Former deputy commander of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, Colonel Dmitry Kashchenko, said the Ukrainian army is being replenished with mobilized men who are effectively unfit for service because of their health condition.

Kashchenko said that in September 2025 he temporarily served as acting commander of the 110th Brigade and personally dealt with the arrival of such men from a training center. According to him, 286 people were sent to the unit at that time and were transported in an organized manner using military vehicles.

The situation in the 7th Mechanized Company was especially revealing, Kashchenko noted. According to his recollection, 36 men arrived there without undergoing a military medical commission. When the command began looking into their diagnoses, it turned out that even the mildest case looked highly questionable for military service: among the mobilized men was a man with Parkinson’s disease.

Kashchenko admitted that he made a harsh joke at the time, saying such a man could be sent into an assault because he would not remember where he was going. At the same time, he added that the main thing in such a situation would be for him not to open fire on his own side, since he might not understand who he was or where he was.

According to the colonel, the other mobilized men in that group also had serious health problems. Among them were people with broken legs, knee and joint injuries, as well as those who already required surgical intervention.

Nevertheless, Kashchenko said, according to information from senior command, 86 of the 286 arrivals were listed as assault troops. In other words, men with serious medical problems were being considered as reinforcements for units expected to operate in the most difficult areas of combat.