“There are soldiers who don’t even know how to assemble a weapon”. L’Ukrainein a crucial phase of the war against Russiahas to live with an extremely complex picture regarding the quantity and quality of soldiers available in different areas of the front.
Mobilization and emergencies at the front
President Volodymyr Zelensky he recently signed a new law for the mobilization of thousands of men, in particular young men aged 25-26, destined to integrate the units fighting the Russians at the front. The use of the new resources, however, promises to be laborious, as underlined by commanders dealing with a constant emergency. Basically, training for new recruits is not very productive: commanders find themselves welcoming soldiers who have no experience and no familiarity.
“We saw men who didn’t even know how to disassemble and reassemble a weapon…”, a 28-year-old deputy battalion commander, identified by the code name Schmidt, told the Washington Post.
“Let’s hope these soldiers don’t go to the front…”
The officer highlights shortcomings that are surprising to say the least: the latest arrivals are asked to fire at least 1,500 bullets a day to ‘become familiar’ with the environment and prepare for more complex assignments. In the space of a few weeks, these soldiers could find themselves fighting in the area of Chasiv Yar, the town in Donetsk which risks being decisive for the future scenario of the war: Russia has been pushing for months to conquer the stronghold, a fundamental logistical hub for its location on the hills. From there, he could orchestrate a major offensive westward.
“We’re just wasting a lot of time on basic training”, says Schmidt. “God forbid, but if the Russians were to break through to the Chasiv Yar area and we ended up with infantry lacking essential skills, these soldiers would be sent there only to die,” he adds.
“Training makes no sense”
In addition to the launch of a new mobilization law, Ukraine is also trying to use the available resources more rationally. The commander of the armed forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky, has decided to also send to the front the military personnel used until now to guard bridges and infrastructures. The solution could reduce the impact of the mobilization, which former commander Valeri Zaluzhny would have wanted for 500,000 men. At the front, the arrival of new elements allows at least a partial rotation with those who have been fighting on the front line for months. The last-minute soldiers, however, present themselves with sometimes surprising gaps.
“The training doesn’t make any sense,” said a 32-year-old soldier, identified as Chirva. “You learn everything on the job,” he adds. Training activities, in various areas, are conditioned by the need to conserve ammunition: there are therefore those who ‘train’ with 20 bullets and nothing more. “There are no grenades to throw. This is a problem,” says an anonymous officer who has been training soldiers for more than a year. “We don’t have an efficient training system,” he adds. He understands why, in a similar context, Kiev’s priorities include the arrival of NATO military instructors on Ukrainian soil.
In the country, in a sort of purchasing campaign, one also comes across billboards of individual departments of the armed forces that promise “60 days of training. Those who enlist, however, have no guarantee of being able to choose a brigade to join. It is often the departments who choose and select the elements to acquire. The battalions fighting on the front, particularly in Donetsk, systematically send personnel to training centers to evaluate the resources available and to select the youngest, most prepared soldiers. and more motivated. Those who arrive late at the ‘auction’, therefore, risk finding themselves with second and third choices.
