2024-05-05 20:35:18
The Steppe Wolves unit, which fights under the command of 68-year-old commander Alexander Taran, is not an official part of the Ukrainian army. Most of its men are of retirement age, the younger ones have been labeled “unfit to fight” by the Kyiv authorities. However, this does not prevent them from eliminating Russian targets on their own.
The Steppe Wolves artillery unit fights under the baton of sixty-eight-year-old commander Alexander Taran. | Video: Reuters
The Ukrainian volunteer unit Steppe Wolves has dozens of members. Most of them are over sixty and thus considered too old for the country’s military to accept as soldiers. However, age is not a limit for determined men. “Beat him with a stick if you want, but a person who doesn’t want to fight won’t fight. If he wants to, he can carry out his tasks for a hundred years and destroy the enemy,” head of volunteers Alexandr Taran, nicknamed “Grandfather”, told Reuters reporters.
The war-torn country has long been dealing with a lack of fighters. The Steppe Wolves, who follow the frontline soldiers with their truck-mounted rocket launchers, thus act as an important support in the battle.
Volunteers take orders from field commanders and work with other units, despite not having official support from the military. The unit is funded by donors and its supplies consist of defective pieces of military equipment that the fighters repair themselves. The weapons of the deceased Russian soldiers are then delivered to them by men fighting at the front. “We are not demanding, we can make do with our pension,” adds Taran.
When Reuters reporters recently visited a volunteer base in the southeastern Zaporozhye region, soldiers were repairing 122-millimeter Grad rockets that later helped Ukrainians from another unit fight.
“Grandpa” stated that his unit was trying to officially join the Ukrainian armed forces. If it really became part of the army, the volunteers would have the right to receive ammunition and pay. However, the Steppe Wolves did not manage to win better conditions. “The Ukrainian army will not outnumber Russian soldiers. We need modern weapons. That’s the only way we can defeat the enemy. Not with numbers. Only with skills,” explains the commander.
The unit also includes younger men who were deemed unfit to fight by army experts during the draft. However, more than two years after the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s mobilization efforts are facing problems. According to Reuters, the country’s dwindling hopes for victory are also behind the lack of men.
Ukraine decided to solve the problem by drawing up a new mobilization law, which the country approved at the beginning of April. They allow the military to call up more soldiers and toughen penalties for evasion. He also lowered the minimum age limit for conscription from 27 to 25.
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