Russia says it called up more than 200,000 troops for Ukraine war

Moscow’s announcement comes as Ukraine captures more territory

Russia has drafted more than 200,000 people to fight in Ukraine less than a fortnight after president Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilisation of recruits.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu made the claim while speaking at a consultation with military figures.

“As of today, more than 200,000 people have entered the army,” said Shoigu.

He added that those volunteering to fight should not be turned away without a “serious reason” and that new units were receiving instruction at 80 training ranges and six training centres, according to a defence ministry posting on Telegram.

When Mr Putin announced the partial mobilisation last month – at the same time as advances by Ukraine in the south and east of the country – Shoigu announced that he planned to enlist 300,000 men with previous military experience to bolster Russia’s invasion.

However, the official decree did not include a figure, and officials are keen to allay public fears that the actual number could be higher, as even pro-Kremlin figures voice concern that people are being recruited indiscriminately.

There have been reports that as many as one million Russians could be called up. Tens of thousands of men seeking to avoid the draft have already fled abroad, and the public remains concerned that the mobilisation could be expanded.

Countries neighbouring Russia have reported an increase in the number of people crossing the border since Mr Putin’s announcement and last week Finland announced it was closing its border to Russian tourists.

A priest reacts near a damaged church in the Ruska Lozova village in the Kharkiv area (EPA)

Reports have also surfaced of men with no military experience or past draft age receiving call-up papers, adding to outrage that has reignited dormant – and banned – anti-war demonstrations.

At the same time, thousands of Russians who were mobilised have been sent home because they were unfit, claimed the governor of the Khabarovsk region in Russia’s far east. There have also been concerns in Russia that recruitment has been overly focused on ethnic groups.

President Putin acknowledged there had been mistakes in the mobilisation last week and said they should be corrected.

Mr Shoigu also said on Tuesday that those volunteering to fight should not be turned away without a “serious reason”.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reported further successes on the ground, pushing further into areas formally controlled by Russian forces, with claims that Moscow no longer had full control of any of the four areas annexed by Mr Putin last week.

A man pumps water in the recpatured city of Lyman (Associated Press)

President Zelensky said his troops had liberated more than 450 settlements in the northeast Kharkiv region alone since the counterattack operation began last month.

The news came as the upper house of Russia’s parliament voted to approve the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following a similar vote in the state Duma, Russia‘s lower house, 24 hours earlier.

The documents now pass back to the Kremlin for president Putin’s final signature to formally annex the four regions, representing around 18 per cent of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.