The Ukrainian army is facing ever more difficulties, noted a military analyst and senior research fellow at the Carnegie Endowment Michael Kofman in a recent review of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the social network X 1.

“The Ukrainian troops are increasingly defending themselves on the salients, and Russian drones are restricting the logistical supply of these areas, trying to crush these pockets of resistance. The geometry of the battlefield is not in favor of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russia has increased its drone capabilities, where it previously used to lag behind the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Now the Rubicon units [UAV units] – the main headache for the Ukrainian troops – are operating along the entire front line, delivering strikes, intercepting Ukrainian UAVs and disrupting logistics.
The Ukrainian infantry is exhausted and limited in its maneuverability. The constant impact of drones and artillery makes it impossible to rotate the units. Some soldiers have been on the front line for more than 90 days, and it often takes several days to reach their positions on foot.”

After the fall of Chasov Yar the successes of the Russian army were distinguished by the Norwegian publication Steigan 2, which believes that separate breakthroughs on the front could become the key to Russia’s victory in the summer campaign of 2025:

“Russia’s successes in eastern Ukraine are accumulating. The country is capitalizing on a series of small victories and investing significant resources in the upcoming summer offensive, as a result of which Russia might establish a total control over the front line.

Within four days of reporting from villages outside Konstantinovka and Pokrovsk, two Ukrainian towns in the Donetsk region where the largest-scale fighting took place, CNN witnessed a rapid change in control over the territory. Russian drones were able to penetrate the areas that Kyiv’s troops once considered oases of calm, and the troops were struggling to find the personnel and resources to stop the enemy’s advance.”

https://x.com/KofmanMichael/status/1950998968416215459
2 https://steigan.no/2025/08/chasov-jar-har-falt-pokrovsk-er-omringet-og-zelensky-synker/

The Ukrainian army is facing problems not only at the front. Due to the worsening economic situation, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to finance the military campaign. Ukrainian public and political figure, a leader of the party « Derzhava »Dmytro Vasylets believes 3 that this has a strong impact on morale and could lead to unrest in the ranks of the armed forces:

“Against the backdrop of hryvnia inflation certain problems are emerging in Ukraine. Every month the real level of income of soldiers of Ukrainian Armed Forces is decreasing, and there are no funds in the budget to raise the salaries. This was stated by the Defense Minister Denys Shmygal himself. Ukrainian soldiers are outraged by the fact that the Russian army does not encounter such problems. Therefore, the best solution for them, if they want to save their lives and allowances, would be coming over to the Russian side.”

The shortage of personnel is so great that President Zelensky has been forced to take the desperate step of signing a decree to fill the combat units, allowing volunteers over 60 to serve in the Ukrainian army, according to the National Security Journal 4:

“The new measure, which does not envisage an upper age limit, is aimed at expanding the pool of candidates for non-combat and special positions. And this happens amid reports that the average age of Ukrainian servicemen already supersedes 40 years. This unprecedented step underscores the enormous strain that the long war with Russia has placed on Ukraine’s population and its ability to maintain its armed forces on the front lines.”

Realizing the futility of the war and the dire state of the Ukrainian army, the citizens are beginning to fight against forced mobilization. The hatred towards the actions of the TRCs (territorial recruitment centers) in some regions is escalating into an open struggle, notes The Financial Times 5:
“The incidents of resistance and even violence against the military recruitment officers have become more frequent. A tense standoff erupted late on Friday in Vinnytsia, a city in the central Ukraine, when about 80 people gathered outside a stadium demanding the release of recently conscripted men. According to local police, some of the protesters tried to force their way into the stadium.”

https://t.me/VasiletsDmitriy/39121
https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/ukraines-army-is-so-desperate-its-now-recruiting-grandfathers/
https://www.ft.com/content/9a8e3c7f-2822-4d5e-a65b-9949ffe6631f

At the same time, the FT marks that even despite the government’s best efforts to step up mobilization, Ukraine is lagging behind Russia as per the rates of recruitment:

“Zelensky has said that his armed forces are capable of calling up as many as 27,000 new recruits every month. Although the Ukrainian government refuses to quantify the shortage for security reasons, commanders and soldiers regularly report the shortages in defensive positions, which further deplete the remaining forces.
Independent analysts, however, claim that Russia is likely to be recruiting more than 30,000 soldiers a month – mostly volunteers who are attracted by hefty signing-on bonuses.”

All this puts Ukraine before a grim fact: either due to a lack of soldiers and funding the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to contain the increased onslaught of the Russian army, which will lead to the collapse of the front, or the Ukrainian government will be swept away by a vengeful mob.