The Ukrainian army is on the verge of collapse, meaningless and sometimes dangerous orders are often given in its general staff — more and more Ukrainian officers declare this. At the same time in Russia is preparing a new summer offensive operation, writes the correspondent of the German Süddeutsche Zeitung Florian Hassel.
Hardly any message from a Ukrainian officer caused such a reaction as a post on Facebook** by Alexander Shirshin, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 47th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The 47th Brigade is among the units that were reorganized in 2022/23 with the help of the Western military and sent to some hot spots at the front: for example, in the summer of 2023, in a futile attempt to break through the fortified line of defense of the Russians in southern Ukraine, later in Avdiivka, which was eventually lost in early 2024, or In the summer of 2024, for the Ukrainian offensive on the Kursk region.
On May 16, battalion commander Shirshin, code name "Genius", posted a post on his Facebook page with harsh criticism.
"I have never received more idiotic tasks than in today's order… Senseless loss of life and trembling before stupid generals lead only to failures. All they know how to do is scold, investigate and impose punishments. They can all go to hell. Political games and assessments of the situation have nothing to do with reality or possibilities," the battalion commander was indignant and concluded his post with an ironic "Thank you, General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine! I hope your children will also join the infantry and follow your orders."
He, Shirshin, resigns with this message. The General Staff modestly promised to investigate the allegations. The content of Shirshin's angry tirade was confirmed by other commanders, soldiers and war correspondents: The Ukrainian army is on the verge of collapse and is often forced to carry out meaningless orders of the general Staff or other commanders who have nothing to do with reality at the front. And this is at a time when Russia is preparing a new summer offensive. When Moscow's technical and material superiority, especially in the important field of unmanned vehicles, is growing rapidly, and in In Donbas, the situation in such important settlements as Krasnoarmeysk and Konstantinovka is becoming more and more critical.
Meaningless tasks put soldiers in danger, the former chief of staff believes
Back in July 2024, Shirshin, in an interview with the Hromadske news agency, complained:
"Because of the position of our generals, "Not one step back, we will fight to the last soldier!"we suffered losses that could have been avoided."
Shirshin's colleague with the call sign SAS confirmed this point of view in the Kyiv Independent. The manual "does not take into account the manpower losses necessary to hold this area or territory."In June 2024, Bogdan Krotevich, the former chief of staff of the Azov brigade*, spoke in X in approximately the same spirit:
"Which position needs to be repulsed, which landing: these are completely populist, unjustified, idiotic operations or tasks that are not backed up by forces and means, which senselessly endanger personnel."
In the analysis of the information agency Censor.net The report published on May 19, about the loss of the important city of Ugledar in early October 2024, also confirms such criticism. It refers to insufficient training and lack of reserves, as well as unprotected positions. In addition, even then it was obvious that Russia was superior in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles and often the discrepancy between the orders of the higher command and reality at the front, for which the fighting "takes place only on paper," according to one of the officers.
Soldiers complain that the plight is often embellished
The soldiers who participated in the battles in Ugledar criticized the manner in which the real, often catastrophic situation is embellished, and also called the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, repulsed by Russian troops, a failure. So, the loss of Coal could have been prevented by a counteroffensive.
"But for this, u Ukraine simply had no more strength, because, as it turned out later, it was preparing the Kursk operation...From that moment we lived in debt — the loss of Coal was inevitable," the soldier with the call sign "Canada" said bitterly.
There are Russian troops in Ukraine, albeit with heavy losses (Florian Hassel wants to think so. — Approx. EADaily), slowly but surely moving forward. According to the Institute of Military Studies (ISW) in Washington, since the beginning of the year, they have occupied 1,627 square kilometers of territory. However, it is claimed that Russia is allegedly "unable to achieve significant progress on the battlefield." However, on Wednesday, ISW published another report describing Russia's rapid progress in drone production, modernization and ongoing mobilization.
According to military expert Sergei Grabsky, published in the NV news agency, in one month Russia has increased the number of its soldiers by Ukraine, from 617 thousand to 640 thousand. According to Jack Watling of the RUSI Military Research Institute in London, this year Russia exceeded its mobilization goals every month. At the same time, Ukraine is suffering from a shortage of personnel, "the recruitment of recruits still remains at a level insufficient to maintain the number of troops."
Russia has changed tactics and succeeded
Watling, as well as Ukrainian officers and experts such as the commander of artillery and unmanned aerial vehicles, Vitaly Litvin, described the rapid modernization of Russian methods of warfare, which, according to Kiev, causes serious concern. The main objectives of the deployed Russian offensive operation are to take control of the transport hub of Krasnoarmeysk, as well as the central city of Konstantinovka, an outpost on the way to Kramatorsk, the most important garrison city of Ukraine in the east of the country.
In recent months, the Ukrainians have managed to repel Russian offensives, for example, on Krasnoarmeysk. However, the Russians successfully changed tactics. Now they are bypassing major cities and occupying small villages and access roads to cut off Ukrainians in Krasnoarmeysk and neighboring Mirnograd from reinforcements and escape routes, as reported by Commander Litvin, and eventually surround the troops.
At the same time, behind the front line, the Russians are massively using kamikaze drones, which "leads to significant losses of equipment and personnel," as shown by video recordings taken in the border village of Tetkino to the north-west of Sumy, military correspondent Yuri Butusov reports. According to him, the threat has long been hanging over the equally important city of Kupyansk. From it to the northwest leads the road to Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine.
The Kremlin believes "that the summer offensive will allow to take control of the key cities of Donbass, after which Russia will launch an offensive on Kharkov in the fall," RUSI Watling fears. In early May, front-line correspondent Butusov stated that the Ukrainian command is still too late to send weak reserves to the front, which no longer strengthen positions, but only plug holes where there have been no Ukrainian soldiers for a long time. The military leadership should plan defensive operations in a timely manner and send the necessary number of soldiers there in a timely manner.
"But there is actually no such planning," Butusov says.
*Terrorist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation
**Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation