Even More Ukraine

When you've got more guys than guns.

(this'd never happen here in God's own USAmerica, Inc!)

For right anyway, this is a good problem to have.

Europa Today:

Too many volunteers, but few weapons: Ukraine stops enlisting

The number of military personnel doubled in just one month. Kiev denounces the lack of resources to train and arm new recruits

Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have wanted to join the Ukrainian army in recent weeks and fight alongside the military. Many have chosen to defend their country, and the requests for enlistment have been so high that the armed forces of Kiev are no longer able to train and arm the new recruits. The reason? Weapons would be missing.

The Ukrainian army avoids giving specific figures on the total number of active soldiers, but the estimates of the experts consulted by El Pais indicate that there are currently about 500,000 people who have joined the army (double the number before the start of the conflict). Authorities are now choosing to deploy volunteers to areas other than strictly military areas.

One month after the outbreak of the conflict, according to El Pais, Kiev begins to blame the lack of ammunition and weapons for the national defense forces. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky last week asked NATO leaders gathered in Brussels for tanks, 1 percent of the Atlantic Alliance aircraft, missile firing systems, anti-ship weapons and air defenses to withstand the Russian offensive.

At the start of the conflict, the Ukrainian armed forces officially had 250,000 active professionals, of which 190,000 were military. On paper, Ukraine also had nearly 200,000 reservists and volunteers in the Territorial Defense Forces, a militarized division responsible for local protection and control. To this must be added the 130,000 policemen and battalions of paramilitary origin who were under the umbrella of the National Guard and now, with martial law, under the orders of the Ministry of Defense.

Mikhail Samus, director of the Ukrainian defense think tank New Geopolitics, points out that the contingent mobilized today by Ukraine is much larger than a month ago: 300 thousand veterans of the war caused by Russia in 2014 in the Donbass region (eastern of the country) were immediately incorporated into units at the front. To this must be added another 100,000 volunteers, according to the Ukrainian press, who were accepted into the Territorial Defense Forces in the first two weeks of the invasion. These units are essential in checkpoints and access to cities, in the search for Russian saboteurs, but also in armed confrontation, as Samus explains: "The Territorial Defense Forces were fundamental in the first attack against Kiev,

According to Andrei Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard, in a press conference since the outbreak of the conflict about 400 thousand people have returned to the country, most of whom are men who, after arriving in their province of origin, they are voluntarily enrolled. But sources close to the Defense Ministry have called Demchenko's "an exaggeration for propaganda purposes". Arguing that in reality only a minority of those returning to Ukraine volunteer to join the ranks, and that many return mainly to be with their families.

Samus explains to the Spanish newspaper that in any case the majority of men are willing to fight. His assessment is based on pre-invasion polls, which estimated that 65 percent of adults would have taken up arms in the event of a Russian attack. "Now there are certainly more," he says, illustrating that even if only 10 percent of men between 18 and 60 had volunteered, that would still be a million potential fighters. Adults in this age group cannot leave the country due to the possibility of being mobilized by the army or required for other essential duties.

Andrei Shevchenko is a retired military officer and diplomat of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, confirms that recruitment has slowed down, and even stopped in Kiev, because there were already enough recruits in the early stages of the conflict. "What we need now is a training period for future front unit relays," he explains. "What we will not do is, as the Russians do, send people untrained as cannon fodder to war," he assures.