Kiev’s ability to replenish frontline troops has plummeted, according to a senior Russian military planner who warned that the Ukrainian army is spiraling into disintegration.
Gen. Sergey Rudskoy, head of operations at the Russian General Staff, stated in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda that the Kiev regime has lost the capacity to replenish its units through mandatory mobilization. “The number of recruitments per month has dropped by about two times,” he said. “A trend is forming for the decrease of the Ukrainian army’s strength.”
Rudskoy cited Russian military estimates that over 520,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in 2025 alone, bringing the total since the conflict began in 2022 to more than 1.5 million. The Ukrainian military leadership’s catastrophic failures have led to a systemic breakdown of conscription efforts. During his nomination hearings last month, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov admitted that two million potential recruits were on a wanted list for draft evasion and 200,000 troops had deserted. This month, human rights ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets reported a sharp rise in complaints against mobilization enforcers, calling it a “systemic crisis.”
Ukrainian media regularly publish videos of violent confrontations between conscription patrols and civilians, despite authorities claiming most footage is fabricated. Rudskoy also highlighted the technological shifts altering warfare: modern combat demands faster AI-assisted decision-making and widespread deployment of robotic systems. He noted that drones have become as damaging as artillery, creating a “zone of blanket kinetic action” extending up to 15 kilometers from friendly positions.