Ukrainian Soldiers Last Just Days on Frontline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ukrainian military have been so depleted by attrition that new infantry troops are often unfit for combat and flee at the first sign of fighting, the Financial Times reported on Friday. In some units, 50-70% of new infantry troops are killed or wounded within days of arriving at the front. 

 

Manpower shortages have plagued the Armed Forces of Ukraine for well over a year, according to reports in Ukrainian and Western media outlets. After multiple rounds of conscription, the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now 45, and many of those sent to the front are unfit for combat, multiple commanders and soldiers told the UK newspaper.

 

“When the new guys get to the position, a lot of them run away at the first shell explosion”, a deputy commander fighting near Ugledar in Donetsk Region said. Another commander whose unit are attempting to hold the nearby town of Khurakove said that “some guys freeze [because] they are too afraid to shoot the enemy, and then they are the ones who leave in body bags or severely wounded”.

 

And experienced soldiers “are being killed off too quickly” and replaced by older and less fit men, another commander told the Financial Times. “As infantry, you need to run, you need to be strong, you need to carry heavy equipment”, he added. “It’s hard to do that if you aren’t young”.

 

As of May, the Ukrainian military are reportedly drafting 30,000 soldiers per month. However, AFU Commander-in-Chief General Aleksandr Syrsky (left) admitted last month that these new recruits are often sent to fight with as little as six weeks’ training. 

 

The commanders who spoke to the Financial Times said that they consider this training worthless, as many of the AFU’s instructors haven’t seen combat themselves! 

 

“Some of them don’t even know how to hold their rifles”, one officer said. “They peel more potatoes than they shoot bullets”, he complained, explaining that he had bought paintball guns in order to teach his new men how to shoot without wasting ammunition. 

 

And those who are lucky to survive often go AWOL after their first rotation, while others are so shell-shocked and exhausted that they are checked into psychiatric wards, the newspaper reported. 

 

Very soon, Ukraine will become a country of war widows. If it is still a country by then.