Russia has recruited 280,000 soldiers this year, Medvedev says

Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting in Moscow, Russia on July, 18. Anton Novoderjozhkin/SIPAPRE/Sipa/AP

Around 280,000 personnel have been accepted into the Russian military for contracted service since the start of the year, senior Russian official Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday.

Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's security council, made the claim in a video posted on Telegram ahead of a meeting on military staffing with the heads of Russia's far eastern regions.

"Some of these people were in the reserve and some of them are volunteers and some other categories," Medvedev said in the video.

Some context: Thousands of men have fled Russia in order to avoid being conscripted and the exact number of Russian soldiers killed and injured fighting in Ukraine has not been made public. Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed a plan to expand the Russian armed forces to 1.5 million soldiers