Zelenskyy Struggles to Recruit Soldiers as Russian Troops Push Forward

(TargetDailyNews.com) – The Russo-Ukrainian war continues despite Ukraine suffering heavy losses. The Ukrainian army is desperate for more soldiers and has been having difficulty filling their ranks. Zelenskyy’s administration is attempting to find more conscripts from amongst their country’s already depleted population.

Zelenskyy has no clear strategy on how to continue to fight the war, and Ukrainians themselves are largely divided over the effort. Shortages of soldiers have led many Ukrainians to go into hiding or attempt to flee the country over fears that they’ll be drafted and forced to fight on the front, with little equipment or hope for success.

Washington Post writers have even called being conscripted into the Ukrainian army “certain death” due to the lack of equipment and fighters on the Ukrainian front line.

Recruiting efforts have stalled with no clear strategy for sourcing soldiers or success on the battlefield; the Ukrainian people are tired of the endless conflict. Zelenskyy fired his top military general last month with no noticeable changes in policy or performance thus far.

The war has been littered with Ukrainians being fired for corrupt practices, including taking funds to allow certain men to avoid military service. Zelenskyy himself suggested that bribery of officials “during a war is treason.” Officials were caught taking bribes or producing fake medical documentation to excuse service throughout the conflict.

Zelenskyy’s representatives said that they have roughly 300,000 fighters available out of a total of one million in the military. It wasn’t clear what the other 700,000 were doing or why they weren’t fit for combat.

Opposition party member Solomiia Bobrovska highlighted that Zelenskyy’s unwillingness to admit problems is making his leadership ineffective. The problem of a lack of fighting men was even more apparent after the Ukrainians withdrew from Avdiivka, a city in the eastern part of the country, in part due to being outnumbered by the Russians.

Zelenskyy is desperate for additional support from the U.S. while a controversial funding bill with $60 billion in support for Ukraine remains stalled in Congress. Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to bring it to the floor in its current form.