Russia is funneling newly drafted conscripts with little training to the front line in Ukraine’s east while mounting intensified but ineffective attacks and suffering heavy casualties, according to the Ukrainian military and Western analysts.
Grisly videos of Russian infantry in poorly prepared positions being struck by artillery have partly supported those assertions, as has reporting in Russian news media of mobilized soldiers telling relatives about high casualty rates. The videos, filmed by Ukrainian drones, have not been independently verified, and their exact locations could not be determined.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced Friday that the draft he ordered Sept. 21, a chaotic effort that swept up some men who should have been exempt, had added 318,000 troops to Russia’s military, with 49,000 of them already in combat. But he did not acknowledge the widespread complaints of inadequate training and equipment, with some soldiers being killed within days of deployment.