For some soldiers, the war only lasts a few hours – they are simply too poorly prepared. And they also seem to give up quickly in combat.
Pokrovsk – “They are constantly shooting and constantly challenging us,” Viktor said of the Russian attacks. “We have to somehow survive and hold the position,” the Ukrainian infantryman added to the news agency at the end of May ReutersFour months after the war began, 37-year-old Viktor received his call-up order, the agency writes, making him a veteran of the Ukraine war.
Currently reported Associated Press (AP) from the poor quality of training of the new recruits. The newly mobilized soldiers are even said to be hesitant to shoot at Vladimir Putin’s invading troops – as in the battles for Pokrovsk, for example.
Last year, the Business Insider published: The average life expectancy of a front-line soldier in eastern Ukraine is four hours – referring to Russia’s “meat grinder” attacks around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. However, even less casualty-inducing battles take a toll of up to 70 fallen Ukrainians per day. Various statistical sources put the strength of the Ukrainian army at the beginning of this year at around one million troops – including paramilitary units.
Defender losses: up to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers
In January, the British Times reports that the average Ukrainian soldier is 43 years old – “some volunteers who signed up at the beginning of the war with Russia are mentally and physically exhausted, and there is a lack of younger fighters to replace them,” the newspaper writes. The figures for losses vary widely; sources speak of between 30,000 and 100,000 fallen fighters. Too many, in any case, to be able to continue to fight back without fresh forces.
“The main problem is the survival instinct of the newcomers. In the past, people could hold out until the last moment and hold their positions. Now they retreat even when their firing positions are lightly shelled.”
In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj enacted his new mobilization law to make half a million men fit for the front at short notice. Conscripts between the ages of 18 and 60 were to register – all men aged 18 and over must complete basic military service; from the age of 25, they can be deployed to the front. Before being ordered to go to war, however, they would have to undergo several months of training, as the German Radio summarized.
Loud AP The new recruitment law will result in the recruitment of around 10,000 fighters per month. However, their training is hardly designed to prepare them for the reality of the front, as the report states:
“Some refuse to shoot at opponents, others have difficulty with basic combat techniques or even abandon their posts: this is what commanders and comrades say about new Ukrainian soldiers,” reports AP and quotes an experienced fighter from the 110th Brigade fighting in Donetsk: “The main problem is the survival instinct of the newcomers. Previously, people could hold out until the last moment and hold their positions. Now they retreat even when their firing positions are lightly shelled.”
Russia’s permanent offensives: Experienced Ukrainian soldiers psychologically devastated
Basic training consists of strengthening physical fitness, handling weapons, helping yourself and your comrades in the event of injuries, and moving safely in the field or in a tactical formation. The newcomers seem to lack all of this, complain troop leaders in the units. For example, they lack the discipline to follow tactical instructions, to trust their non-commissioned officers, to hold positions in a disciplined manner, or even to handle weapons safely, for example disassembling and assembling them in the dark.
Shortly after his conscription, the infantryman Viktor was sent to an area in northern Ukraine bordering Russia. There he was to dig trenches and fortifications, such as Reuters reported. In February of this year, Viktor claims to have collapsed, writes Reuters-Author Mari Saito: He had become weary from lack of sleep and the constant threat of death. “One morning he woke up frozen with fear, physically unable to go to his post. Viktor was paralyzed with fear. What if he didn’t do his job properly, what if there was something wrong with his weapon, what if he abandoned his comrades, whom he called his ‘brothers’ and considered his second family?”
Training inadequate: NATO officer criticizes Ukraine’s plans
Around 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers were trained by German and multinational units on German soil last year, the Bundeswehr reports. From mine defense to urban warfare and tank duels, to the front-line fitness of a Patriot crew. The Ukrainian men must have mastered their basic training in six weeks, instead of twelve, as is usual in the Bundeswehr. Nevertheless, criticism comes from the Bundeswehr leadership, as Reuters At the end of June it was reported that Ukraine was mishandling training.
Sending the new recruits into the field with basic training in first aid and the basics of assault rifles is not very helpful, says Andreas Marlow to Reuters; “because they are not yet fully operational anyway.” The Lieutenant General and Head of the German Elements MN Corps/Basic Military Organization in Strausberg is convinced that Germany could provide basic training for Ukrainian army recruits on a much larger scale.
Marlow’s Special Training Command (STC) is part of a European Union military mission established in 2022 to train about 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers in various skills by mid-November 2024 to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion, writes ReutersAccording to his experience, Ukraine wants to bring collective training back to its own country because it is easier for Ukrainians to impart operational doctrines and to speed up the deployment of fresh troops, he told the agency.
Ready for war against Putin: 1,500 rounds of ammunition and several weeks of drill
He believes that this would reduce the quality and would put pressure on various NATO countries to send trainers to Ukraine. France had already declared its willingness to do so, but Germany had categorically refused. However, at the beginning of June, Russian commanders had told the Washington Post also expressed their concerns: “Wherever the new soldiers came from, Ukrainian field commanders said that because of inadequate training, they often had to spend weeks teaching them basic skills such as shooting,” the post wrote.
A 28-year-old deputy battalion commander of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade with the combat name “Schmidt” complained to the postthat the new frontline soldiers often lack the most important things – however, these are not freshly trained new recruits, but soldiers from the reserves who have to fill the gaps in the defense due to a lack of experienced personnel. “Schmidt” said that he first gives all new recruits a box of ammunition so that they can practice using the assault rifle.
After these 1,500 rounds fired and the endless drill-like repetition of assembling and disassembling the rifle, he could introduce them to more complex tasks, which would in turn take several weeks of practice. “We are simply wasting a lot of time here with basic training,” “Schmidt” told the post and added: “If – God forbid – there is a breakthrough near Chasiv Yar and we get new infantry that does not know the basics, they will be sent there to simply die.”
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