In an interview with Ukraine's LB.ua page on April 9, Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky said that Kiev needs to mobilize 30,000 soldiers per month to maintain its resistance against the Russian army, while acknowledging the widening military capability gap between the two sides.
Mr Syrsky said the number of Russian soldiers has increased fivefold since the conflict escalated in 2022, with his current estimate at around 623,000 people. They increase by 8,000 to 9,000 troops per month, about 120,000 to 130,000 per year, he said.
According to Commander-in-Chief Syrsky, Russia is fully capable of mobilizing up to 5 million trained and experienced soldiers to quickly deploy to the battlefield; if a national general mobilization is held, the potential force could reach 20 million people.
In some frontline areas, the Russian army is larger than Ukraine at a scale of 10 to 1 - which further aggravates the shortage of troops that Kiev is facing, according to Syrsky.
To solve the personnel problem, Ukraine launched a voluntary military contract program in February to call for men aged 18 to 24 to join the army.
The program offers a one-year contract, with a reward of 1 million hryvnia ($24,000) - four times the usual - along with a minimum monthly fighting allowance of 120,000 hryvnia ($2,880) and many other benefits.
Meanwhile, according to RT, Russia has not yet held any national general mobilization. After a partial mobilization in the fall of 2022, the Russian government has relied heavily on contract forces and financial incentives to recruit volunteer troops.
At the end of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in 2024, more than 1,000 volunteers would sign contracts to the front line every day.
