The Guardian: Ukraine strips air defense units to fill infantry gaps

The Ukrainian army, worn out by prolonged fighting, increasingly relies on older men to fill its ranks. According to The Guardian, citing sources, the personnel shortage at the front has become so severe that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has ordered already overburdened air defense units to transfer some of their personnel to the infantry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasized that lowering the conscription age is not a priority for Ukraine. Instead, the focus remains on modernizing the army through advanced technologies, such as drones, artillery, long-range weaponry, and aviation, which Kyiv receives from its allies. The Ukrainian also revealed that the country was planning to manufacture air defense systems and other weaponry domestically using frozen Russian assets to fund production and US licenses.

“It’s reaching a critical level where we can’t be sure that air defense can function properly. These people knew how air defense works; some had been trained in the West and had real skills, now they are sent to the front to fight, for which they have no training,” said one of the sources.

There are concerns these soldiers could risk revealing critical information if captured by Russian forces on the front line.

Additionally, according to sources, the growing demands for such transfers complicate the effective management of air defense units.

“This has been going on for a year, but it’s been getting worse and worse. In recent days, the commission came, and they want dozens more. I’m left with those aged 50-plus and injured people,” said another source, an officer from an air defense unit.

Amid President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s refusal to lower the conscription age to 18, the Ukrainian army is struggling to find enough personnel to fill the gaps on the front lines.

“The people we get now are not like the people who were there at the beginning of the war. Recently, we received 90 people, but only 24 of them were ready to move to the positions. Poorly trained and poorly equipped,” said one soldier currently serving in Ukraine’s 114th territorial defense brigade.

Commenting on the potential lowering of the conscription age, a soldier remarked that 18-year-olds are still children: “Eighteen-year-olds are still children. Maybe they could lower it to 23 if necessary, but there are still enough people in Kyiv who could be mobilized but don’t want to go,” he added.

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