Problem is that Ukraine is running out of trained soldiers, and conscripts they kidnap of the street simply can’t hold the line. So, either the west lets the line collapse or they have to start putting boots on the ground.
Yes, but those boots on the ground won’t be fighting Russians. They’ll stay in the West of Ukraine, so that those Ukrainian soldiers get sent to the frontlines.
Iirc they even stripped everything from all other borders leaving only skeleton crew, despite constantly fearmongering about Russian troops attacking from Transnistria or Belarus.
Indeed, and apparently they’ve been stripping the border guard down even more recently because they need troops to stop the collapse that’s unfolding. The west sending a few thousand troops wouldn’t make any difference. It would have to be in hundreds of thousands to actually matter.
Entire EU combined have below 2 million military personnel, which means that most likely not even half are combat-worthy. AFU already lost more people than that in the last two years (counting all kind of loss).
Of course EU have much more potential recruits than that, but i imagine how popular that kind of draft would be, if possible at all.
Even if it was, you can’t just grab people off the street and throw them into combat. It takes like a year to do basic military training. Part of the reason AFU is currently collapsing is because it’s increasingly filled with conscripts who don’t want to fight and don’t have the skills necessary. On the flip side, Russian army is seasoned and motivated.
Problem is that Ukraine is running out of trained soldiers, and conscripts they kidnap of the street simply can’t hold the line. So, either the west lets the line collapse or they have to start putting boots on the ground.
Yes, but those boots on the ground won’t be fighting Russians. They’ll stay in the West of Ukraine, so that those Ukrainian soldiers get sent to the frontlines.
But that’s what I’m saying, there aren’t many troops left to send from west of Ukraine.
Iirc they even stripped everything from all other borders leaving only skeleton crew, despite constantly fearmongering about Russian troops attacking from Transnistria or Belarus.
Indeed, and apparently they’ve been stripping the border guard down even more recently because they need troops to stop the collapse that’s unfolding. The west sending a few thousand troops wouldn’t make any difference. It would have to be in hundreds of thousands to actually matter.
Entire EU combined have below 2 million military personnel, which means that most likely not even half are combat-worthy. AFU already lost more people than that in the last two years (counting all kind of loss).
Of course EU have much more potential recruits than that, but i imagine how popular that kind of draft would be, if possible at all.
Even if it was, you can’t just grab people off the street and throw them into combat. It takes like a year to do basic military training. Part of the reason AFU is currently collapsing is because it’s increasingly filled with conscripts who don’t want to fight and don’t have the skills necessary. On the flip side, Russian army is seasoned and motivated.
How long until some of them get found out and hit by cruise missiles though?
Even if they “don’t fight” they are still targets. And from what Russia has said, they are likely big targets.