According to the "Washington Post" on January 8, the Ukrainian troops in the Russian-Ukrainian border area have a shortage of troops, and some of them are even less than the original 1 5, which is also the first time that Ukraine has faced such a grim situation since the Russian-Ukrainian war for nearly two years.
According to reports, in recent days, more than a dozen Ukrainian front-line fighters and generals have said in interviews that manpower shortage is the biggest problem at present, and Russia has regained the initiative to attack in this area and launched a new ** strike. A commander of a Ukrainian armored brigade fighting in eastern Ukraine said that a fully formed battalion should have had more than 200 men, but now only an infantry regiment of less than 40 people remains in forward positions to fend off Russian attacks. A battalion commander in another brigade also said his men were tired. All of the Ukrainian servicemen interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity, and they were not allowed to speak in public, and they were also subject to reprisals for their remarks.
Ukrainian soldiers fight in the Donbas region, reports The Washington Post
The Ukrainian government did not comment on this, but raised the issue with the Ministry of Defense, but the latter in turn raised the issue with the Ukrainian army command, which did not make any comment on it.
Zaluzhny, the top commander of the Ukrainian military, once told Zelensky that Ukraine still needs about half a million soldiers, but Zelensky has denied this number in front of private and public. Zelenskyy said he wanted further explanations from the leaders of the Ukrainian army why so many soldiers were being recruited, while also being concerned about the inability to pay so many soldiers.
But the hesitation of the Ukrainian authorities about troop movements has provoked anger among front-line fighters. A Ukrainian battalion-level officer said that company-level personnel in his unit accounted for only 35 percent of the regular positions, while other battalion-level officers said that such situations were common in combat units.
A Ukrainian military officer said that in the last five months, they have accepted a total of five people. He agreed with other leaders that it was difficult to send these people to the front line, because without adequate training, on the one hand, a large number of personnel were needed, and on the other hand, it was easy for those who were inexperienced to become new people.
At the end of the day, there are still not enough people. How can this be good? I don't know. "We don't see any hope, this war will end up with a large number of people ** and a worldwide rout," one commander said. "I think that there is a high probability that this front will collapse somewhere, just like the battle of Kharkov in those years, just like the German army in those years. ”
Zelensky fired conscription offices across Ukraine in August on the grounds of **. However, a senior military source said that the transfer of the Ukrainian army has been interrupted by the job gap caused by the layoffs. Now the local commander admits that they have not received new troops since the beginning of last fall.
A deputy commander of a Ukrainian infantry battalion said: "Now we are facing the problem of lack of manpower, because this is a battle, and the defending infantry is constantly dying. "I've talked to my friends, and the ** and soldiers in other units, and they all know that this is happening all over the place. ”
According to the Ukrainian military**, the lack of troops will lead to a domino effect. For example, in a bad climate such as winter, an infantry regiment that was supposed to complete a shift change every three days had to be stretched longer because of a lack of manpower, so that soldiers who were supposed to stay in the rear had to go to battle. In the case of excessive fatigue, the army is often unable to hold its position, and at this point, **people have an absolute upper hand in numbers and **, they will take advantage of the situation.
It's time for a change. "However, there is no replacement, so the longer they stay there, the more likely they are to lose their fighting spirit and become ill or freeze to death," said Oleksandr, commander of the Ukrainian regiment. "I can't hold it anymore, but I can't find a replacement. The front is all crushed, why can't we find a replacement? It's just that there are not enough people! No one was drafted into the army. Why is there no one enlisted? So, a lot of people have fled abroad. ”
Dmytro, the deputy commander of another unit, said that the problem was made worse by the fact that most of his men were in their 40s and physically exhausted. "You can feel that everyone is physically and mentally exhausted, it is very difficult, the bad weather conditions, the continuous artillery bombardment, these are very people's hearts. ”
It should be noted that, in addition to personnel, there is a shortage of arms and munitions. A Russian commander said his army had recently been redeployed to a new area in eastern Ukraine, but said only 10 shells were used for two howitzers. Even Zelensky said that because Europe has encountered difficulties in producing the ** needed by Ukraine, and the United States' support for it has been stagnant, the progress of the Russian army's acquisition of artillery ** has also slowed down.
The U.S. Congress voted 50-49 on Feb. 7 to reject a bill that included U.S. border controls and support from foreign forces. The bill lists $118 billion to fund the U.S. border, help Israel, and Ukraine, as well as other foreign policy priorities, about $60 billion of which are for Ukraine. The next step will be an independent vote by the Senate on the content of military assistance.
The New York Times wrote an article on February 7 pointing out that U.S. aid to Ukraine is irreplaceable, and the withdrawal of U.S. aid to Ukraine will have unpredictable consequences, and the signature effect of this move will have a profound impact. Officials in the United States and Europe say that as long as the United States stops funding Ukraine, they will lose a lot of living materials, and the collapse of the air defense system will make it unable to cope with attacks on important infrastructure such as cities and power networks from local missiles and drones.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who also wrote on Wall Street, said that Ukraine will soon have a large-scale arms shortage. He called on Western countries to maintain military assistance to Ukraine, otherwise it will have a devastating impact on Ukraine, and it will also have a huge impact on Europe.
Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on January 30 that the Western world is giving Ukraine a new type to meet its needs, which will greatly increase the chances of NATO intervening in the war, but this will not cause any hindrance to its special operations plan.