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The system was also plagued by corruption, which allowed conscripts to escape the army. Last summer, Zelensky had to dismiss all the regional recruitment officers. New recruit Taras, who just arrived in Volkov's unit, said he didn't know why he wasn't drafted earlier.
After 22 months of war with a horrific human cost, the Ukrainian army is struggling to find recruits to battle Russian forces that are once again on the offensive.
Some Ukrainians who joined the fighting in February 2022 are still in combat and exhausted, while volunteers to replace those killed or wounded are becoming rarer.