Russia is considering the option of additional conscription of 450,000 people to the occupying army, and the process of mobilization within Russia has not stopped, Head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Kyrylo Budanov said.

As Budanov said in an interview with RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities, in the autumn of 2022, the "Kremlin regime" was able to mobilize about 350,000 people.

"Everyone somehow thinks that they have called and that's all. No, the call [in Russia] goes every month. It's called 'hidden mobilization.' There is such a term. From 20,000 to 22,000 are called up for mobilization every month. Now they are considering the option – this is an issue that has not yet been fully resolved – to call for an additional 450,000," he said.

According to the Intelligence Agency's head, such Russian intention indicates the real scale of losses among personnel in the war against Ukraine, which the aggressor state is trying to hide.

"This leads to the next question: why such a number if the losses, as they say, are meager? Well, you will see that the truth will be somewhere in the middle," Budanov said.