The American edition of The Washington Post wrote that, in addition to ammunition, Ukrainian troops lack infantry, there are few recruits, and fighters on the front line are exhausted and losing heart.
Source: “The Washington Post“with reference to the Ukrainian military
Literally: Ukraine’s military is facing a critical infantry shortage, leading to exhaustion and low morale on the front lines, soldiers at the front said this week – a dangerous new dynamic for Kyiv nearly two years after the bloody war with Russia began.
Details: In interviews conducted on the front lines in recent days, nearly a dozen soldiers and commanders told The Washington Post (WP) that personnel shortages are their most pressing problem now that Russia has regained offensive initiative on the battlefield and is stepping up its attacks. . The soldiers interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity.
The commander of one of the battalions of the mechanized brigade fighting in eastern Ukraine said that his unit now has less than 40 infantry – soldiers who are in the trenches on the front line and hold off Russian attacks. According to the commander, a fully equipped battalion should have more than 200 soldiers.
Another infantry battalion commander from another brigade said his unit was similarly depleted.
WP notes that reports of an acute military shortage come as President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to replace Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, and one of the main disagreements is how many new soldiers Ukraine needs to mobilize.
The Office of the President of Ukraine declined to comment, referring the question to the Ministry of Defense, which forwarded the question to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The General Staff did not respond to a request for comment.
Zaluzhny told Zelensky that Ukraine needed nearly 500,000 new troops, a figure the president rejected both privately and publicly, according to two people familiar with the matter. Zelensky said that he wants to get more justification from the military leadership of Ukraine about why such a number of mobilized people are needed, and also expressed concern about how Kyiv will pay them. Financial assistance from Western partners cannot be used to pay soldiers’ salaries.
The debate in Kyiv about mobilization and the extent to which the country should strengthen it angered the soldiers on the front line, writes WP.
Alexander, the battalion commander, said that the companies in his unit are staffed on average at 35% of needs.
The second battalion commander from the assault brigade says this is a typical situation for units performing combat missions.
When asked how many new soldiers he received, not counting those who returned after being wounded, Alexander replied that over the past 5 months his battalion had received 5 people sent.
He and other commanders say recruits tend to poorly preparedwhich creates the dilemma of whether to send someone immediately to the battlefield, since reinforcements are desperately needed, even though people may be wounded or killed due to lack of necessary knowledge.
“At the heart of everything is a lack of people. Where are we going? I don’t know. There is no positive perspective. Absolutely none. It will end in a large number of deaths, a global failure. And most likely, I think, the front will collapse somewhere, as it collapsed for the enemy in 2022, in the Kharkov region,” Alexander told the authors of the material.
A senior military official said mobilization stopped after the dismissal of regional TCC heads in August as some positions remained vacant. Local commanders confirmed that few new people have arrived since the fall.
Nikita, deputy commander of an infantry battalion, said: “We have a direct problem with personnel. Because this is war, and it is the infantry who die in defense. I talk with my friends, with officers of other units, with infantrymen – the situation is almost the same everywhere.”
Lack of ammunition and weapons is also a problem. The commander, whose unit was recently redeployed to a new front in eastern Ukraine, said he received 10 shells for two howitzers.
However personnel shortages could have a domino effectsay Ukrainian military personnel on the ground.
Problems with rotation worsen the situation on the battlefield. Especially in winter, under difficult weather conditions, the infantry should be rotated after about three days. But due to personnel shortages, units take longer to deploy—or personnel assigned to the rear are forced to serve on the front lines despite being poorly prepared for it.
As WP states, “mentally and physically exhausted Due to overload, troops are sometimes unable to defend their positions, allowing Russia – with more manpower and ammunition – to advance.”
Battalion commander Alexander says: “They need to be replaced by someone, there is no one to replace them, so they sit there longer, their morale drops, they get sick or get frostbite. They are running out. There is no one to replace them. The front is cracking. The front is falling apart“.
“Why can’t we replace them? Because we don’t have people, no one goes to the army. Why doesn’t anyone go to the army? Because the state didn’t tell people that they had to join the army. The state couldn’t explain to people that they had to go to the army. Those who knew that they had to go, they have all already fled,” he said.
Sergei, 41, a platoon leader fighting in Avdeevka, says he and his men are rarely rotated after three days. More often it takes 5 days, or even 10.
Dmitry, another deputy battalion commander in another brigade, said his infantry usually gets two days of rest after holding the front line for 5-10 days, and most of his soldiers are over 40 years old and their lack of physical training compounds the problems.
“You can feel it, people are exhausted both morally and physically. It’s very difficult, weather conditions, constant shelling. This greatly affects the human psyche,” Sergei said.
Nikita admitted: “Every soldier thinks about that guy who walks along the Dnieper, Lvov or Kiev. They think about them and also want to relax. Of course, the following thought appears in his head: “Some guys are just walking there, and we are here.” .
WP adds that lack of rotation is a problem for all Ukrainian military – not only for infantry on the front line. Soldiers may get a few days off to go home and see their families, but rarely more. They say they are still motivated to fight the Russian occupiers, but they also need rest and more men around.
Why is it important: Ukraine switched from counter-offensive to defense on the front line. In informal conversations, fighters talk about the understaffing of units and the need for recruits. The authorities have not officially disclosed this, but they have prepared a bill to strengthen mobilization, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading on February 7.
Zelensky also asked the military and parliament to prepare a law on the demobilization of those who have been fighting for almost two years. They discussed the option of “demobilization” (rotation) of soldiers after 36 months of service. But for this it will be necessary to send people to replace them.
Read also: Updated draft law on mobilization. What’s new?
Resignation on repeat. Why Zelensky (not) fires Zaluzhny
People should be prepared for war, not for military service – commander of the drone battalion of the 3rd Brigade Mazevich
2024-02-08 08:53:57
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