Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian targets in Bakhmut (Photo: Getty).
Business Insider reported that the average age of Ukrainian soldiers is increasing as the country faces a shortage of forces after more than 20 months of conflict with Russia.
Soldiers in Ukraine are aging as the country struggles with a shortage of soldiers after some 20 months of brutal fighting against Russia.
According to the Times , the average age of soldiers in Ukraine is now 43, an increase of 5-10 compared to 2022. Previously, according to the Financial Times , the average age of Ukrainian soldiers in March 2022 was 30-35.
Ukraine has not released the number of casualties after nearly two years of fighting. However, Western officials estimated in August that the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed and wounded was close to 500,000. Ukraine has not commented on this information.
In some Ukrainian forces, the shortage of personnel is even more severe than the shortage of weapons and ammunition, according to the Times.
A Ukrainian official told the Times that even if the US and its allies handed over all the weapons they had pledged, Kiev might not have enough people to operate them.
When the war broke out in February 2022, Ukraine had a fairly abundant source of new recruits, as many people volunteered to join the armed forces.
However, according to the Times , recruitment efforts have slowed down in recent times and Ukraine is facing difficulties in mobilizing more soldiers as many are injured, killed and some others flee abroad to avoid being mobilized.
In August, Mr. Zelensky fired all the heads of local military recruitment agencies to tackle corruption. Ukraine has uncovered multiple bribery rings for falsifying documents to avoid military service and launched a series of criminal cases against military recruitment officials.
A senior Ukrainian military official told the Times that the move backfired as Ukraine struggled to find enough people to fill the vacancies due to the pressure of the job, leading to a near-total halt in recruiting.
On the other hand, Ukraine is also one of the countries with the most elderly people in the world , with 1 in 4 people being over 60 years old.
Previously, according to Business Insider , Ukraine had to recruit retirees to fight due to a shortage of human resources.
Some platoons have been reduced in strength and have had to be redeployed almost entirely from wounded soldiers, according to the US newspaper. Units with combat experience are also facing difficulties as the number of commanders is decreasing.
Meanwhile, soldiers who were too severely injured to return to combat were invited to work at military recruitment centers to replace those dismissed for allegedly abusing their power and accepting bribes to help eligible men avoid the draft.
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