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The Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to go on the offensive and take back the occupied territories in the east of the country as soon as the corresponding order is received from the Supreme Commander.
The Ukrainian army needs to significantly increase its arsenal of ammunition. Approaching NATO should not be with words, but with deeds. This was said by the General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, undersecretary of the Security and National Defense Council in the second part of the on-air interview on the Obozrevatel television channel. Sergey Krivonos.
Read the first part here.
– How good is the fighting spirit in the Ukrainian army now? Did Russia fail to break it in the seventh year of the war?
– No. Regarding the fighting spirit, our inspiration in the fight against the enemy is powerful and strong. There is a certain disappointment from some people who have left the ranks of the Armed Forces.
We need to change our policy, because every soldier who has been through the fire of this war must be fought. The state has lost time and resources to train these people, and now must fight for these people to remain in the ranks of the Armed Forces. This is the main task.
Due to the lack of information policy on the part of the country’s leaders, many are disappointed. The messages that are delivered disappoint people. At the same time, pro-Russian channels that provide information in a partial or distorted way destabilize the situation, creating a brainstorm in the heads of each of our citizens, including military personnel.
– They sow the seed of doubt.
– Yes.
– You said the army is disappointed. Exactly what?
– Many of those who entered the ranks of the Armed Forces in 2014-2015 went to fight. And when the war became more positional, due to the wrong approach to preparation, to organizing daily activities, many were disappointed. Because they were forced to do more than what they came to the army for.
The army is quite a bureaucratic body. Bureaucracy and tyranny greatly influenced these people’s perception of the need to defend Ukraine.
– I remember that the previous government was reproached for the fact that the military was waiting for an order to advance, that it was impossible to sit in the trenches, that a prolonged war was not for them. Is there any request now to move on?
– Insurance. This request exists. The soldiers await the command to launch the offensive.
The point is that it is necessary to explain that, firstly, there are political nuances in the resolution of this issue and, secondly, to implement it it is necessary to prepare. It even requires a change in tactics. If in 2014 we had offensive tactics, since 2015 we have been on the defensive. This question must be raised to the level.
In the exercises of the past and this year the offensive issue was resolved. This also stimulates people, because we are not only working on defense issues. In the event that certain political decisions are taken by the country’s leader, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the President of Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky, if necessary, the Armed Forces will execute the order to liberate our territories.
– Then Is the command waiting for a complex and successful political, international, military moment to go on the offensive?
– Very good.
– Are we prepared for this not only with our fighting spirit, but also with equipment, military plans, etc.?
– Regarding equipment, the issue of improving the weapons of our Armed Forces has not yet been resolved. There are many issues that need to be addressed and there is a need to improve approaches to this. Not to show off, but to participate in practical support to the Armed Forces. And only the technology that is needed for this war.
We must take into account the experience not only of our war, but also the experience of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has been going on for the last month, and take into account the nuances. Because modern warfare is not a tank war and direct frontal attacks. The experience of the war in the Caucasus has shown once again that a modern war is, above all, a war of means of recognition, means of destruction.
Air defense, aviation, electronic warfare, means of reconnaissance – this is what allows you to save human lives and inflict maximum damage on the enemy without losing your people. We must fight not with meat, but with technology and intelligence.
– By the way, in aviation. We see that Vladimir Putin almost never used it in the Donbas.
– I didn’t use it at all.
– Several planes were shot down: a Dutch plane, a Ukrainian plane were shot down. When, in your opinion, can Putin use aviation in Donbas?
– When you can legally justify your actions in the international arena.
– Then there is an explanation that there were airplanes in the mines, won’t it work?
– Why were there such active battles in 2014 for three airports: Donetsk, Lugansk and Kramatorsk? Because at that time it could justify the presence of Russian planes on the Donbass territory.
Lugansk airport was almost completely destroyed, nothing can land there, the same is the case with Donetsk airport. We can still see it and we can attack. We kept Kramatorsk airport. This is what did not give the Russians a chance to justify the discovery of aviation technology.
If at least one airport was seized in a normal state, the same day planes with Ukrainian tridents and blue and yellow emblems appeared there, and they would say that they are seized Ukrainian planes. No one would have found out where they came from later. And this would be the aviation team of the Russian Federation.
