Russia is recruiting 30,000 new soldiers a month, enough to replace the ones thrown into the meat grinder in Ukraine, war analysts say

• Russia is recruiting 30,000 new soldiers a month, a top Ukrainian intelligence official said.
• Russia is doing so to make up for losses on the front lines, the ISW said.
• The ISW said "Russian forces are able to conduct routine operational level rotations in Ukraine."

Russia is recruiting 30,000 new soldiers a month to make up for the ones thrown into the meat grinder in Ukraine, a top Ukrainian intelligence official said this week.

That's about 1,000 to 1,100 people a day, according to the assessment from Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy chief major general of Ukraine's main military intelligence arm.

The Institute for the Study of War said Skibitskyi's statement is "consistent with ISW's assessment that Russian forces are able to conduct routine operational level rotations in Ukraine."

The term "meat grinder" originally referred to Russia's high-casualty approach to battles for strategic cities like Bakhmut and Avdiivka. But as the war drags on, analysts have seen similar parallels in Russia's offensive along other parts of the front lines.

In October, the US said Moscow had resumed the use of bloody "human wave" tactics, which involve throwing unprepared and poorly trained troops into the thick of battle, often without the right equipment.

"Russians are motivated to join the army, primarily driven by salary considerations, especially in crisis regions where wages are low or there are no jobs at all," Skibitskyi told RBC-Ukraine on Monday.

Skibitskyi told RBC-Ukraine that while the 30,000 new monthly recruits are enough to replenish losses on the front lines, Russia would need to "declare a more massive mobilization" to "create a more strategic reserve."

"Will Putin dare to do this?" he added, according to the news outlet. "Unlikely before the elections. And afterward — we'll see. But all the conditions for conducting mobilization in Russia are created at any time."

In addition to the war, Putin faces a growing threat from within Russia: the wives and mothers of soldiers who want their loved ones to come home.

Their pushback has been so concerted that Federal Security Service agents have questioned soldiers whose wives are protesting, and military officers have threatened to send soldiers to the front lines if their wives don't back down, The Washington Post reported.

"Your methods are very dirty," said one message posted to a Telegram channel advocating for soldiers to be brought home, according to The Post. "You are trying to calm our anger by putting pressure on our relatives."