Russia is recruiting 50,000 new soldiers a month, ISW says. The Kremlin refuses to disclose the make-up of the Russian peace talks delegation in Turkey. Trump says there is a possibility he will attend the talks in Turkey.
Russia recruiting 50,000 new soldiers a month, ISW says
Russia is sending poorly-trained recruits into infantry assaults, ignoring a high casualty rate, in an effort to gain advantages in peace talks with Ukraine and the West, a report published by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Tuesday found. The paragraphs below are quoted from the piece.
The Russian military is reportedly generating enough forces to replace losses and is reinforcing the size of the Russian force grouping in Ukraine despite experiencing an increased casualty rate per square kilometer gained. Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be embracing significant losses in exchange for diminishing returns to make battlefield gains and manage perceptions about Russia’s military capabilities to pressure Ukraine in negotiations.
Putin stated on May 13 that 50,000 to 60,000 people voluntarily join the Russian military per month. Putin gave this figure as part of a statement claiming that Russia has a higher monthly recruitment than Ukraine and therefore may be exaggerating these recruitment figures to posture a large Russian military amid ongoing negotiations with Ukraine and the West, however.
[Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr] Syrskyi stated on May 13 that Russian forces have suffered 177,000 casualties in Ukraine since the start of 2025. Syrskyi’s and Putin’s figures indicate that Russia may be generating enough forces to replace losses while also increasing the overall size of its force grouping in Ukraine.Russia continues to tolerate personnel losses comparable to the casualty rate Russian forces sustained during a period of intensified advances in Fall 2024, despite a slowed rate of advance in the first four months of 2025.
Russian forces are likely able to generate enough forces to sustain their replacement rate and increase the size of the Russian force grouping in Ukraine by rapidly deploying low quality troops to frontline units.
ISW has repeatedly observed reports that new Russian recruits only receive a month of training before deploying to Ukraine, and this limited training is likely constraining recruits’ combat capabilities and the Russian military’s overall capacity to successfully conduct complex operations.
The Russian military is currently prioritizing sending poorly-trained recruits into highly-attritional infantry assaults to make grinding advances — despite enduring a higher casualty rate per square kilometer gained — in an effort to pressure Ukraine and the West into acquiescing to Russian demands amid ongoing negotiations.
Russia is also attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and while making additional battlefield advances.
Kremlin holds off disclosing make-up of Russian peace talks delegation in Turkey
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not say which Russian officials would be attending the peace talks in Turkey on Thursday.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday if the Kremlin could reveal the composition of the Russian delegation, Peskov said: “Nothing has changed in this regard. We will do that when we get an instruction to do so from the president. So far, no such instructions have been given.”
He added that “everything the president said in a late-night address on May 11 remains on the table,” apparently referring to Putin’s proposal for talks in Turkey on Thursday.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, restated on Tuesday his commitment to meeting the Russian leader for peace talks in Turkey. Advisor to the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated on Tuesday that Zelenskyi will only negotiate with Putin in Istanbul, as lower-level officials would lack the authority to negotiate an end to the war.
Russia has not responded to Zelenskyi’s offer to meet at the leaders’ level.
Trump says he does not know if Putin will show up to talks in Turkey
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he did not know if Russian leader Vladimir Putin would show up for talks on the war in Ukraine planned for Thursday in Turkey.
“He’d like me to be there, and that’s a possibility. (…) I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out,” Trump told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Qatar, according to Reuters.
Trump, however, noted that he was scheduled to be in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. He suggested his schedule was too full to incorporate another stop before he heads to Abu Dhabi. “Now tomorrow we’re all booked out, you understand that, we’re all set,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. But, when asked about visiting Turkey, he added: “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives.”