– We understand that the Russian army regularly crosses that section of the border that we do not control. But for the planes to get there …
– For the planes to arrive, they have not prepared airfields in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbass. But if they have that political will, then along the border with Ukraine they have enough airfields from which they can take off and get to our cities or objects that interest them.
– Do we have an answer?
– There is air defense in Ukraine. It includes not only direct actions on aviation, but also on anti-aircraft missile forces. This system exists. Of course, I wish it was more powerful. I will say that at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had one of the most powerful air defense systems in the world. A large number of anti-aircraft missile divisions were on alert.
At the start of the war in 2014, this figure was ten times lower than in 1992.
– But all of this is out of date.
– The question is not outdated. A question of the ability of this technique to perform its tasks. Sometimes even outdated complexes are able to do their jobs. And the experience of other local wars shows that complexes developed in the 1960s and 1970s are still actively fighting in other countries.
– Ukraine has finally decided on the move to NATO. But to what extent are they willing to receive us there?
– The majority of the Ukrainian population perceives membership in NATO in a purely military aspect. But if we look at the issue more broadly, it is a political issue rather than a military one.
The military is investing more in cooperation with NATO and we are prepared. We already have a military unit in the Special Operations Forces that has gone through a lengthy certification procedure and is entitled to take on combat duties as part of the NATO Special Operations Forces.
But the issue must be considered both politically and economically. Our defense industrial complex should have already converted to the equipment used by NATO, to switch to NATO standards for our weapons, ranging from small arms caliber to communications equipment. In addition to the production of other equipment necessary for the Armed Forces.
Our cooperation with strategic partners in the military-industrial complex can pay off. This will be another step that can show what we want in NATO. This must be demonstrated not only in words, but also in actions. Prepare not only the military, but also prepare the economy for this, prepare politicians to accept the reality of joining NATO.
Because NATO is not just our wish. It is also a great responsibility to perform certain actions as part of this alliance.
– When, instead of the old Kalashnikovs in the east, will our army have modern weapons?
– This is one of the questions that I started to develop last year. Our partners were able to build companies here, to provide investments that would change approaches to these issues.
If a political decision were made, we could already this year have a factory of cartridges for calibers and small arms of the NATO standard. Unfortunately, the political decision of the then Office of the President was not made. It was: give us the money and we’ll take care of the rest ourselves.
– Are you under the current president?
– Yes. Unfortunately, this situation continues. These questions can be solved. We have those who are willing to come to our aid, we have those who are interested in our cooperation, but there are no political decisions to accelerate this process.
A bit of. The problem lies in the fact that the president’s entourage continues to keep the president in an information vacuum to fulfill these tasks.
– Returning to the cartridge plant. If I am not mistaken, there was such a plant in Ukraine, but in the Lugansk region. And now we have no factory.
– Yes, but the problem is that nobody here has dealt with this issue.
– Excuse me, do we still have a lot of cartridges in our warehouses?
– We still have cartridges to perform tasks, but as for cartridges directly in the volumes that are necessary to organize combat training, maintaining a constant readiness to perform tasks, this is already quite problematic.
Therefore, the question of the munitions industry must be raised much faster and much more. The experience of the use of artillery ammunition during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan showed that the use of large calibers simply suspended the activity of these actions.
During 2012-2013, we had such sabotage with our own hands, when the Armed Forces fired hundreds, tens of thousands of rockets into the air daily, right into the void. We have destroyed our ammunition. This undermined our ability.
In addition, there was sabotage at our bases and arsenals, where a large amount of ammunition was burned and exploded. That weakened us. Because the amount of charges and cartridges in a war is enormous. This is the first.
Second, even if we are now trying to move towards victory, towards peace, this does not mean that the number of our weapons should be small. It is the stocks of ammunition and weapons that will be in our warehouses and arsenals that will clearly make the enemy understand that we do not need to climb, that we will not run out of ammunition on the third day of the war.
In terms of training people, this is also important. That is why at one point we began the issue of territorial defense, which will also significantly increase our defense capacity in relation to a dignified response to the enemy’s aggressive desires to seize our territory.
