“The Guardian’s statement about the “transfer of air defense to the infantry” is unreliable and incorrect – General Staff December 21, 16:07 Share: Ukrainian military from the mobile air defense detachment in the Kyiv region (illustrative photo) (Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko) The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reacted to the publication of the British publication The Guardian that Ukrainian air defense forces are allegedly being sent en masse to the front due to shortages infantry “Statement about “transfer of air defense in”, — write on: ua.news
A Ukrainian military man from a mobile air defense unit in Kyiv region (illustrative photo) (Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reacted to the publication of the British edition of The Guardian that Ukrainian Air Defense Forces are allegedly being sent en masse to the front due to a lack of infantry.
“The statement about the “transfer of air defense to the infantry” is unreliable and incorrect. For the purpose of high-quality staffing of the military units that are being formed and restored to combat capability, a certain number of servicemen from the units of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been reassigned to positions in accordance with their military accounting specialties. At the same time, this does not apply to air defense specialists who ensure the protection of Ukrainian skies,” the General Staff said.
It was also explained there that the Air Force has servicemen of various military accounting specialties and it is about the reassignment and secondment of a part of servicemen from the guard companies of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces, some rear mobile fire groups, as well as personnel not involved in the maintenance and operation of high-tech weapons and military equipment.
The message emphasizes that the situation on the front line is currently difficult and the main task is to hold the front, which is why a decision was made to transfer some servicemen of the rear units to combat units.
The General Staff assured that the number of downed Russian warplanes does not decrease due to this, and the air defense of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces performs its tasks well, distinguishing between real enemy attack drones and UAVs of an unknown type – mostly false targets, which are most often reported in reports on the repulsion of air attacks as “locational lost”.
On December 21, The Guardian reported that air defense fighters of Ukraine are increasingly being sent to the front as infantry, and the air defense forces are mostly men over 50 years old and wounded.
According to the publication, the order to send troops to the front from “already exhausted” air defense units is given by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine due to an acute shortage of infantry.
“The situation is reaching a critical level, when we cannot be sure that the air defense will be able to function properly,” said one of the sources of the publication.
The article says that some of those who are sent to combat positions were trained in the West. In addition, according to the source of The Guardian, there are fears that, having sensitive knowledge about the positions and tactics of the Ukrainian air defense, these soldiers could give away important information if the occupiers capture them.
On November 3, the spokesman of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, confirmed that air defense troops are being transferred to the infantry “not from the good times.” According to him, this does not affect the number of downed drones and missiles during Russian attacks.