Putin orders buildup of troops in face of heavy losses

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a major buildup of his country’s military forces Thursday in an apparent effort to replenish troops that have suffered heavy losses in six months of bloody warfare and prepare for a long, grinding fight ahead in Ukraine.

The move to increase the number of troops by 137,000, or 13%, to 1.15 million by the end of the year came amid chilling developments on the ground in Ukraine:

Fueling fears of a nuclear catastrophe, the Zaporizhzhia power plant in the middle of the fighting in southern Ukraine was cut off from the electrical grid for the first time in its history after fires damaged the last working transmission line, according to Ukrainian authorities. The plant was later reconnected to the grid, a local Russian-installed official said.

The death toll from a Russian rocket attack on a train station and the surrounding area on Ukraine’s

Independence Day climbed to 25, Ukrainian authorities said. Russia

said it targeted a military train and claimed to have killed more than 200 Ukrainian reservists in the attack Wednesday.

Putin’s decree did not specify whether the expansion would

be accomplished by widening the draft, recruiting more volunteers, or both. But some Russian military analysts predicted heavier reliance on volunteers because of the Kremlin’s concerns about a potential domestic backlash from an expanded draft.

The move will boost Russia’s armed forces overall to 2.04 million, including the 1.15 million troops.

Western estimates of Russian dead in the Ukraine war have ranged from 15,000 to more than 20,000 — more than the Soviet Union lost during its 10-year war in Afghanistan. The Pentagon said last week that as many as 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, eroding Moscow’s ability to conduct big offensives.

The Kremlin has said that only volunteer contract soldiers take part in the Ukraine war. But it may be difficult to find more willing soldiers, and military analysts said the planned troop levels may still be insufficient to sustain operations.

Retired Russian Col. Viktor Murakhovsky said in comments carried by the Moscow-based RBC online news outlet that the Kremlin will probably try to keep relying on volunteers, and he predicted that will account for the bulk of the increase.

LEO CORREA/ASSOCIATED PRESS A railway worker stands next to a heavily damaged train after a Russian attack on a train station Wednesday, Ukraine’s Independence Day, in Chaplyne. Ukrainian officials said 25 people were killed.