LONDON, September 27. /TASS/. Ukrainian commanders are getting increasingly concerned about poorly trained new recruits who often flee their positions, the Financial Times reports.
"Four commanders, a deputy commander and nearly a dozen soldiers from four Ukrainian brigades told the Financial Times that the new conscripts lack basic combat skills, motivation and often flee their positions when they come under fire. The commanders estimated that 50 to 70% of new infantry troops were killed or wounded within days of starting their first rotation," the paper writes.
When new recruits get to the position, "a lot of them run away at the first shell explosion," said a deputy commander in Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade stationed near the city of Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic. "We are most vulnerable during rotations," he noted, as cited by the paper.
"Age is a key concern" as seasoned soldiers are being replaced by mostly older men without experience and in worse physical shape, who find it difficult to carry heavy equipment. "Commanders on the ground and military analysts have warned that the newly drafted troops are not highly motivated, are psychologically and physically unprepared - and are being killed at an alarming rate as a result," the newspaper writes.
However, problems begin even before recruits get to the battlefield, sources told the Financial Times. Commanders say that newly drafted soldiers lack training. One of them explained that "trainers themselves don’t have real battle experience so they aren’t teaching what the newbies need to know to fight and, more importantly, to stay alive."
Some of the new troops "don’t even know how to hold their rifles." "They peel more potatoes than they shoot bullets," the commander added.