Russia has no need for a second mobilization defense minister claims

Russia has no plans to launch a second mobilization according to the country's defense minister who has claimed that hundreds of thousands of volunteers have already signed up to fight the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. 

"There are no plans for an additional mobilization," Defense Minister Sergei Shougi said to a group of top Russian generals on state television. Reuters translated the comments from Shoigu, who added that Russia had enough troops. 

Shoigu explained that the Russian Armed Forces had the “necessary number of military personnel to conduct the special military operation” in Ukraine. Shoigu’s comments may ring true considering Russia’s strategic shift. 

Reuters reported that the Kremlin has been shifting its understanding of the conflict and has moved towards bolstering its military forces in the face of what officials now expect to be a much longer conflict than originally planned. 

The frontlines of the war have barely moved since Ukrainian forces made big gains last summer when they recaptured large swaths of land in both Kharkiv and Kherson Oblasts. However, that victory changed Moscow’s war plans. 

The Kremlin began ramping up weapons production and the country's Defense Ministry began looking for ways to encourage more citizens to join the war after it announced big changes to the structure of the armed forces. 

In January, Minister Shoigu announced the Kremlin’s plans to boost its military from 1.15 million soldiers to 1.5 million according to a report by the Russian News Agency (TASS), which is one of the country’s state media sources. 

According to Reuters Shoigu said at the time: “Only by strengthening the key structural components of the Armed Forces is it possible to guarantee the military security of the state and protect new entities and critical facilities of the Russian Federation.”

Whether or not the figures presented by Shoigu regarding the amount of volunteers who have signed up for service is impossible to know. However, the defense minister relayed some figures on how the recruitment went. 

"Since the start of the year, more than 335,000 people have entered military service under contract and in volunteer formations," Shoigu explained according to a Reuters translation. "In September alone, more than 50,000 citizens signed contracts."

The British news outlet pointed out that the figures quoted by Shoigu could mean that the defense ministry has made significant progress in its goals to sign new recruits and also absorb mercenaries from the Wagner Group into its volunteer formations. 

Russia’s defense minister also explained that one hundred and thirty thousand people were subject to the country’s yearly conscription. However, he added those who were conscripted would not be sent to fight in Ukraine. 

Questions about Russia’s ability to deal with the strains on its defensive lines since the Ukrainian counter-offensive began in June have increasingly made analysts report that the Kremlin would be unable to launch its own major offensive. 

In August, Russian forces launched an offensive in Luhansk that culminated in little more than an increase of the no man’s land between the two sides according to Ukraine's head of military administration for the Kharkiv region. 

“The result of their offensive has been an increase of the no-man’s-land, of the number of settlements where active combat is underway,” explained Oleh Syniehubov, the Wall Street Journal reported on September 13th. 

Syniehubov went on to say that the Russians hadn’t been able to “occupy a single new village here since last September, and they keep sustaining heavy losses in personnel and equipment.” However, Russia is still conducting offensive operations.