The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has announced plans to send approximately 120,000 individuals for mandatory military service as part of the autumn 2026 conscription campaign. This information was officially released by Colonel-General Yevgeny Burdinsky, Head of the Mobilization Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. According to the approved schedule, the direct deployment of recruits from assembly points to their military service locations is set to begin on October 10.
Conscription Features and Official Guarantees
Representatives of the Russian military department emphasize that autumn conscripts allegedly will not be deployed to perform tasks in the zone of the so-called special military operation. It is claimed that conscript soldiers are not sent to the territories of annexed and occupied regions of Ukraine, including the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. For comparison, during the spring 2026 campaign, which ran from April to July, over 140,000 people were sent for mandatory service. It is worth noting that a modified conscription system has been in effect in the country since this year, where registration procedures are conducted year-round, while deployments to the troops still take place during the spring and autumn seasons.
Contradictory Data
While official Russian sources report limitations on conscript duties and planned figures of 120,000 individuals, the Ukrainian leadership and independent observers assess the situation differently. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that the Russian Federation has de facto already launched covert additional mobilization, utilizing various mechanisms to increase the size of its armed forces. According to the Ukrainian leader, Moscow is actively expanding opportunities for recruiting citizens and engaging foreign mercenaries; specifically, the presence of thousands of DPRK military personnel on Russian territory has been recorded, which sharply contrasts with the official stance of the Russian General Staff regarding the purely routine nature of the autumn draft.
Expert Assessment and Context
Analysts note that any statements by defense agencies amid a large-scale armed conflict require critical evaluation. Despite official promises not to send conscripts to the combat zone, human rights defenders have repeatedly recorded instances of pressure on servicemen to sign contracts immediately upon arrival at military units. Against the backdrop of ongoing large-scale hostilities, the Russian army's need for manpower remains extremely high, forcing the military leadership to seek all possible ways to replenish reserves, including both official draft campaigns and covert forms of mobilization.
