OLD MAN'S WAR:

While enjoying a significant superiority in artillery and in long-distance missiles, Russia's forces have been unable to capture significant territory since the beginning of July, when the city of Lysychansk in the country's Luhansk region fell. [...]

So far, Putin has avoided mass conscription to provide soldiers for the war in Ukraine. One reason is that declaring a national draft would destroy the veneer of normalcy that the Kremlin has been able to maintain despite economic sanctions and continuing fighting.

Instead, Russian authorities have been luring recruits to join combat by offering them hefty cash incentives and other perquisites. At the end of May, Putin also signed a law that scrapped the age limit of 40 for contract soldiers.

Pavel Luzin, a Russian military analyst, said that he was skeptical about Russia's ability to increase its armed forces without major changes.

He said that Putin's decree would only increase the number of troops "on paper against the reality on the ground," unless Russia is forced to increase the duration of compulsory service from one year to 18 months. Another solution, he said, would be absorbing some of the country's national guard forces into the army.

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