MOSCOW. Aug 16 (Interfax) - About 45,000 Muscovites are currently fighting in the special military operation zone, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at the Territoriya Smyslov (Territory of Meanings) forum on Wednesday.
"Forty-five thousand Muscovites are currently fighting in the special military operation zone. It is a significant portion of those who are there," Sobyanin said.
"About 20,000 people left Moscow" to participate in the special military operation under mobilization, and around 20,000 people joined the special military operation as volunteers and contract servicemen, he said.
"I don't know how many professional servicemen went, but I believe at least 5,000," the mayor said.
The Russian capital's "contribution to the construction of defensive structures is equal to what all other regions did put together," he said. And the amount of assistance provided by Moscow to Donbass, as well as Crimea and Sevastopol "is equal to the amount of help from all Russian entities to these regions," Sobyanin said.
He added that "over 20 Muscovites died and over 100 were wounded" during the construction of defensive structures.