Research: The composition of Russian troops in Ukraine has changed — the number of contract soldiers has increased to 554 800

The composition of Russian troops in Ukraine has changed — the number of contract soldiers in 2025 increased to 554 800.

This is stated in an analysis by the German foundation Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, which is based on data from the Russian federal budget.

According to the authorʼs estimate, in 2025 the number of Russian contract soldiers participating in the war against Ukraine will have increased to approximately 554 800 people. At the same time, the number of mobilized soldiers will have decreased to 168 600.

The total number of Russian troops in Ukraine, according to these calculations, increased from approximately 523 500 in 2023 to 723.5 thousand in 2025. In June 2026, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky estimated the number of Russian troops at approximately 721 000 troops.

Russia actively encourages conscripts to sign contracts. As a result, official figures for the recruitment of contract soldiers may overstate the actual influx of new servicemen into the Russian army. Some of the people Russia counts as “new contract soldiers” were actually previously mobilized.

For example, in 2025, in some regions of the Russian Federation, former mobilized soldiers made up approximately 10-20% of new contract soldiers. According to the study, between mid-2023 and mid-2024, Russia lost about 182 000 contract soldiers — about 15 000 soldiers per month.

Between mid-2024 and mid-2025, this figure increased to approximately 251 000 people, or about 21 000 per month. If you consider only contract soldiers, this means a loss of approximately 43-45% of the active-duty contingent per year.

Figures for the first quarter of 2026 may indicate a further reduction in the number of mobilized people, to approximately 120 000 people. The number of contract workers could also decrease to approximately 525 000, which is about 30 000 fewer than in mid-2025.

• The calculation has a certain error, as it is based on budget payments, not on direct data on the dead and wounded.

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