According to a report in Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered the transfer of more than 5,000 air force personnel to the ground forces on January 11. Due to the acute shortage of infantrymen at the front (-> current news from the war in Ukraine), Ukraine is apparently being forced to make difficult adjustments, while Russia continues to step up its offensive in the Donetsk region.
There is protest among the air force soldiers: “We, the aviation and technical personnel of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, have been fulfilling our responsible mission on MiG-29 fighters for more than ten years. Since 2014, we have been preparing and maintaining aircraft and carrying out combat missions in the most difficult conditions: both during the day and at night to protect our Motherland from the enemy,” reads the wording of an appeal published this week by personnel of the 114th Carpathian Brigade of the Airborne Forces. And further: “Our unit has received a telegram that almost all technicians will be transferred to the infantry, which means that we will have no technical personnel for the maintenance of our airplanes. Earlier, 250 people were already transferred, now another 218 people are planned to be transferred.”
A senior air force officer, who wished to remain anonymous, told Ukrainska Pravda that the number of personnel in the units had already fallen to 50 percent and would now drop further to 40 percent. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the number of personnel in the Ukrainian Air Force in February 2022 was around 35,000.
On the evening of January 14, President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the matter after a meeting with the commander of the Air Force: “Today there was a lot of information, indignation and discussions about the transfers. I have given the order to clarify everything for the public and to ensure that the number of specialists that the Air Force needs to carry out combat missions – for our aviation, air defense and mobile firefighting groups – is not reduced.”
Irrespective of this, a broad debate is also currently underway in Ukraine regarding a further reduction in the mobilization age. Despite repeated calls, including from the USA and parts of Europe, to lower the minimum age to 18, no such step has been taken to date. Instead, the mobilization age was lowered from 27 to 25 by law on 18 May 2024.
Mike Waltz, nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump for the position of Presidential Advisor on National Security, recently said that the new Trump administration would demand a lowering of the mobilization age in Ukraine. The problem of personnel shortages must be solved.
