According to a Ukrainian general, better-trained Russian soldiers are arriving at the battle line.

The commander of Ukrainian ground forces, General Oleksander Syrskyi, told Sky News that Moscow’s recent mobilization has increased Russia’s military menace in Ukraine. Still, Moscow is now using a lot of old equipment because it is having difficulty restocking its supplies.

“On the eastern front, the situation is very tense, the enemy attacks our units every day,” he said.

“Such a number of personnel increased the threat for us and these are not just words — these are new brigades, new battalions that have been trained, this is the replenishment that the Army was waiting for because it was exhausted.

“Those who come now have a better level of training than those who were previously sent to the front,” he added.

However, the general said that despite the increased threat, Russian forces have made slow progress around the town of Bakhmut, one of the main battle zones in eastern Ukraine.

In September, Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of around 300,000 reservists to bolster his forces in Ukraine. Because of the shelling, Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national electricity provider, announced fresh power cuts in all regions.

In addition, Ukraine worked to restore power after Russia’s latest missile barrage caused power outages across the nation. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “most” of the missiles were intercepted.

Due to shelling, all regions experienced fresh power cuts, national electricity provider Ukrenergo said.

Soviet-Era Training

The Russian Army uses Soviet-era training and tactics to prepare their soldiers for service in Ukraine. This includes a focus on physical fitness, marksmanship, and battlefield tactics. For instance, the Russian military is known to train its personnel in close combat with bayonets and knives and hand-to-hand combat. Furthermore, Russian soldiers are expected to run long distances while carrying heavy loads on their backs, in addition to being able to carry and fire several weapons at once.

It was also noted that the Soviet Union’s martial arts system was structured around physical conditioning and individual combat skills. It included exercises such as running with a gun held above one’s head for extended periods of time, practicing bodyweight calisthenics such as push-ups and sit-ups, performing hand-to-hand combat drills against padded opponents, and executing unarmed self-defense techniques.

In addition to physical conditioning, the Russians have also used soviet era teaching methods designed for marksmanship training, such as prone shooting positions or kneeling shooting positions with different types of firearms such as rifles or machine guns. Marksmanship is an important aspect that all soldiers should understand before serving on the front lines in Ukraine.

The Soviets were also highly focused on mental preparedness, which included psychological conditioning techniques and battle drills in theory and practice using mock battles meant to simulate real-life battlefield scenarios that could be encountered during operations in Ukraine. In addition, the Soviets would also test their soldiers’ endurance by having them march long distances while carrying heavy equipment under extreme conditions day and night so they could better handle any battle situations they might find themselves in a while serving in Ukraine.

Lastly, another significant aspect of Soviet-era training emphasized by Russia is fieldcraft which involves learning how to live off the land without being detected by enemy forces when deployed on missions into hostile environments like those found in eastern Ukraine, where separatist rebels are fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukrainian forces loyal to Kyiv. As part of this training regimen in fieldcraft, Russian soldiers learn camouflage techniques that can help keep them hidden from sight even when operating at close range during ambushes or other dangerous encounters on Ukrainian soil.

So, with a whole new bunch of “better” trained Russian soldiers ready to face the Ukrainian army, it makes sense for Ukraine to be on their toes.