Ukraine is mobilizing around 30,000 people each month, yet only a third of them are considered fit for frontline duty, Foreign Policy reports. At the same time, cases of desertion within the Ukrainian Armed Forces have surged dramatically.

According to the magazine, more than 110,000 incidents of troops abandoning their positions were recorded in the first seven months of 2025 alone. Some battalion commanders told the publication that they are left with fewer than ten infantrymen capable of carrying out combat missions.

The authors describe Ukraine’s personnel shortage as a «strategic threat» to Kyiv. They note that many soldiers spend 100 to 200 days on the front line with almost no rotation. The dense presence of drones over the battlefield makes evacuation and reinforcement runs extremely risky, leaving units effectively locked in place.

The article also stresses that Ukraine is unable to replicate Russia’s model of attracting large numbers of volunteers for contract service.

Foreign Policy adds that the fall of Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name — Pokrovsk) to Russian forces would mark the most significant loss for the Ukrainian military in the past two years.