New Delhi, Jan. 15 -- Wide-scale desertions and 2 million draft-dodgers are among a raft of challenges facing Ukraine's military as Russia presses on with its invasion of its neighbor after almost four years of fighting, the new defense minister said Wednesday.

Mykhailo Fedorov told Ukraine's parliament that other problems facing Ukraine's armed forces include excessive bureaucracy, a Soviet-style approach to management, and disruptions in the supply of equipment to troops along the about 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

"We cannot fight a war with new technologies but an old organizational structure," Fedorov said.

He said the military had faced some 200,000 troop desertions and draft-dodging by around 2 million people.

Preside...