The Ukrainian army reveals difficulties in recruiting soldiers and sending them to fight the Russian forces

“Our units suffer from a shortage of personnel; We need motivated young people under the age of 40,” said Commander Oleksandr Volkov, a battalion commander of the 24th Mechanized Brigade.

On that morning, due to the cold, the officer preferred to cancel an outdoor training session near Bakhmut for new recruits out of concern for the safety of his men, and contented himself with an internal training session on disassembling and reassembling individual weapons and first aid.

Volkov said with regret, “It’s possible that today’s society has been deceived by some media outlets by saying that everything is fine for the Ukrainian army, that we are defeating the enemy and that victory is near, but, the current situation isn’t that simple… The enemy is really very strong… We are doing our best to confront and defeat it”.

After the failure of the Ukrainian counterattack in the summer in the south in the face of strong Russian defenses, Moscow forces regained the initiative in the fall and moved to the offensive in several sectors, especially in the east.

In Kubyansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka, thanks to new supplies of human resources and ammunition, the Russian army advances slowly, despite heavy losses in men and equipment.

On the other hand, the Ukrainians are making great efforts to defend their positions after two difficult years in the heat of summer and then around the snow of winter, and constant bombing of trenches.

Exhaustion has prevailed among some of those who have been fighting since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022. With the scarcity of volunteers, the army is facing difficulty in compensating for the dead and wounded.

Lieutenant Igor Prokopiak, the company commander, said that at the beginning of the war, “everyone was excited. There was a state of euphoria and they rushed to fight, and then we had no problem with numbers”.

The 32-year-old officer added, “But as time passed, things calmed down… Through social networks, people learned about the terrible side of war and its cruelty… This initial enthusiasm dissipated, minds awakened and fear emerged and as a result, people began to fear for their lives”.

Oleksandr Volkov noted that civilians don’t really want to join the armed forces, and the average age of soldiers on the front is rising.

Volkov cited his unit, where 40% of its members are 45 years or older.

“I saw a lot of young people in the civil service, and I don’t know why they are not conscripted,” he said.

He said, “The state must respond, recruit and replace units and replace people who have been fighting for two years, including me”.

For several weeks, soldiers’ wives have been demonstrating in Kiev to demand the return of their husbands from the front, and among the slogans they raise is “Now it is the turn of others”.

On December 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the military leadership to review the conscription system.

He said, “It’s not just a matter of numbers and people who can be recruited… It’s a matter of scheduling the demobilization dates for everyone currently fighting in the army, and those who will join the units”.

But, Volkov criticizes the mobilization offices, which he said work “in the Soviet manner” and focus “only on the quantitative result”.

In addition, the Ukrainian ruling regime suffers from corruption, which has allowed conscripts to flee the army, and that forced President Zelensky to dismiss all recruitment officials in the regions last summer.