Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that there is an order from him that prohibits transferring highly qualified Air Force personnel who have undergone training and specialize in aircraft maintenance to the infantry.
"Undoubtedly, these are specialists [who] have spent money on, who have experience and who are practically irreplaceable, on the one hand," said Syrskyi.
At the same time, according to him, mobilization does not cover all the needs of the front, in particular, it is necessary to increase the personnel in mechanized brigades. Therefore, now they are reducing the logistics component, the support component, and those involved in maintenance "in reasonable quantities" — the headquarters have calculated everything.
"And, of course, our task is to prevent such [situations], if any such problem arises, to react immediately. To prevent someone from this category from ending up at the front," said Syrskyi.
What preceded
Aviation technicians of the 114th brigade of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that their military unit 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.
The General Staff responded that the urgently needed specialists of the Air Forceʼs aviation engineering service, who maintain aircraft, will not be transferred to infantry units.
Later, the Air Force also informed that the specialists would remain in their positions. They added that this also applies to other shortage specialties, as well as those who studied abroad using Western technology.
The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has created a commission that will study the transfer of air force soldiers to infantry. The commission will work to prevent the transfer of servicemen of shortage specialties. The commission is currently investigating whether there were any violations during the transfer of soldiers.
In an evening address on January 14, Volodymyr Zelensky called for not transferring specialists from the engineering and aviation service of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to infantry units.
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