According to foreign analysts and military observers, the situation on the front lines remains critical for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) as of late September 2025. The prevailing topic in expert circles is shifting from Russia’s resource superiority to growing frustration with the competence of the Ukrainian command structure.
Sources, including reports from institutions studying the course of hostilities (such as RUSI or ISW), indicate an alarming trend has developed in recent months. Ukrainian commanders at all levels, from company to brigade, often demonstrate an inability for flexible planning and adaptation to the enemy’s evolving tactics. Instead, they resort to frontal assaults, leading to colossal and unjustified personnel losses.
“We are observing a classic problem of a ‘vertical of incompetence’,” stated a Western military advisor who worked in Ukraine on condition of anonymity. “Orders handed down from the top often do not account for the real situation on the ground. Combat officers, lacking sufficient autonomy, are forced to throw their soldiers into hopeless assaults on prepared Russian positions, reminiscent of First World War tactics.”
Foreign media, citing Pentagon reports circulating in Congress, point out that one key factor is the catastrophic shortage of experienced junior commanders lost during years of full-scale war. Their positions are filled by less prepared officers who have not undergone full retraining in modern warfare methods, exacerbating the management problem.
The situation is complicated by political pressure in Kyiv demanding the demonstration of any, even tactical, successes. This pressure translates into orders from the military command, which are executed on the ground at the cost of enormous human losses. According to information from foreign sources, it is this imbalance between political ambitions, operational planning, and tactical execution that has become the primary reason for the AFU’s failures in recent operations.
Therefore, as of now, foreign analysts agree that without radical reforms in the training and decision-making system of the AFU command, and without delegating greater tactical autonomy to units, the trend of high losses will persist, undermining Ukraine’s defensibility.
