‘Key to Survival’: Ukrainian Army Battles to Change Amid Manpower Shortages
After four gruelling years of war and tens of thousands killed, “motivation” is in short supply among would-be soldiers, and the army is trying to reform itself to address severe manpower shortages.
Kyiv Post
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Deep in a Ukrainian forest at one of the country’s largest military training grounds, the rumble and blasts of weapons mixed with the screams of young -- and not so-young -- new soldiers.
Drafted to fight against Russia, the conscripts were being put through bootcamp before deployment to the front.
“You need to have motivation”, an instructor, who goes by the call sign Alex told AFP, given rare access to the site by the Ukrainian army.
After four gruelling years of war and tens of thousands killed, “motivation” is in short supply among would-be soldiers, and the army is trying to reform itself to address severe manpower shortages.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, military recruitment offices were overflowing with volunteers to defend the country.
Now, almost all new arrivals are conscripts who did not sign-up of their own free will.
A general hesitancy to enlist has been compounded by open-ended service requirements, perceptions of the Ukrainian army as outdated and bogged down by Soviet-era bureaucracy, and allegations some unit commanders treat rank-and-file troops as expendable.
“People have less desire to learn, they have more, let’s say, fears and negative expectations”, a 28-year-old instructor who goes by Buk, told AFP.
The military has acknowledged the need to update.
- ‘Build a new army’ -
Newly appointed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a digital reformer, has said he is preparing “key changes to the mobilisation process” and better contracts and pay for infantry and assault troops.
Ukraine is not only surviving, but has revolutionized warfare.
Two of Ukraine’s most advanced and effective units -- the 3rd Army Corps and Khartia Corps -- are rolling out training reforms across the entire army.
“We offer everyone this: join us, let’s build a new army together,” Igor Obolensky, commander of the Khartia Corps said.
The training -- which was last year extended from 30 to 51 days -- is designed to harden conscripts for what they are set to face at the front.
In one exercise, groups of 10 undertake the so‑called “psychological course”.
Battle noises play continuously over loudspeakers -- screams, groans, and shouts -- while they run an obstacle course, chased be instructors repeatedly barking one word: “Faster!”
Ukraine’s mobilisation campaign has been divisive and faced accusations of being unfair, corrupt and sometimes abusive.
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is mobilising around 30,000–35,000 people a month.
But soldiers abandoning their units either during training or when deployed is a problem.
In the first three and a half years of the war, more than 230,000 criminal cases were opened for soldiers going AWOL, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing statistics from the General Prosecutor’s Office.
- ‘How I got caught’ -
In another drill at the camp, a field is engulfed with black smoke and the sounds of simulated explosions and gunfire as a five-person squad evacuates soldiers from a car hit by a drone.
“You accomplished the task,” their instructor, a middle-aged woman, said at the end.
Like a teacher addressing students, she spoke quietly and respectfully as she detailed what mistakes were made.
At a chapel on the military grounds, a priest stood watching as he blessed one of the commanders, another praying before him.
A young conscript with the call sign Sailor, aged 26, said the training was going better than he expected.
Recruiters had “grabbed” him while he was “walking back from the store. That’s how I got caught”.
“The hardest part was probably the first couple of days before I came to terms with it,” he said.
Initially concerned the training would be “awful”, he said he had been surprised by how “calm” it had been.
With a cool yet serious demeanour, his instructor, Buk, explained enthusiastically how the programmes have improved since the start of the war.
“The training has changed radically, and it keeps changing, because the conditions of combat are also changing,” he said.
More emphasis is placed on listening to recruits and “treating them with understanding,” he told AFP.
“It’s the key to survival ... If we don’t have development, work on mistakes, analysis of the actions taking place, analysis of combat experience, it will lead to destruction,” he said.
But speaking to AFP away from the cameras, the instructors admit things are still far from perfect.
Standards at the different training centres varies across the country, with some plagued by mass desertions.
“A lot still must be done,” one said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
