Russian President Vladimir Putin said on television Friday that almost 700,000 Russians are fighting in Ukraine. “In the zone of our special military operation there are almost 700,000,” Putin said during a televised meeting with decorated participants from the offensive. In December at his end-of-year press conference, Putin gave the figure of 617,000 taking part in the war in Ukraine. He said that of those, 244,000 had been mobilized. The latest figure on troop numbers comes after Russia in May launched a major ground assault in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Moscow rarely talks abou…