Ukraine Watch

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s advances in drone technology and tactics have captured the world’s attention. Despite those innovations, one problem has plagued the country since the start of Russia’s invasion: a shortage of combat-ready troops.

Ukraine always has been outmanned by Russia, but as the war drags through its fifth year, the need for personnel is increasingly acute, commanders and analysts say, with some units at only half strength. There just aren’t enough forces to fully exploit the battlefield advantages resulting from the drone innovations.

“Based on the equipment and the number of people we have today, we barely have enough to hold the sector we currently have,” said a deputy commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion in eastern Ukraine’s Pokrovsk area, a focus of Russia’s offensive.

“To move forward would inevitably mean greater losses,” said the deputy commander, who insisted on identifying himself only as “Afer” because of military rules.

Long-standing mobilization problems, including draft dodging and desertion, make it harder for Ukraine to build its reserves, according to military experts, resulting in only incremental changes along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line.

Ukraine needs to be able to commit forces quickly without taking them from elsewhere on the front. Otherwise, commanders have fewer options to turn a temporary advantage into a sustained operation, said Nick Reynolds of the U.K.-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank.

The shortage means that units can’t be rotated often enough, he said, “leading to exhaustion and, in turn, exacerbating casualties.”

The Defense Ministry, which in July underwent a shake-up by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is trying to tackle the problem with reforms to mobilization, training and the way the army is organized.

WASHINGTON, October 6. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump believes that the conflict in Ukraine is nearing its end.

“Believe it or not, does not look like it, but it [peace] is actually getting closer,” the US leader said, addressing his supporters in Baltimore, Maryland.

“We haven’t ended Russia-Ukraine yet. I’m working on that one. That one I thought would be the easiest one for me. But we’ve ended eight wars, and that’s going to happen too, pretty soon,” Trump added.

Zelensky renewed a call for allies to provide air defence support packages to Ukraine, saying its military only managed to shoot down “some” of the missiles launched by Russia overnight.

According to Zelensky, one of the “key targets” of the attack was the country’s energy infrastructure, which Moscow earlier said it would intensify strikes on following Ukraine’s strikes on Moscow’s energy facilities.

In a separate post on Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine had struck four targets in retaliatory attacks in the past 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions.

“There is also a response in the Black Sea,” the Ukrainian president wrote.

On Tuesday evening, footage emerged showing a huge plume of smoke engulfing an oil tanker off the coast of Sochi, along the Black Sea in southern Russia.

The Russian transport ministry later said unmanned boats had attacked the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio oil tanker. Authorities claim the crew was rescued.

Separately, Bulgaria has halted a search for the missing crew of a ship that sank after being hit by a drone on Tuesday, Vice-Admiral Rumen Nikolov from the Maritime Administration Executive Agency said, as reported by Bulgarian television network Nora TV.

Vladimir Putin is on course for his worst monthly losses of the war this year in Ukraine. By Sunday, he suffered a staggering 41,420 killed and wounded in September, according to Kyiv’s General Staff.

At this rate, the month’s total will be around 46,000, with statistics indicating losses of 1,534 per day. It would make it one of the three bloodiest months of the war for Putin, who refuses to halt his conflict despite the horrific toll suffered by Russians.

Despite making little headway on the frontline and losing territory in the Donetsk region, Putin pummelled Ukrainian civilians overnight.

Kyiv suffered a hellish 24 hours of near constant Russian attacks, with petrol stations, mobile service operators and logistics hubs being targeted. It was the seventh consecutive day of intense strikes on the Ukrainian capital.

Russia claimed to have hit Ukrtelcom, a fixed-line telephone and broadband internet operator, and the DreamLine data centre in Kyiv, as well as fuel infrastructure facilities. There are also fears that Putin aims to cut internet access for Ukrainians.

Moscow claimed overnight to have targeted Vasylkov military airfield, near Kyiv, home of Ukraine’s Air Force’s 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade. Early today, Putin’s jet-powered Geran drones exploded at least two filling stations in the city.

More than 20 people, including eight children, were injured during a Russian attack on civilians in Kharkiv. More were injured in a strike on Izium, Kharkiv region.

Russia’s foreign minister used his address at the United Nations General Assembly to accuse Europe of blocking efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up attacks after the deadliest summer since 2022 — the year Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday, Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine, officials said, while Kyiv continued to target Russian oil refineries and industrial sites with long-range drones.

Efforts led by the U.S. have failed to produce a permanent ceasefire and peace deal, with President Trump saying on Saturday that he hoped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would “settle” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Europe of actively trying to block talks supported by the U.S. government.