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Russia Signs 280,000 Contracts, Expected to Fully Reach 2025 Recruitment Plan, Says Ukrainian Intel
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Russia is expected to fully meet its military recruitment targets by the end of 2025.
Russia is expected to fully meet its military recruitment targets by the end of 2025, as Moscow continues to rely on propaganda to mobilize its population and has the financial resources to sustain the effort, Deputy Chief of Defense Intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi said in an interview with Ukrinform on September 7.
“Unfortunately, they have the capacity, backed by finances and propaganda. Every month Russia recruits at least 35,000 servicemen. According to our data, as of September 1, 2025, the Kremlin had signed contracts with about 280,000 servicemen,” the intelligence official reported.
He emphasized that Russian contractors are offered considerable financial rewards. For instance, those signing a contract for the first time are promised up to $22,000.
“So there are all the signs that by the end of the year they will fully achieve their recruitment plan,” Skibitskyi said. He added that the enemy is also being reinforced by foreign forces, specifically mercenaries from North Korea.
At the same time, Russia is expanding efforts to recruit women from economically vulnerable countries to work at its drone manufacturing facilities, according to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
These recruitment schemes are being coordinated through BRICS -affiliated organizations and are primarily focused on the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, where loitering munitions such as Shahed drones are assembled and later used in strikes against Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence reports that women from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are lured with promises of high salaries and career opportunities, without being informed that their work involves assembling combat drones intended for the battlefield.
Earlier, it was reported that Russia is cutting recruitment bonuses in some regions while raising them in others, a move that underscores mounting fiscal pressure and exposes deepening regional inequalities in how the Kremlin values its citizens’ lives.
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