The publication writes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lacks personnel, and those soldiers who are currently fighting are tired of fighting and difficult service conditions.
The wife of one of the fighters, who has been near Bakhmut for over a year, reported that her husband, Mykhailo, “is sitting in a dirty, cold position, less than 100 meters from the enemy.”.
“Sometimes he shares a trench with the dead because the shelling is so intense that no one can carry the bodies out. Once he went to the positions and there was no contact with him for ten days,” said Iryna Topinko, a resident of Zhytomyr region.
The military says that mobilization needs to be stepped up. The publication writes that it is currently being carried out “not according to clear criteria developed in public discourse, but secretly, with accusations of arbitrariness and corruption.”
“Anyone who doesn’t have money or connections, or simply doesn’t act fast enough, can fall victim to increasingly brutal recruitment methods . Authorities catch men on the street or at work and drag them to meetings,” the article says.
But those who end up at the front in this way often turn out to be incompetent soldiers.
“There are alcoholics among the recruits, says Oleg (one of the commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Ed.). They couldn’t even dig trenches, and sometimes the military police detained them for drunkenness,” the article says.
Therefore, there are “fewer and fewer soldiers” on the front lines.
“Soldiers report that out of almost 100 people in their company, only 20 can still fight. There are not enough people in all units,” Spiegel’s interlocutors say.
