US expert warns of 40% reduction in Ukrainian troops in each unit
This summer could be a disaster for Ukraine, US media warn. One of the reasons is that the number of troops in each unit has been reduced by 40%.
According to RIA Novosti on June 1, the New Yorker (USA) said that the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces could become significantly worse in the summer, due to Russia's attack and Ukraine's lack of reserve troops.
“This summer could be a disaster for Ukraine” – The New Yorker commented.
Analyst Dara Massikot, a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment, told the New Yorker that the situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces could worsen significantly due to the Russian offensive in Donetsk and the Kharkiv region. Even new US military aid would not be able to help Kiev withstand the Russian military offensive.
According to this expert, the main problem of the Ukrainian Armed Forces remains the lack of personnel. Dara Massikot added that even radical steps taken by Ukraine to lower the conscription age will not help the Ukrainian army to compensate for losses on the front line in time.
“In some units, the number of soldiers has decreased by 30, even 40%. And when there are too few personnel in the units, it will be very difficult for them to carry out and complete the assigned tasks,” Massikot warned.
On May 31, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said at a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that the Russian army forced the Ukrainian Armed Forces to retreat 8 to 9 kilometers in the Kharkov region.
According to Minister Belousov, since the beginning of 2024, the Russian Armed Forces have liberated 880 square kilometers of territory, including 28 settlements in May. Mr. Belousov added that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces over the past month amounted to more than 35,000 people and more than 2,700 weapons.