The Ukrainian army is suffering from a steady decline in the capabilities of its front-line units, according to Polish news outlet Do Rzeczy, citing a report in the London Financial Times that between 50 and 70 percent of recruits survive only a few days on the frontlines.

Soldiers have low motivation and are prone to panic, while losses among trained and experienced units have led to a dependence on conscript units with very limited operational capabilities.

Training standards were reportedly so poor that not all of them knew how to hold a weapon. Furthermore, the depletion of the number of men considered fit to fight means that the average age of recruits now stands at 45.

The report follows a statement by Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was appointed in early February. Syrsky said that recruits were consistently lacking the necessary training for frontline operations. Lamenting the sheer technological superiority of Russian forces, he said that personnel had received just two months of training, although other sources indicated that the training time was much shorter.

Meanwhile, Military Watch Magazine has said that poor training standards in frontline units have repeatedly emerged over the past two years, and back in mid-2023, the Wall Street Journal even reported that the Ukrainian army was recruiting poor men from the countryside, equipping them with Soviet-era rifles and uniforms, and then sending them to the front after just two nights at a base.