Since the beginning of 2025, around 292,000 new individuals are reported to have signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and since last summer, the number of Russian soldiers who have been killed in the Ukraine war has decreased.
This means that the number of new soldiers in recent months has been higher than those killed, which may have led to Russia assessing that there is room to send some of the new recruits to a reserve force instead of to the front, according to information from a Russian source with insight.
This without reducing the pace of advancement in Ukraine.
"Reports that Russia is creating a strategic reserve further suggest that the Kremlin is not interested in ending the war against Ukraine, but continues to strive to achieve its war goals on the battlefield and possibly prepare for a conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), writes the US-based think tank Institute for the study of war (ISW) in an analysis in connection with the information.
