Amid Russian Advance, a Problem For Ukraine: Not Enough Fighters

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For all the concern over Western military aid, officials are worried about a shortage of troops

KYIV, UKRAINE – JUNE 29, 2024 – The patch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a sleeve. (Photo by KIRILL CHUBOTIN / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Posted: October 9th, 2024

By Brian Bonner

Brian Bonner led the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's English-language newspaper, from 2008-2021, but spent most of his career as a journalist covering international, national and local news for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota from 1983-2007. Now, besides working for The Cipher Brief, he hosts a weekly English-language podcast on Hromadske (Public) Radio in Kyiv.

DEEP DIVE — While Ukraine presses for more military support from the West and fewer restrictions on the use of NATO weapons, the country’s shortage of trained troops is raising fresh concerns among commanders and political leaders.

As Russian forces make slow but steady gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region – recently seizing Vulhedar, a coal mining and transportation hub – the Ukrainian military is blaming deficits of weapons and soldiers for its battlefield retreats.

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