Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin boosts troop numbers as Zelenskiy warns change in approach needed | Ukraine

Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said on Friday.

Andriy Yermak made the pledge while addressing diplomats at Boryspil international airport outside the capital.

“This return to the elements of peace is possible because Ukraine has grown stronger,” Yermak told the diplomats in remarks posted on Zelenskiy’s website.

“We are now capable of providing security for this site. Thanks to our defence forces and our friends, your countries. I am certain that the symbolic boarding cards that you were given when you came in today will soon turn into real ones.”

Yermak’s deputy, Andriy Sybiga, told the gathering that the airport was the first major site in Ukraine to be closed after Russian troops invaded in February 2022.

We reported earlier that Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by nearly 170,000, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.

The Associated Press says it brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.

It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, which Putin ordered in August 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops.

Russia’s defence ministry said the order did not imply any “significant expansion of conscription”, saying in a statement that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers. The ministry cited what it called “the special military operation” in Ukraine and the expansion of Nato as the reasons for the increase.

Boosting Russian troops was an appropriate response to “the aggressive activities of the Nato bloc”, the ministry said.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs to improve its mobilisation system, with the issue of recruitment under public discussion for some time.

Questions of corruption in the military, particularly in procurement and recruiting, have periodically seized public attention as Ukraine tries to press on with a counteroffensive that has so far produced only incremental gains.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.

“In particular, this concerns the issue of mobilisation. Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this domain,” he said. “This is not simply a question of numbers, of who can be mobilised … It’s a question of a time frame for each person who is now in the military, for demobilisation and for those who will join the military. And it’s about conditions.”

Zelenskiy’s comments coincided with Vladimir Putin signing a decree ordering an increase of 170,000 in the Russian armed forces. According to the document, the regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000.

Debate on altering procedures in Ukraine focuses on the extent of mobilisation, with commanders wanting to draw in younger and more skilled recruits. Serhiy Leshchenko, a presidential adviser, speaking on national television this week, called for troop rotations to ensure sufficient numbers at the front. He said many Ukrainian brigades were dominated by soldiers already in their 50s.

Zelenskiy has long highlighted corrupt practices associated with recruiting offices, including widespread bribe-taking to secure medical exemptions from service.

Hello and thanks for joining the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said changes are needed to improve Ukraine’s system of mobilisation and recruitment as part of an overall strategy to improve the country’s military position in the war against Russia.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.

We’ll have more on this shortly, first here’s a round-up of the day’s other main news:

• Zelenskiy told the Associated Press that “winter as a whole is a new phase of war” and acknowledged that “we did not achieve the desired results” with the summer counteroffensive. The Ukrainian leader also said that “we already can see the consequences of the international community shifting [attention] because of the tragedy in the Middle East”.

• Russia said its troops were advancing in every section of the Ukrainian front, despite observers seeing little movement. The frontlines have barely shifted this year but fighting has remained intense. “Our servicemen are acting competently and decisively, occupying a more favourable position and expanding their zones of control in all directions,” Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the maximum number of servicemen in the Russian armed forces by 170,000, the Kremlin and the defence ministry said. The regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000 servicemen, according to the document.

• Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution and that there was no reason for Russia to change the goals of its “special military operation”.

• The situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border remained tense, with Ukrainian truckers stuck on the border saying they planned to launch a hunger strike if their demands were not met. Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on measures designed to help ease the situation at border crossings blocked by Polish truckers, but did not address the protesting Polish truckers’ main demands. Slovak truckers said they would start blocking a border crossing with Ukraine.

• A court in Russia has extended the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until 5 February.