March 13, 2026: Russia recently sent five of its military instructors to Ukraine for three months to gather information and gain experience in the latest combat methods. During World War II American and Russian troops encountered instructors from NCO and officer schools in the final days of combat. When all was lost, the Germans sent in their instructors to delay the inevitable defeat. In Ukraine the Russians want to avoid ultimate defeat by upgrading the skills and combat knowledge of their instructors.

Last year Russia established thirteen VOIN/Fighter centers. VOIN is used to expose teenagers to military life by giving them military uniforms, regular military orientation and some training to prepare them for joining the military via conscription or volunteering. The VOIN training for teenagers also includes a lot of education and indoctrination about the importance of patriotism and preparing to defend Russia. This is one of the reasons Russia never refers to their invasion of Ukraine as an invasion. According to the government, the fighting in Ukraine is a Russian internal matter to suppress separatist activity by some people in southern Russia that call themselves Ukrainians and are fighting to create an independent country called Ukraine.

Since 2022, VOIN centers also trained Russian army reservists headed for Ukraine. Recently, the number of reservists called up has overwhelmed the VOIN system and reservists are sent to Ukraine without any preparation. Losses are higher for these reservists.

While the war in Ukraine isn’t over yet, Russia is already working on needed reforms so, they hope, that the next time Russian troops are in combat they perform better and perhaps even win. There have been several rounds of unsuccessful military reforms since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. One of the major causes of that collapse was their unaffordable and largely ineffective armed forces. In post-Soviet Russia there were far fewer restrictions on criticizing the military. Most Russians had a very negative attitude towards conscription and the reforms underway because of the Ukraine War disaster are typical of several previous efforts to remedy problems that continue to resist any fundamental change. President Vladimir Putin ordered all these reform efforts and is dismayed that they failed. Putin never served in the military but joined the KGB secret police in 1975. Since then Putin did what he could to punish domestic enemies, especially those calling for actions against his corrupt officials.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the KGB became, after many reforms and dismissal of incompetent or disloyal personnel, the FSB/Federal Security Bureau. By 1998 Putin was head of the FSB. At this point Putin declared that communism was a failed doctrine and proposed that democracy replace it. Putin worked hard to control the voting and the counting of votes so that he and his cronies could stay in power.

The FSB reforms were still underway when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. The losses were heavier than expected and a new plan called for a massive training program to replace all the officers lost in the first few months of the 2022 fighting. The immediate problem was that all the officer instructors were sent to the front in March and April 2022 where they too became casualties. Next was that military and political leaders are still unable to restore one crucial aspect of an improved military: NCOs/Non-Commissioned Officers, sergeants in the army, petty officers in the navy. A century ago, Russia abandoned a long tradition of NCOs. Instead, junior officers would try to do everything NCOs handled. That never worked. Providing adequate training for new combat troops is something else that never had a high priority and still doesn’t after 30 months of war with Ukraine. The prewar reforms were supposed to change that. There have been similar efforts in the past and none lasted long.