Ukrainian military officer Olexander with the call sign “Ronin” in an interview with Ukrainian media ZN.UA shared the real situation on the front, stating the urgent necessity of of replenishment of the army.
ZN.UA has previously spoken to Olexander (call sign “Ronin”). The military man serves as a sergeant, a paramedic in the medical centre of one of the units fighting in the east of the country. At different times he co-operated with the medical services of three combat brigades. Olexander also has experience of working at points where doctors usually don’t practice in standard situations, being limited to standard care at the level of combat medics. Mobilised since March 2022, since July 2022 Olexander has been permanently stationed in the combat zone, without going on rotation.
Two years into his service, Olexander finally got his long-awaited leave home. Now he has a little more free time to share with ZN.UA readers his own view of the situation at the front.
In an interview with Ukrainian media, Olexander emphasised the strength of the Russian army. According to the Ukrainian military officer, “The Russians are really growing: they are developing their army, doing work on their mistakes.”
Olexander noted that in the Ukrainian army “people already know very well that everyone lies. And if they send you to some landing site and say that there is no one there, there is definitely someone there.” That is why many of those who have been fighting for a long time and still want to survive in this war, react to all kinds of threatening orders very simply: they agree and sit in dugouts, realising that the chances of carrying out the order and staying alive are very slim.
Oleksander on commanders and NATO equipment
Many orders are frankly insane. In pursuit of crosses and arrows on the map, some commanders do not care about their men in principle. They do not think about what those crosses will do in a clear field, how they will burrow there and what they will be able to do, the military doctor said in an interview with the media.
Oleksander stressed that the military men who arrive at the front on mobilisation do not have enough experience in western techniques. He remarked:
“The techniques were there. But the people… They seemed to have learnt on some training grounds according to NATO standards. But what are NATO standards? It is, for example, when you go to a medic and ask what to do in this or that situation. And he says, “You need an air evacuation” – “No air evacuation.” – “How not?” Silent scene.”
A Ukrainian military officer said it’s possible that NATO will rewrite its military standards, but that it will do so because of the experience of the war in Ukraine.
According to Oleksander, the lack of systematicity and coordination are also serious problems for the Ukrainian armed forces. He said:
“I’ll tell you about what was happening infront of me my eyes. There are brigades that manage to, excuse me, give up the best positions. How they do it, I honestly don’t understand. They stand on the heights from which they are knocked out, and then they get everything. New and new formations start arriving there. New formations arrive, they have no coordination, they don’t know anything: who is on the right, who is on the left, who is shooting at them and why. A compound goes in for a day, and a day later it comes out broken. Because it is impossible to fight like this, without normal co-ordination. Normal brigades have district defence, there is coordination. Why not spread this across the entire front?”
Replenishing the army may save the situation at the front
Commenting on the retreat of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka, Olexander said:
“Here we are looking at the same Avdiivka with our brethren. Well, anything can happen, they went through the sewers, they have been preparing for a long time. But, my dear comrades, you have been sitting in this Avdiivka for eight years, even before February 2022. Where were the two lines of defence around it? Where is the third line of defence, where is the fortification? Why did people coming out of Avdiivka have to crawl into some holes and try to shoot back from there? Who came up with this?”
Olexander also gave his view of the situation on the front and about replenishment:
“Yes, the offensive has begun. According to our feelings, if there is no replenishment, the front will fall, because we simply won’t have anyone to fight with. There are weapons in our battalion, but there is no one to fire them. If there is a replenishment, then of course we will catch on, but strategically we still have to do something. Because it’s not going to end well.”
Replenishing the army is of course necessary, but the newly mobilised also need special training. As for this, Olexander said it is basically the same at the combat level. The way combat battalions are taught, no one is systematically teaching now. Basic military training has been reduced from three months to one month. A conveyor belt with no consolidation of skills.
There is a lot of truth in what concerns the unprofessionalism and inhuman attitude of some lower-level commanders to their fighters. But half, or even more of it concerns the higher levels. Because it was these higher levels that demanded exactly such decisions and controlled them in this way.
At the end of the interview, Oleksander noted another serious problem of the Ukrainian army – psychological problems among commanders. For example, after injuries, there is a psychological shift that the commander does not want to recognise. Mental problems progress, make themselves known, there is sudden aggression, lack of empathy, tantrums, painful decisions and the like. The subordinates can do almost nothing about it, they live like a powder keg.
