Russia Drafts 300,000 Reservists, Announces Number Of Combat Deaths

He said that the 300,000 men will not be including students, or current military conscripts, and that the draft would only include men with professional experience as soldiers. Image | Screenshot of video by Russian state news RT

By Donald Standeford, SJ Founder/Publisher
September 21, 2022 07:21 pm UTC
Modified: 2022-09-21 07:21 pm

MOSCOW - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has announced that Russia will be drafting 300,000 reservists, and says that mobilization is necessary in order to "consolidate" Ukrainian territory that the country has occupied.

He said that the 300,000 men will not be including students, or current military conscripts, and that the draft would only include men with professional experience as soldiers.

"These are really those who have served, have a military specialty, that is, a specialty that is needed today in the Armed Forces, who have combat experience [...] Those who are serving under conscription - it doesn't apply to them either," he stated.

"They are not subject to any mobilization and direction for the 'special military operation'. Our conscripts also continue to serve, as they did, on the territory of the Russian Federation," Reuters cited Shoigu as saying.

Shoigu claimed that 5,937 Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting with Ukraine since the "special military operation" began on February 24th, 2022.

This is the first update Russia has given on losses since March, 2022 when Russia claimed 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed during the fighting in Ukraine.

Ukrainian sources, along with Western intelligence, and Pentagon officials have estimated that at least 70,000 to 80,000 Russian soldiers have been injured or killed in the fighting.

Shoigu not only dismissed Ukrainian and Western data on Russian losses, but also stated that 90% of the Russian soldiers that had been wounded in combat have been re-deployed to combat on the front lines.

After the announcement that 300,000 reservists would be drafted into the Russian military, many airlines sold out on flights out of Russia due to fear that men of combat age would not be allowed to leave the country.

Anti-war protests within Russia have also been reported after the mobilization announcement, with hundreds of Russians reported as having been detained. Some reports say over a thousand people now have been arrested/detained.