Ukraine’s Intelligence Ministry recently estimated that close to 700,000 Russian troops—including Russian National Guard soldiers, special forces, and support units—were inside Ukrainian territory.
There are as many as 700,000 Russian troops currently deployed in Ukraine, according to a widely publicized statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Though Putin’s estimate might be inflated, it is notable that the Russian leader’s disclosure comes shortly after a Ukrainian military intelligence assessment that estimated the same number of Russian troops in Ukraine.
700,000 Russians in Ukraine, Putin Says
The Russian president made that statement during a televised meeting with Russian lawmakers.
The claim that the Russian military has 700,000 troops in Ukraine is all the more remarkable when juxtaposed with the number of men the Kremlin has lost in the fighting. According to the latest estimates by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence—estimates corroborated by Western intelligence assessments—the Russian military, paramilitary units, and pro-Russian separatist forces have lost approximately 1.1 million men killed and wounded in the fighting.
During the meeting, Putin announced that 700,000 Russian troops were deployed in the “war zone.” It remains unclear if his remarks referred to troops that were actively deployed along the conflict’s front lines, or if it included those committed to the conflict that could be hundreds of miles away from the fighting.
Similarly, Ukraine’s Intelligence Ministry recently estimated that close to 700,000 Russian troops—including Russian National Guard soldiers, special forces, and support units—were inside Ukrainian territory, presumably referring to the entirety of eastern and southern Ukraine, the portions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that have remained under separatist control since late 2014, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia invaded in February 2014 and annexed the following month.
The Ukrainian military does not regularly release detailed reporting on its size. The Kyiv Independent claimed in January that the military had around 880,000 troops across the entire country, exceeding Russia’s strength. However, the Ukrainian military is tasked with defending the whole country, and is therefore spread relatively thin. By contrast, Russia, which has constructed elaborate siegeworks protecting its gains in eastern Ukraine, can concentrate its forces in key areas as desired, and thus achieve local numerical superiority, even if Ukraine has more troops overall.
Are There North Koreans in Ukraine Now?
North Korean troops, sent by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in support of Moscow’s “special military operation,” remain within Russian territory, but have not yet entered eastern Ukraine, according to Kyiv. North Korea initially deployed approximately 11,000 troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast in August 2024. Heavy casualties after intense fighting with the Ukrainian military in Kursk forced Pyongyang to temporarily pull its troops from the front line, then deploy thousands of additional troops to replenish casualties.
Moscow and Pyongyang have likely kept North Korean troops inside Russian sovereign territory for international law purposes. The decision to withhold the troops from the four Ukrainian provinces that Russia claims to have “annexed”—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—suggests a tacit acknowledgement by the Kremlin that the referenda in which those regions were annexed into the Russian Federation were fraudulent.
North Korean troops might not be fighting in force inside Ukraine, but North Korean materiel is fueling Russia’s war effort. According to Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov, “Along the entire front, 40 to 60 percent of artillery shells fired at Ukraine and Ukrainian soldiers are North Korean-made.”
Russia Has Had Little Trouble Finding New Troops
The Russian military’s force generation capabilities remain impressive.
In 2024, the Russian forces suffered more than 400,000 casualties killed and wounded in the fighting. Yet the Kremlin managed to recruit approximately 400,000 troops in the same timeframe, thus achieving an almost one-to-one replenishment ratio.
Thus far in 2025, the Russian forces have suffered approximately 300,000 casualties killed and wounded, according to recent intelligence estimates by the British Ministry of Defence.
The Kremlin has shown that it can replace almost every soldier it loses in the fighting, painting a grim picture for a Ukraine struggling to recruit enough new troops to man the frontlines.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Shutterstock / photo.ua.
