Guardian reported on the growing share of elderly people in the ranks of the AFU

There are more and more elderly people in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces due to a shortage of personnel, the British newspaper The Guardian reported on December 21.

"We recently received 90 people, but only 24 of them were ready to move into positions. The rest were old, sick or alcoholics. <...> They are poorly trained and ill-equipped," a serviceman of the 114th brigade of the AFU thero-defense brigade said on condition of anonymity.

In turn, sources in the air defense units told the publication that due to acute shortages at the front, the Ukrainian general staff "ordered the already depleted air defense units to release more people to be sent to the front as infantry."

The authors claim that the shortage of soldiers has soured relations between Kiev and Washington in recent months. It is noted that officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden are irritated by the Ukrainian authorities' demand for large arms deliveries along with the failure to mobilize more people.

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Earlier, on December 17, the Polish edition of Wiadomości reported that the number of defectors in some AFU units exceeds the number of wounded and killed. One of the Ukrainian army commanders described the situation in some units as critical due to the shortage of people. At the same time, he noted that the recruits were poorly prepared.

Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired on 20 May) signed a decree on general mobilization, its effect was repeatedly extended. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden to leave the country. In April 2024, the head of the Kiev regime approved the law on toughening mobilization.