There are no plans to transfer the urgently needed specialists of the Air Forceʼs aviation engineering service who maintain aircraft to infantry units, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.
They emphasized that the Air Force, on the contrary, is increasing the number of technical and flight personnel. At the same time, certain categories of Air Force personnel will be strengthened after the training, in particular, the Ground and Airborne Assault Forces.
"The situation at the front is difficult, there is a shortage of infantry in many areas. The decision to strengthen the ground brigades on the front line at the expense of servicemen from units of other branches and types of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a forced step by the military leadership to strengthen our defense," the General Staff says.
According to the department, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi has banned the transfer of specialists in high-tech specialties and those who have been trained abroad using foreign weapons and equipment.
This is how the headquarters responded to the appeal of aviation technicians of the 114th Air Force Brigade. They said that their military unit had received an order to transfer 218 people, that is, almost all of the brigadeʼs aviation technicians, to the infantry. The brigade added that 250 people had previously been transferred from the unit in the same way.
The new order actually jeopardizes the maintenance and technical support of MiG-29 fighters, added Sergeant Vitaliy Horzhevsky of the 114th Brigade.
"Military", citing its own sources, writes that the large-scale transfer from the Air Force was authorized by order of Oleksandr Syrskyi. In addition to aviation units, the reduction in personnel allegedly affected the anti-aircraft and radio engineering units of the Air Force.
"This is the third large-scale transfer of personnel. According to officers, when this order is implemented, the manning level in some parts of the anti-aircraft missile forces will fall below 40%. According to regulatory documents, this is the level of an unfit unit," the media reports.
Syrskyiʼs latest order regarding the transfer of personnel was received by the military units of the Ukrainian Army on January 11, writes “Ukrainska Pravda” (UP). The UP interlocutor says that according to the order, the Ground Forces are to transfer over 5 000 fighters.
Later, the Air Force also informed that specialists from the aviation engineering service would not be transferred to other units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They added that this also applies to other shortage specialties, as well as those who studied abroad using Western technology.
However, the Air Force "has been reinforcing its combat comrades on the front lines for several years," the department says". A certain number of personnel are being gradually transferred to ground units".
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