According to AFP on December 19, when the war has been going on for 22 months with huge losses, it is difficult for the Ukrainian army to recruit new recruits to send to the front line to resist a new round of offensive by the Russian army.
According to the report, the commander of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, Alexandriy Volkov, said worriedly: "Our troops need manpower. We need young people, people younger than 40 years old, with clear motivations. ”
On this morning, due to the freeze, Volkov canceled the outdoor training of recruits near **Mutt to avoid injuries to these recruits. They were given indoor classes to learn how to disassemble and assemble individual soldiers, as well as first aid.
The battalion commander said regretfully: "Today's society may have been deceived by certain ** who declare that (the Ukrainian army) everything is fine, that we are fighting the enemy, and that victory will come soon." But the current situation is not so simple. The enemy is very strong, and we are just trying our best to stop them and strike at them. ”
According to the report, Russia's stubborn defense crushed Ukraine's summer in the south, after which Moscow resumed operations since the autumn and began an offensive in many places, especially in the east.
Kupyansk, **mut, Avdeyevka, Maryinka ......The Russian army, with more troops and ammunition, is slowly encroaching on territory.
The report pointed out that in the past two unbearable years, Ukrainians have experienced high summer temperatures, mud and snow in winter, and constant bombardment of trenches. Nowadays, they are very difficult to hold. Some of the officers and soldiers who have been fighting since February 24, 2022, are exhausted. It is difficult to replenish the dead and wounded, and there are very few volunteers.
Company Commander Lieutenant Igor Prokopiak said that when the conflict first broke out, "people were like adrenaline pumping, ...... in a state of excitement."Everyone is in a hurry to go to the battlefield, and there is no problem with the soldiers".
The 32-year-old officer continued: "But over time, emotions calmed down. People all ran to social** and saw the terrible, cruel side of war. The initial adrenaline wears off, the brain wakes up, and the fear follows. As a result, people began to fear for their lives. ”
What Volkov saw was that civilians "really don't want to join the army," the report said. The average age of officers and soldiers at the front is gradually increasing. The battalion commander said that 40 percent of his troops were now over 45 years old. "I see that there are still a lot of young people in society, and I don't know why they haven't been mobilized," he said. ”
"The state should respond, it should be conscripted, it should replace its troops, it should replace those who have been fighting for two years, including me," Volkov believed. ”
For weeks, the wives of some officers and soldiers have demonstrated in Kiev demanding that their husbands return from the front. Their slogan was: "Now, it's someone else's turn." ”
The report mentioned that Ukraine's ** Zelensky said at a press conference in Kiev on the 19th that the command had "proposed to mobilize 450,000 to 500,000 people." He said the issue was "very sensitive" and that there would be "more reasons to support the idea" before it could be implemented, as it was a "big number".
The report also said that Volkov criticized the conscription office for being too "Soviet" because they believed that "quality is secondary, and only the final quantity is of the essence." The conscription system has also been corrupted, allowing many eligible people to escape military service. This summer, Zelensky had to remove all the heads of recruitment in the regions.