The Curious Case Of Freedom
Yes, Ukraine has a manpower problem. But it’s not as simple as a lack of uniformed bodies. It’s more a deficiency in able, well trained and well equipped infantry units who can replace and bolster the overworked units who are currently at the front, many of which have had little opportunity for rotation.
Recruitment for infantry units is difficult, which is understandable considering the violence of the frontline. It is much more attractive to go to a drone unit where you can play an active role in eliminating the enemy from the battlefield than to join an infantry unit where you will be required to go on deadly assault missions. Drone units are often more high profile and have better PR through the use of social media and the world famous FPV attack videos that show success and draw support for the drone teams. But it is the infantry and its artillery and mechanized support which are the critical component in holding the Russian army back. They are the hard edge required to keep the frontline from collapsing.
Drone units are a helpful support system, especially with the unprecedented Ukrainian innovations of the last two years, but without competent, well trained and well supplied infantry, everything falls apart. The Ukrainian army needs more combat trained and effective units and the appropriate command personnel to lead those formations in defensive as well as offensive operations.
Right now there are sections of the front which are largely protected by outnumbered – albeit highly effective – Ukrainian drone units. The numerically superior Russian attackers are receiving massive casualties from these units, but without a sufficient backstop of armor and infantry once that Ukrainian drone kill-zone is pierced, there is little standing between the Russian army and the next Ukrainian city. Under the present system, the Ukrainians can inflict huge casualties on Russian forces, playing to their strengths and to the Russian’s weaknesses, supplementing tech and ingenuity for mass and brute force; but if nothing changes and the Russian army continues to pump more soldiers and material into Ukraine, sooner or later the possibility of breaking through the drone defense and capitalizing on the shortage of available infantry could lead to a collapse in sections of the frontline.
Training and competency take time to instill into soldiers. It is not a problem that has a quick fix. It takes the will, the leadership, and the time to accomplish this; but the more weeks that go by, the higher the consequences will be when those soldiers are not available and it is left to the overworked and under equipped units to hold on for as long as they can.
The test is if Ukrainian leaders in the civilian and military sectors can make the recruitment and training of new combat effective infantry units a priority and accomplish this before it is too late.
© 2025 Honor Phillips
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
“The test is if Ukrainian leaders in the civilian and military sectors can make the recruitment and training of new combat effective infantry units a priority and accomplish this before it is too late.”
It’s existential.
I’ve said before that Ukraine needs somehow to double the size of its armed forces. Of course it takes time. Better start now.
They only had c.160,000 combat troops when putler invaded, so they’ve got to recruit a huge number all over again.
I’ve also said they need to go outside Ukraine. Last year, 100,000 Peshmerga warriors were demobbed. I’d take the lot; their families too. They are great fighters, they hate ruZZia and they achieved incredible results against the isis vermin.
Krasnov wants to pay $1000 each for refugees from Haiti to go home. How generous! This may well include Ukrainians too at some point.
All Ukrainians who can fight must now return. That would then likely inspire another batch of volunteers for the foreign legion. There was a spike in applications after the trump-vance ambush of Zel and it could happen again after Krasnov’s latest surrender to his schoolboy crush nazi idol.
Btw, Honor Phillips is the son of DW. Clearly a chip off the old block.
Ukraine needs attack helicopters, more minesweepers, and finally powerful long-range missiles.