“Come on Dima, say goodbye to GRANDAD”

… A small boy hugged him at the knees

… “Come on Dima, say goodbye to grandad,” his mother told him

… Similar scenes now play out frequently in Ukraine

… depleted and exhausted army is increasingly made up of older men

… “The people we get now are not like the people who were there in the beginning of the war,”

… “we received 90 people, but only 24 of them were ready to move to the positions”

… “The rest were old, sick or alcoholics”

… “now they are in a trench and can barely hold a weapon”

… ordered already-depleted air defence units to free up more men to send to the front as infantry

… “we can’t be sure that air defence can function properly”

… equipped with sensitive knowledge about Ukrainian air defence positions and tactics

… giving up important information if they are captured by Russians at the front

… “I’m left with those aged 50-plus and injured people. It’s impossible to run things like this,”

… the recruiting squads often face anger and abuse as they look for new conscripts

… “Eighteen-year-olds are still children. Maybe they could lower it to 23 if necessary, but there are still enough people in Kyiv who could be mobilised but don’t want to go,”