MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces fail to provide sufficient training to their mobilized personnel, Army Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky said on Friday.

"I listened to the reports on the problems of training and on resolving them. I defined the tasks of improving the quality of training and bolstering this proces. In particular, the need to update baseline general military training standards," Syrsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

Ukrainian army brigades throw freshly recruited personnel into battle already in the first days, without observing the established timeframe of 5-14 days for their adaptation, the Ukrainian army chief admitted.

"In the current conditions of intense combat operations, this requirement is not always complied with. I stressed the need to ensure a full, 14-day day period of recruits’ adaptation in the brigades," he added.

In this regard, the Ukrainian military command considers extending the term of preparing recruits for warfare from six to eight weeks, Syrsky said.

Ex-Deputy Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council retired General Sergey Krivonos said earlier that of 100 recruits mobilized into the Ukrainian armed forces, not more than 10 were prepared for combat. He further said that the Ukrainian authorities had completely mishandled troop mobilization training.

Mobilization drive in Ukraine

The Ukrainian authorities have declared and repeatedly extended general mobilization in the country since February 2022. The Kiev regime is doing its utmost to prevent men of call-up age from evading military service. Meanwhile, men are trying with all methods possible to pay to avoid the draft or leave the country, frequently risking their lives. On May 18 of this year, Ukraine enacted a law on toughening mobilization rules. In recent months, however, the pace of replenishing the Ukrainian army’s ranks has slowed down again, highlighting the problem of the critical shortage of military personnel. In this situation, the staff of military recruitment offices have stepped up raids in public places to catch men of call-up age, using force ever more frequently.

As Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said earlier, the Ukrainian army has lost almost one million troops since Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine. Lately, the Ukrainian authorities have been raising ever more frequently the issue of lowering the mobilization age in the country to 18 years.

Ukrainian non-affiliated lawmaker Artyom Dmitruk who has managed to leave the country has said that the bill has already been drafted and is in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) while the office of Vladimir Zelensky is testing the public’s reaction to the issue of mobilization from 18 years of age in the information space.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as a crime a potential decision by the Ukrainian authorities to lower the mobilization age to 18 years. He has said further that even if the Kiev regime takes this measure, this will not change the situation on the battlefield.