Russian President Vladimir Putin says nearly 700,000 soldiers are currently fighting in his war on Ukraine. “There are almost 700,000 of us in the zone of special military operations,” he said on Friday as he met soldiers who are being trained for a leadership position. This is significantly more than six months ago, when he referred to 617,000 soldiers, during a press conference in December 2023. Russian troops are also going continue to advance in the eastern Kharkiv region, Putin said. “We are simply forced to move the front line further in the Kharkiv region in order to reduce the terroris…