On September 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at an internal meeting in the Kremlin, personally confirmed a military deployment that shook the world: The number of Russian troops on the Ukrainian front line has exceeded 700,000.From land to pensions, from education to healthcare, it’s all over.This is not a simple military move, but Putin’s comprehensive declaration of a “long-term battle.”
In the face of the Russian army, Trump suddenly attacked, yelling at European allies, ordering them to stop buying Russian oil immediatelyHe even threatened that the United States could reconsider its security commitments to NATO if its allies don’t cooperate. How long is Russia ready to fight? Has Putin's "family protection policy" really stabilized the domestic situation?
Putin really took it seriously this time.As early as the end of 2024, Putin signed a presidential decree raising the total military force from 2.2 million to 238.913 million and expanding its army to 180,000. This lays the foundation for 700,000 people to "press Ukraine" in early 2025Let the front line no longer lack people and no longer panic.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, These 700,000 are not the average distribution, but the pressure of heavy troops in critical areas such as Donbass and Kharkov.In the Donetsk direction, a deep defense line has been built, the grip situation in the direction of Helsinki has been stable, and the Zopolsky direction hasined the advancement trend. From the deployment point of view, Russia has no intention of “retreat” at all.
Putin wants Ukraine to understand that this is a war of attrition, not a blitzkrieg. Whether soldiers dare to fight or not depends on whether there is support at home.
As 700,000 troops marched to the front, Russia’s back simultaneously launched a “Anne Project”. The military was allowed to prioritize free housing bases in the Far East, along with housing subsidies and entrepreneurial support. These areas are no longer deserts, but the main battlefield of Russia’s new round of energy development.
If the soldiers sacrifice, the family can receive a pension of 5 million rubles (abbreviated RMB 400,000) and a subsidy of no less than the local average wage per month. The children have a priority to go to school, the spouse to find work has government arrangements, and the retired soldiers to visit the national public hospitals for free. These are not empty promises, but a "guarantee package" written into the decree.
Russia's approach of "protecting the family + working hard" has immediate results. According to data from the Russian National Polling Center, after the introduction of the new policy, domestic support for "special military operations" rose by 8 percentage points, with rural areas and small and medium-sized cities experiencing the most obvious increases. Especially in the Far East, the number of applicants for joining the army increased by 22% compared with the same period last year. This shows that many people no longer hesitate and choose to take the initiative to join the war.
In his speech, Putin said very bluntly: "War is not the responsibility of some people, but the responsibility of the whole country." This sentence is not a slogan, but a consensus emerging in Russian society. While Russia was fighting and stabilizing people's hearts, Trump suddenly couldn't sit still.
In a rare expression of anger at a closed-door meeting, he said directly: " Putin disappointed me.Then let go of the bad words: “If Europe continues to buy Russian oil, the U.S. will no longer pay for Ukraine.”
It was not an emotional speech, but a reaction to the situation out of control. Trump wanted to help Ukraine to crush Russia.As a result, instead of collapsing, the Russian army fought more and more, and the soldiers fought more and more steadily. The backward policy also mobilizes the entire society.
The “agent war” in the United States has been shattered by Putin’s policy one by one. After Trump’s anger, Europe has fallen into anxiety.
The United Kingdom immediately expressed its willingness to further reduce Russian energy imports and add $2 billion in military aid. France is cautious, saying that it will withdraw from the Russian energy system "in stages" and is unwilling to sever diplomatic ties with Russia. Hungary, on the other hand, is clearly opposed to saying that "when we stop buying Russian energy, our country will cut off electricity."
The division of Europe has once again been exposed to the whole world.According to the International Energy Agency, if the EU stops buying Russian oil altogether, European inflation will rise by 2-3 percentage points and the manufacturing industry will suffer heavily.
