Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of the partial mobilization of reservists are now combat units in Ukraine, Interfax reported, Reuters reported.

Vladimir PutinPhoto: Sergey KARPUKHIN / AFP / Profimedia

Putin said 80,000 are in a “special military operation zone” — Russia’s term for the war in Ukraine — and the rest of the nearly 320,000 conscripts are in training camps in Russia.

“Now we have 50,000 in combat units. The rest are not yet participating in the battles,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a visit to the Tver region.

In September, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” to draft hundreds of thousands of new fighters into the war after Ukraine retook large swaths of territory in a counteroffensive. The move prompted hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee and sparked anti-war protests across the country.

Russia completed partial mobilization at the end of October, and on October 28, Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu announced that about 41,000 Russian soldiers had already joined their combat units in Ukraine.