The Ukrainian Army is suffering from a continued decline in the capabilities of its frontline units, as losses among trained and experienced units have fuelled a fast growing reliance on conscript units with very limited operational capabilities.

According to a report from the London based Financial Times, 50 to 70 percent of recruits survive only a few days on the frontlines, and suffer from low motivation while being prone to panic. Training standards have reportedly been so poor that not all of them know how to hold a weapon. Furthermore, exhaustion in the number of males considered to be of fighting age means that the average age of mobilised recruits is now 45 years old. The report follows a statement by Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was appointed in early February, that recruits have consistently proven to lack necessary training for frontline operations. Lamenting the complete technological superiority of Russian forces, he stated at the time that personnel underwent just two months of training - although other sources have indicated that training time is very significantly less.

Reports on the inadequacy of training standards in frontline units have emerged multiple times over the past two years. The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-2023 that the Ukrainian Army had been recruiting poor men from villages, furnishing them with Soviet-era rifles and uniforms, and after just two nights at a base sending them to the frontlines. When some conscripts sought to sign an official refusal, on the basis that they lacked any proper training, the Ukrainian sergeant major replied "Bakhmut will teach you" - a reference to the frontline city at the centre of the fighting at the time. One recalled recalled protesting that he had never held a gun before. The Journal added that Kiev sent "mobilised soldiers and territorial defence units, sometimes with patchy training and equipment" to the frontlines, "in an effort to preserve brigades trained and equipped by the West for a widely anticipated offensive." Massive losses among trained units in the subsequent offensives, which began in June 2023, have further increased reliance on conscripts.

Senior conscription officer in Ukraine's Poltava Region Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Berezhnyon on September 15, 2023 revealed that units had been taking extreme casualties, observing:

"Out of 100 people who joined the units last fall, 10-20 remain, the rest are dead, wounded or disabled."

This indicated a casualty rate of 80-90 percent in conscript units in the past year. Berezhnyon's statement was far from isolated, with Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and former foreign minister Vadim Pristaiko in April indicating catastrophic personnel losses. "It has been our policy from the start not to discuss our losses. When the war is over, we will acknowledge this. I think it will be a horrible number," he observed at the time.
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