“Characteristics of the so-called ‘young replenishments’: protective equipment, Soviet-style helmets and AK-12 [assault rifles], which have a very negative [user] experience,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in an operational update on Wednesday.

According to the translated post, the AK-12 has been used in Ukraine during the war, but it had not met expectations and that after some time the Russian military switched to an older model of the rifle.

The mention of Russia’s “young replenishments” and how Ukrainian troops can identify them on the battlefield, comes shortly after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of troops to fight against Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive.

In the recent operational update, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that up to 500 mobilized Russian troops “from the 205th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the 49th General Army stormed into the combat zone to make up for the enemy losses in the temporarily occupied territories.”

Shortly after Putin announced the partial mobilization, many men attempted to flee the country to avoid being forced to fight in Ukraine and there were protests against the ongoing war. Earlier this month, the interior minister of Kazakhstan announced that over 200,000 Russians fled to that nation after the partial mobilization was announced.

Seth Jones, director of the International Security Program and the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek on Wednesday that as a part of the partial mobilization, Russia is pushing in “poorly trained, poorly equipped forces that are having significant difficulties conducting combined arms operations.”

“The Russians are steadily loosing territory on the ground,” Jones said. “The Russians have an uptick in quantity, but actually it’s a decrease in quality. Increase in quantity, decrease in quality and that is not helpful to either trying to preserve the gains that they have now…and I think they’re gonna continue to lose, that’s the biggest challenge. We’re seeing that repeatedly in tactical levels of the fight right now, which is just poorly trained, poorly equipped Russian forces, and this mobilization is not solving these problems.”

The operational update on Wednesday also mentioned the use of Iranian-made drones by Russian military forces. “In addition, the invaders continue to use Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned aircraft. Ten of them were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense forces of Ukraine,” the update said.

Iran has since denied reports that it was sending drones to Russia with the nation’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani saying, “over the past months, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in numerous meetings and contacts with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, has always reiterated the need for the resolution of disagreements in a peaceful manner and through talks and has announced Iran’s readiness to help this process.”

Over the past few weeks, Ukraine has mentioned the use of these drones by Russian forces. While speaking with Newsweek earlier on Wednesday, Alex Vatanka, the director of the Middle East Institute’s Iran Program, said that Iran supplying drones to Russia “helps for Iran to prove itself as an ally to Putin but is not helping Iran otherwise.”

Last week, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that in one week, Ukrainian air defense forces “destroyed 24 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones,” which accounted for more than half of the drones reportedly sent by Iran to Russia during the same period.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Update 10/12/22, 3:12 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comment from Seth Jones.