Europe, on the other hand, must follow the US to sanction Russia, while retaining its own electric lamp and heat, and it is difficult to retreat. and Russia, seeing all this, continues to fight steadily and without any panic.Without military pressure. Putin also made a surprising statement at the political levelAt a meeting with the leaders of the various parties of the State Duma on September 18, he said: The future leaders of the country should be selected from the frontline soldiers.
The information released in this sentence is very clear: Russia’s future political core will be more militarized.The 700,000 are not only soldiers on the battlefield, but also a significant force in the Russian political arena in the future.
During Tsarist Russia, Nobles rely on war to make meritorious deeds to change their status; During the Soviet era, veterans were the backbone of the regime; Now in Russia, Putin has copied this model again. Soldiers who enter government offices from the battlefield will become a key force to ensure the smooth transition of the "post-Putin era".
They are loyal, have strong execution ability, have a deep recognition of the existing system, and are more likely to play the role of "ballast stone" in the future political structure. All this has actually been paved for a long time.Starting from the end of 2024, Russia will begin to expand the recruitment scale of contract soldiers and volunteers. The "National Defense Strategy Adjustment Order" was issued, raising the total force target from 1.15 million to 1.5 million.
By the beginning of 2025. More than 200,000 have completed their training and have been deployed to the eastern and southern war zones.War is no longer a contest of "speed", but a comprehensive contest of "resource allocation, social support and institutional mobilization".
At this time, it is difficult for Ukraine to find a breakthrough. According to reports from the Russian army, the Ukrainian army's supply lines have been cut off many times, and multiple counteroffensive attempts have been thwarted by "positionalization." In the past, some "victory news" could be produced by local raids, but now it is almost impossible to move forward in the face of the Russian army's heavy strength and strangulation tactics.
Putin is not rushing forward, but relying on the advantage of more people, more resources, more backward stability, and gradually consuming the Ukrainian military’s operational capabilities. Russia’s economy, although under pressure, has not collapsed. In 2025, the Russian defense budget reached 13.5 trillion rubles, accounting for 6.3 percent of GDP, and grew by 30 percent over the previous year.
Even if oil and gas revenues fell 14.4 percent, and Ural crude oil fell to $54.8 a barrel, Russia is still bite tooth. The ruble once dropped to 114 for 1 dollar, reaching a new low, but there was no massive turmoil in society.
In November 2024, the Russian CPI increased by 8.9 percent, and food prices such as butter and eggs increased significantly, but after the introduction of military policy, people's attitudes changed and regarded war as a "people's responsibility" and the number of soldiers increased, especially in the relatively backward economies of the Far East, military welfare became a "hard currency" to attract young people to the military.
The most “destroying” action of the West is the European Union’s freezing of interest on Russian central bank assets.The European Union has decided to raise 7 billion of the frozen 21 billion euros of Russian bonds, about 25-30 billion euros of interest annually, specifically for Ukraine’s arms procurement.
But Russia has prepared itself for the “permanence” of this war, which is no longer just a matter of war in Ukraine.It has gradually evolved into a global "endurance race", which competes with who can persist longer, who can resist economic pressure and who can stabilize social sentiment. Russia launched a "combination boxing" of the policy of 700,000 troops plus military families, which not only stabilized the battlefield, but also stabilized the hearts of the people.
America and Europe, although they shouted loudly, But energy dependence, financial support, and strategic unification are becoming increasingly reckless.It’s a war that doesn’t see the end, and a system that doesn’t see the smoke.Russia is prepared, 700,000 people have put their “living deaths” in the war. The question is, is the West ready?
Putin’s 700,000 Russian troops and a set of “family policies” not only demonstrated Russia’s war code, but also broke the illusions of the West about Russia’s “collapse theory.” The war is no longer about who wins fast, but about who stands up.
Source of information:
Putin revealed that the total number of Russian troops on the Ukrainian front exceeds 700,000
[2] Putin: The number of Russian troops fighting on the front line exceeds 700,000! Zelensky inspects the Donetsk front line, saying the Ukrainian army has recovered 160 square kilometers of land Daily Economic News