The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces complained about the transfer of highly specialized specialists to the infantry to replenish combat brigades. . According to this order, according to the interlocutor of the UP, more than 5 thousand military personnel should be transferred to the Ground Forces. Shortage of people Vitaly Gorzhevsky, a staff sergeant of the 114th tactical aviation brigade, who is subject to transfer to the Ground Forces according to the order of January 11, 2025, told the UP that he has been serving in the 114th brigade since 2014. He is engaged in the restoration of military equipment and maintaining it in combat readiness, in particular the MiG-29 and MiG-29A aircraft, which were provided to Ukraine by partners from Slovakia and Poland. “Since 2014, we were sent to the Sukhoiputka at our own request, and from 2022 – voluntarily, forcedly and en masse. They began to take them en masse in 2024 and 2025. Last year, 250 people were taken from our unit. This year the order came for 200+. . It must be constantly maintained in combat readiness. To train an aviation specialist requires more than one year of preparation and practice.. And they told me that I had to go storm the landings. There is an order, and you need to carry it out,” said the military man. “We started taking people to the Land in the spring of 2024. But now it has reached a critical level - the strength of our units has dropped to approximately 50%. If we carry out the order of the 11th, which was given to us by the commander-in-chief, the strength of the units will drop to 40%. . But understand: an anti-aircraft missile system is a collective weapon. Even if we take away a driver or a security guard, the effectiveness of the unit will decrease,” the UP quotes the words of a senior officer of one of the units of the Armed Forces. Senior technician of the engineering and aviation service of the Carpathian aviation squadron, Dmitry Dontsov, in a comment to the publication Galka, stated that the decision to transfer aircraft technicians to the infantry is the destruction of aviation, emphasizing that at least eight people are needed to service one aircraft. “They take away both management and staff. There are regulated documents that indicate how many people should work with the aircraft. And if we make a mistake on the ground, then it’s the pilot’s life. And “to prepare a pilot, you need many years, plus several years of practice, combat experience,” he noted. A video message from aviation technical personnel of the 114th Air Force Brigade has also spread online, asking for publicity due to the order to transfer the technicians to the infantry.. They emphasized that without technical staff, aviation will not be able to exist. Consequences of transfers Mass transfers of personnel can critically weaken the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force, in particular their ability to effectively carry out missions. In December, The Guardian, citing military air defense officials, wrote that shortages at the Ukrainian front had become so acute that the General Staff had ordered " One of the sources noted that this poses a risk to Ukraine's security and " The publication also notes that some of the fighters were trained in the West and received real skills, but they are sent to the front as infantrymen without appropriate training.. Reaction The General Staff responded to the scandal that it was not planned and is not planned to transfer the acutely shortage of specialists from the aviation engineering service of the Air Force who maintain aircraft to infantry units. According to the General Staff, the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces “on the contrary, is increasing the number of technical and flight personnel.”. The message notes that certain categories of Air Force personnel, after preliminary training in training centers, are strengthening the Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, and the like. “The situation at the front is difficult; in many areas there are not enough infantrymen. The decision to strengthen ground brigades on the front line with military personnel from units of other branches and branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a forced step by the military leadership to strengthen our defense,” noted the General Staff. Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Anatoly Krivonozhko said that the Air Force is gradually transferring some personnel to ground units to strengthen brigades on the front line. However, this will not apply to specialists in scarce specialties who are necessary to perform combat aviation missions.

Krivonozhko also emphasized that the Air Force is actively working to strengthen anti-aircraft missile forces units, improve mobile fire groups and increase the efficiency of aviation, and these changes will continue. In the end, this story reached President Vladimir Zelensky: “A separate conversation - with the commander of the Air Force. Today there was a lot of different information, outrage and discussions on translations. I instructed to clarify everything to the public and not to reduce the number of specialists that the Air Force needs to carry out combat missions - our aviation, air defense and mobile fire groups."

Author: 1.