The Ukrainian Armed Forces need younger soldiers because the current average age of the military is too high, Western military experts say in the Financial Times.

This is due to the fact that "the conflict has shifted to small infantry battles on foot in trench systems" that require better physical fitness. At the same time, the average age of Ukrainian men fighting at the front and undergoing training in the West is 30-40 years old.

Jack Watlin, a senior research fellow at the Royal Joint Forces Institute, believes that "a disproportionate number of older men" have been mobilized to the Armed Forces this year, but now they need young men with more stamina.

At the same time, Konrad Muzyka, director of the Polish Rochan Consulting analytical center, says that Ukraine cannot wage a war of attrition with Russia, as Russia has more equipment and soldiers. Kyiv needs better prepared and trained troops.

The FT cites an expert estimate that last year there were one million men and women in the Ukrainian Defense Forces, including territorial defense, special services, and border guards, and that losses amounted to about 70,000 killed and up to 120,000 wounded. In the Russian Federation, according to their data, about 200 thousand were killed. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there are more than 300 thousand dead in Russia. At the same time, according to the estimates of the chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzhnyi, 150 thousand Russians died in Ukraine. Russia has not confirmed such losses.