air force shot down 53 out of 56 Russian drones launched overnight as one person was injured and five homes were damaged in the Kyiv region. Air defence units destroyed nearly 20 drones that were heading towards Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.

Meanwhile Russian troops continue to advance on Pokrovsk , a key city in eastern Ukraine key to Mr Putin’s objective of seizing the entire Donbas region, comprising of Donetsk and Luhansk.

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“Russian attack drones were heading to Kyiv from different directions and in different groups,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said.

Around 675km (420 miles) further east, one person was killed by Russian shelling in Pokrovsk as troops inched closer to the logistics hub.

Kyiv’s troops claimed they repelled 36 Russian assaults on the city with the highest concentration of attacks on nearby Hrodivka and Novohrodivka.

In Russia’s Kursk region – where Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border incursion on 6 August – Moscow claimed it had taken back two villages from Kyiv’s control as thousands were evacuated.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its troops had retaken the settlements of Uspenovka and Borki, although this could not be independently verified.

At the same time, Ukraine said it had invited the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide humanitarian support to civilians caught up in the conflict in Kursk.

Kurk’s governor Alexei Smirnov also said Russians had been ordered to evacuate the region within 15km (9 miles) of the Ukrainian border on Monday.

Yesterday Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his calls on Western allies to allow his military to fire long-range missiles deep inside Russian territory to counter Moscow’s drone and missiles attacks.

He said: “The only way to counter this terror is through a systemic solution, long-range capabilities to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases.

“Every Russian strike, every act of terror – like today’s attack on the city of Kharkiv, and the Sumy and Donetsk regions – proves that we need this capability, and we need it in full.”

Mr Zelensky has pleaded with allies for months now to allow his military to fire long-range US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia.

Britain has supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 250km (155 miles), but it cannot use them inside Russian territory.

Meanwhile, the US has provided Ukraine with the longest-range version of ATACMS, a ballistic missile that can travel about 300km (190 miles).

But it has remained hesitant over allowing the firing of long-range missiles into Russia over fears Moscow could respond by deploying hypersonic nuclear weapons.

Last week, it was widely expected Washington would approve Kyiv’s use of the long-range weapons inside Russia after US president Joe Biden said he was “working” on a decision.

However, the decision appeared to have been delayed after Mr Putin warned Nato would be in direct confrontation with Russia if Kyiv was given the go ahead.

Mr Putin told Russian state media last Thursday: “It would mean that Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.

“If that’s the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.”