Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia could mobilize as many as 300,000 additional troops after its parliamentary elections next month, predicting that Moscow will turn to a new draft after suffering heavy battlefield losses during 2026, according to CNN.
Zelensky said Sunday that Russia has so far avoided a broad mobilization by relying on contracts, financial incentives and other measures to attract volunteers. He argued that mounting casualties will make that approach increasingly difficult to sustain as Moscow seeks enough manpower to continue fighting along the sprawling front in Ukraine.
"Russia has lost 267,000 personnel since the start of the year, including around 155,000 killed to date," Zelensky claimed. The figures couldn't be independently verified, and wartime casualty estimates from both Russia and Ukraine have frequently differed sharply.
Zelensky predicted that Moscow would wait until after Russia's parliamentary elections before announcing a politically sensitive mobilization campaign. He also suggested Russian authorities could concentrate recruitment outside the country's biggest population centers, potentially limiting the political impact in cities where public resistance could be greater.
"We are confident that following the elections, they will carry out a mobilization. We believe this will not take place in the major cities," Zelensky said, according to CNN.
The Ukrainian leader went further, predicting that newly mobilized soldiers would suffer enormous casualties if deployed against Ukrainian forces. "They'll lose all 300,000 of these newly mobilized Russians there; we'll wipe them out," Zelensky said.
Russia has previously used mobilization to reinforce its military during the war. More recently, Moscow has emphasized recruitment through military contracts and financial bonuses rather than another highly visible nationwide draft, an approach that has allowed the Kremlin to replenish forces without repeating the domestic disruption associated with earlier mobilization efforts.
Zelensky's warning comes as he confronts political strains of his own in Kyiv. His presidential term was originally scheduled to expire in 2024, but Ukraine hasn't held a presidential election while martial law remains in effect during Russia's invasion.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, whom Zelensky recently dismissed following disagreements over the conduct of the war, called this week for the country to move toward elections. "Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," Fedorov said in a video.
Zelensky rejected that argument, telling TIME that holding a national election during the conflict could deepen internal divisions at a moment when Ukraine is under sustained military pressure. "I believe that in a war like this, elections as such are a huge risk," Zelensky said. "Elections right now are a tsunami for the country that will split Ukraine."
"I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then during such a war we can move towards elections," Zelensky added. His position underscores the growing tension between maintaining wartime political continuity and answering calls for renewed democratic mandates after more than four years of full-scale war.
Zelensky also removed presidential deputy chief of staff Iryna Mudra this week amid a corruption and money-laundering investigation, according to The Guardian. Her home had been searched in connection with the investigation, adding another source of domestic pressure on the Ukrainian government as Kyiv simultaneously tries to contain Russian forces and secure continued foreign support.
