The million-man army that Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed in a July 10 interview with The Times was coming into existence to eject Russian forces from southern Ukraine seems to be a phantom. The Daily Mail reported on July 9 on the difficulties that the Ukrainian army is facing in recruiting manpower to maintain troop numbers on the front lines. Men ages 18-60 are liable to be called up, and many are trying to avoid being served conscription papers because of fears that it will be a one-way trip. The military tried to impose restrictions on the movements of potential recruits, but that was shot down by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a wave of anger against the edict. There are concerns, the Mail reports, about Kiev’s recruitment tactics, with almost one million men already in uniform (Reznikov’s number — ed.), amid fears that the true scale of losses is being understated to keep up morale. Ukraine, the Mail says, is suffering 20,000 casualties a month, based on official admissions of 200 killed in action per day and another 800 wounded.
Since the end of April, the Mail reports further, several videos have been posted on social media by frontline soldiers saying they lack the right leadership, training, or equipment – and in some cases refusing to fight. The Mail’s descriptions of these videos dovetails perfectly with the near daily reports from the Russian Defense Ministry of Ukrainian units going into combat with little to no training, groups of Ukrainian soldiers refusing to fight, and units so devastated by losses that they’re no longer combat effective.
