Al Jazeera Podcasts.

Today, Ukraine is struggling to put soldiers on its front lines.

Ukraine urgently needs new soldiers and is increasing pressure on men to sign up.

In the midst of a Russian offensive, many are complaining about a lack of proper training.

So what does this mean at a critical juncture in the war?

I'm Malika Bilal and this is The Take.

There was a huge billboard in central Kiev and it had some sort of an ad for a certain military

unit and the ad basically said we guarantee a 60 day unit. And the ad basically said, we guarantee a 60-day training.

This is Mansour Mirovalev. He's a freelance print journalist who writes for Al Jazeera English,

covering the war in Ukraine. He's based in Kiev, and he was walking home recently when he came

across this billboard,

one of many that are being used to recruit Ukrainian men to fight in the war against Russia.

Their message is, if you can't dodge the draft, join us,

because what we can guarantee is a long training that will truly get you ready for the front line.

So your chances of dying are not that high.

As new conscripts have been rushed to the front lines, word has been getting out about a lack of proper training.

These soldiers are being sent to fighting units at the front,

even when they're not ready for combat,

making some men more reluctant to sign up.

There are also promotional billboards

with something like a picture from the Lord of the Rings movie portraying orcs, because the code word for Russians

has been orcs, and that is supposed to lure, I don't know, a teenager, a young man to the

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