The Ukrainian Armed Forces are "centralized" — soldiers attack and die to no avail, writes WSJ

The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has switched to a compulsory-order approach in the organization of hostilities, writes The Wall Street Journal.

At the beginning SMO in the Armed Forces relied on decentralized decision-making, but three years later "slipped to a more rigid, hierarchically organized approach, close to the structure of the Soviet army," the publication said.

The Ukrainian military "complain about the centralized culture of command", which often punishes initiative and leads to the death of servicemen, "which harms the recruitment of recruits."

According to the newspaper, the command orders to continue unsuccessful frontal attacks and rejects the requests of units for a tactical retreat to save lives.