Putin orders military to boost troop numbers by 180,000 to 1.5 million as Ukraine fighting continues

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine drags on for more than 2 ½ years. Putin’s decree, published Monday on the official government website, takes effect Dec. 1. It sets the overall number of Russian military personnel at nearly 2.4 million, including 1.5 million troops, and orders the government to provide the necessary funding. The previous increase in Russian troop numbers came last December, when a Putin decree set the number of troops at 1.32 million. The most capable Russian troops have been pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine, making incremental slow gains.