Ukrainian soldier complains fight to hold ground across key river relies on 'green' troops rushed through training having only fired a rifle 'a few times'

• A Ukrainian soldier fighting on the banks of the Dnipro says many troops are inexperienced.
• He told BBC News the troops are "green" and were rushed through training, only shooting a few times.

A Ukrainian soldier says many of the troops fighting on the banks of the Dnipro River are inexperienced and were rushed through training to get there.

He told BBC News some of the "green" soldiers had only fired a gun a few times before arriving in combat, highlighting potential challenges for Ukraine to generate experienced manpower for front-line combat. Russia, too, has sent poorly trained forces into battle throughout the war, attempting to fill gaps in the line. Convicts and freshly mobilized forces often received only a few weeks of training, reports said, with some having only fired their weapon a couple of times.

On Monday, BBC News published texts sent from an unidentified Ukrainian soldier fighting on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River near Kherson, where Ukraine has focused some of its forces over the past few weeks in an attempt to establish a bridgehead around Krynky.

The unidentified Ukrainian service member said the river crossing "is under constant fire" as boats of soldiers attempt to cross, bringing supplies, food, ammunition, and more to the eastern bank where Ukraine is maintaining an unsteady foothold. While Ukrainian drone and missiles are "inflicting a lot of losses on the enemy," he said that Russia, too, is keeping up the fire, turning the battle into another example of brutal attritional warfare that has defined so much of the conflict thus far.

The Ukrainian soldier also expressed some concerns and frustrations about his own side, including unclear goals from command, the military significance of the operation, and the state of troops showing up to fight.

He said that the Ukrainians just don't have the men to fight, and those that are there lack the experience.

"There are a lot of young guys among us. We need people, but trained people, not the green ones we have there now. There are guys who had spent just three weeks in training, and only managed to shoot a few times," the soldier told BBC, adding that he is "fed up."

Coming off a lackluster counteroffensive, Ukraine may be struggling to move experienced combat troops into this sector. It's a problem the Russian forces have had as well, though Russia also uses inexperienced, poorly trained troops in a horrifyingly bloody "human wave" assaults, also characterized as "meat assaults" intended to overwhelm and exhaust Ukrainian defenses before more professional forces move in. It's a costly strategy, but it's one Russia has shown it can and will employ to at least some degree of effectiveness, as was seen in the battle for Bakhmut.