Numbers, Names, and Ground Not Gained
Personnel Attrition Rates and Force Sustainability Update: Ukraine
By Michael Overbey, Humanist
June 20, 2025
Command: The Axe Swings Again
President Zelensky just handed Brigadier General Hennadii Shapovalov the wheel of Ukraine’s Ground Forces. The new task? Patch the hemorrhaging troop ranks before winter digs in. This guy isn’t new to stress—cut his teeth coordinating with NATO in Germany, then dragged logistics through south Ukraine’s chaos.
Still, throwing €4K signing bonuses and dangling one-year contracts to 18–25-year-olds isn’t turning heads. Barely 500 new recruits so far. For context: that’s roughly one small battalion. Kyiv needs armies.
Russia's War Wallet Swells
Middle East’s new flare-up (Israel vs. Iran) has sent oil prices punching upward—and guess who’s cashing in? Yep, Moscow. While U.S. military aid pivots toward that region, the Kremlin’s swimming in petrodollars, fueling the same tanks Ukraine’s trying to destroy.
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