Despite a large-scale advertising campaign and significant financial incentives, russia is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit new soldiers for the war against Ukraine; in the first quarter of 2026, the rate of enlistment in the russian federation’s contract service fell by 20% compared to last year. CNN reports this.
The kremlin is offering one-time payments of up to USD 80,000 and debt forgiveness of up to USD 140,000, but these measures are losing their effectiveness.
Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies note that russia is now losing more soldiers on the battlefield than it is able to recruit. According to Western intelligence estimates, total casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion have reached about 500,000, with monthly losses ranging from 30,000 to 35,000 fighters. Earlier, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed that in May alone, Ukrainian drone units eliminated or wounded more invaders than moscow managed to recruit during the same period.
To compensate for the shortage, russian authorities have already deployed tens of thousands of prisoners, brought in three waves of troops from North Korea, and are actively recruiting migrants. As these resources are being exhausted, experts do not rule out the announcement of a second wave of forced mobilization, accompanied by the closure of borders to men of draft age, although such a move is extremely unpopular with the public.
At the same time, the crisis is deepening within russia itself. The country is experiencing the most acute labor shortage in its history due to the mass deployment of men to the front and emigration. Defense plants, operating around the clock, have reached their maximum capacity. Despite rising wages, the civilian sector cannot keep up with inflation, and food prices in russia have risen by more than 18% compared to the beginning of 2024.
As the Ukrainian News agency previously reported, the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine obtained documents from classified reports on the losses of russian occupiers in the war against Ukraine, estimated at 1,315,000 killed and seriously wounded.
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