As Russia's war in Ukraine approaches the one-year point, it is not just Vladimir Putin — despite drafting Russia's war fighters in multiple waves — who is short on capable forces.
Ukraine's troops have come wide and far — from "Antarctica and ballet" and even the Ukrainian voice of Captain America, The Wall Street Journal reported — but high casualty rates are exposing the need for experienced war fighters to stave off Putin's invasion he once pitched as a "special military operation."
Ukraine's population is less than one-third of Russia's, so the likes of a polar scientist, a famous ballet dancer, and Captain America voice have joined the forces to defend Ukraine, and all three have wound up dead or hospitalized, according to the report.
Andriy Zotov, 49, left Antarctica by yacht, plane, and then car to enlist — and he was "lucky" enough to only need to be hospitalized after being shot outside of Bakhmut, according to the report.
"We went to the front line not because we wanted to fight; we went because we had no choice," Zotov told the Journal of the self-proclaimed Penguin Battalion that included six from Ukraine's National Antarctic Scientific Center.
"We will disappear as a nation if we do not fight."
Ukraine began the war with 196,000 armed forces members and 900,000 reservists, which paled in comparison to Russia's reportedly 900,000 forces that had 2 million in reserve.
Ukraine's forces rose to 700,000 among conscripts and volunteers, according to the Journal.
But more are needed, particularly in the way of experienced fighters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told university students last month his military leaders are starting a mobilization campaign, and the Journal reported they have been handing out draft orders outside stores since.
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