Ukrainian war analyst reveals continued surprise with Russia's poor quality troops

When Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Russian leaders thought the battle for the country would be over in a matter of weeks but Moscow’s military did not perform as well as the Kremlin had hoped. 

Why the Russian Armed Forces failed to quickly conquer Ukraine has been analyzed by several different experts and news outlets since it became clear the Ukrainians were not going to be defeated very easily. 

One issue that could help explain why Russian forces have performed so poorly can be found in the quality of Putin's soldiers, a problem that has baffled one war analyst who said Moscow's issues have only gotten worse. 

George Barros is one of the many experts analyzing the ongoing war in Ukraine for the Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War, and he recently revealed the depth of Russia’s soldier quality problem to Business Insider. 

While speaking with the American news outlet, Barros said that he was surprised by “the new depths of how poor the Russian individual soldier quality is," according to a quote published by Business Insider. 

Photo Credit: X @georgewbarros

Each new group of recruits that the Russian Armed Forces pulls into the conflict are far worse than the ones that came before them according to the report, and when it comes to soldier quality, every new group of recruits is lacking. 

Part of the problem with the quality of Russian recruits is they are being rushed into the fight in Ukraine without the proper training, something Business Insider noted Ukrainian and American intelligence has cited since the war began. 

In October 2022, the New York Times reported there were a growing number of reports at the time that suggested newly mobilized Russian troops were “fighting and dying after only days of training.” However, the outlet did note those reports were anecdotal. 

“Evidence of the lack of training is anecdotal, but the sheer number of videos from across Russia, along with scattered threats from draftees to strike over the conditions, other news reports and commentaries, underscores the depth of the problems,” wrote Neil MacFarquhar. 

Anecdotal videos of Russian recruits talking about their lack of training have continued well past 2022. As recently as August 2024, video footage obtained by CBC News in Canada showed Russian POWs discussing their lack of training. 

“Some troops say they were conscripted and received little training before being overrun by Ukrainian forces” in the Kursk region of Russia CBC News noted in the description of a video the news outlet published on August 21st, following Ukraine’s invasion of Russia. 

When it comes to Russia's troop quality more nearly three years into the conflict, Barros told Business Insider "it's becoming really difficult for me to see what other additional shortcuts they could take other than maybe deploying just people unfit for service.”

"But the bar is very, very low at this point," Borros added. This high level of poor soldier quality may help to explain the major uptick in casualties Russia has suffered recently. Losses appear to have gone into overdrive in recent months. 

On September 17th, the UK Ministry of Defence reported that Russian casualties in the war had likely surpassed 610,000 killed and wounded. The report also noted that mass infantry wave tactics were necessitating constant new recruitment.  

“Tactics based on mass infantry waves has required Russia to continuously replenish front line forces with a constant stream of new recruits,” the defence ministry update noted, adding recruitment rates decreased from 1,600 a day in 2023 to 1,000 in 2024 according to Russian data, which it noted was likely already inflated. 

Whether or not these new recruits are of receiving the training they need to turn them into high quality soldiers in 2024 is unknown, but based on the recent analysis from George Borros and the UK Ministry of Defence, these troops could just be used in the same sort of infantry wave attacks that have resulted in such high Russian casualties. 

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