This has been helped along by the Rada granting an amnesty last year. That amnesty expired on September 1, however.

Ukraine is facing major problems with mobilization right now. So just who are the people staffing the Ukrainian armed forces' brigade-level training teams, and how did they end up in the military? ERR's Anton Aleksejev went to Kharkiv oblast to find out.

"My friend serves in this brigade, he invited me too. He said that here soldiers are getting treated well and the training is good. The instructors here are good," one, Andranik, told ERR (for safety purposes full names cannot be given – ed.).

An instructor with the call sign "Banker" said he joined the army voluntarily at the start of the full-scale invasion, over three and a half years ago. At that time, morale among volunteers was high. But how about now?

"There are many things that affect people's morale. People see what is happening at the front and don't want to go through all that. Those types of people are not in any way weaker than those I fought alongside at the beginning of the war. They just need to be trained and shown that, against threats, first and foremost drones, there are certain measures," Banker explained.

Many of the new soldiers at the training center are far from young, too. One, Ruslan, is 53 years old, but perhaps unsurprisingly looks even older, and has been struggling with load carries. "It's hard, I have back problems. We have to go on a march with body armor and then a backpack on top of that. Altogether eight kilometers, and I can't manage to complete that," he said.

ERR also found another Ruslan, already known to them as their driver last year. A little before Christmas, he had been conscripted into the marines, and also found it hard.

"I was there for a week and became very ill. I was taken to the hospital with double pneumonia, because the living conditions there were horrific," Ruslan recalled.

This Ruslan slipped out of the hospital, effectively going AWOL — like many other new recruits. "Some from the hospital, others straight from the training center," he said.

The recently ended amnesty brought about 30,000 deserters back to the army. But now it is over, deserters face prison terms of up to 10 years. Those who are back in the army are quite numerous on the front line, and in some cases can return for the better.

"Most of the people here are former deserters. They are all normal people, warriors. It's good to work with them, we are all brothers in arms," said the second Ruslan.

"Maybe those people simply couldn't endure it at that point in time, but when they come back, they return with renewed drive. They are motivated, ready to go through basic training again and learn to improve their skills. They are ready to continue serving," Banker added.

Another fighter, Pavlo, fought for two and a half years but deserted a year ago. He doesn't want to talk about why that was, and has in any case returned.

He had seen full-on combat. "It was terrifying, it was very hard. On the Donetsk front line. You cannot describe what was happening there. It's better not to end up there," he said.

For a year, Pavlo hid at home, in the Mykolaiv oblast near the Black Sea, but ultimately decided to go back into uniform, even seeing the front line as the best place for him right now.

"I don't want to die there. In the rear. I have a family, I must fight for them," Pavlo said.

Meanwhile, tensions between Russia and Europe have heightened following last month's drone incursions into Poland and Romania, and the violation of Estonian airspace by three MiG 31s. On the other hand, U.S. President Donald Trump has pivoted to a much more optimistic stance on Ukraine emerging victorious in the conflict.

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