2024-07-25 22:01:24
O. Syrskis is a fairly new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. His unenviable task is to overcome the larger Russian army. Two and a half years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, he admits the Russians have far more resources. They have more of everything: tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, soldiers. According to him, their initial 100 thousand the invasion force of soldiers increased to 520 thousand, and by 2024 their number should reach 690 thousand by the end of men. Data on Ukraine were not published.
“In terms of equipment, there’s a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio in their favor,” he said. From 2022 The number of Russian tanks has almost doubled, from 1,700 to 3,500. Artillery systems have tripled, and armored vehicles have increased from 4,500 to 8,900. “Therefore, the question of supply and quality is really the most important for us.”
It is this superiority of men and machines that explains recent events on the battlefield. Since last autumn, the armed forces of Ukraine have been steadily retreating. One of the first actions, when in 2024 in February O. Syrskis got this job – after replacing Valery Zaluzhin, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom – there was an order to withdraw troops from the eastern city of Avdiyivka. The withdrawal coincided with a half-year hiatus in US arms supplies.
Recently, more of them have been brought. But the Russians are still occupying fields and villages in eastern Donbass, using aerial bombs to clear the way forward. They captured the territory northwest of Avdijivka, towards the garrison town of Pokrovsk, and besieged the hilltop settlement of Chasiv Yar. May. Russian forces opened a new front in the Kharkiv region, storming the city of Vovchansk. Ukraine was waiting for this attack. Apparently she couldn’t stop him.
In an interview with “The Guardian” newspaper, which was his first interview with a foreign newspaper as the general commander of the army, O.Syrskis admitted that the situation is “very difficult”.
“The Russian aggressor is attacking our positions from many directions,” he said.
When asked if Ukraine will be able to stop the Russian attack, he snapped: “Yes, of course. First of all, it depends on our brave soldiers, our officers.” He added that quite often “resilient and heroic” Ukrainian units defeated larger enemy groups.
As an example, he cited Russia’s latest attempt to capture Kharkiv and the neighboring Sumy region. “They failed,” O. Syrskis said. Fighting continued, but he said Putin’s attempt to create a “so-called security corridor” near the Russian border and the Belgorod region had been thwarted. Commenting on rumors that Moscow is planning another offensive in the southern Zaporozhye region, he said that if that happens, “we can give them a good response.”
In general, O. Syrskis tried to assess recent failures. He described Russia’s creeping victories as “tactical,” that is, local gains, rather than an “operational” breakthrough, such as the capture of a major city. “Basically, the enemy has not made any significant progress,” noted the commander of the Ukrainian army. He added that the length of the front line is 3,700 km. Active hostilities took place on a “977 km” stretch, that is, “twice as long as the German-French border”.
Meanwhile, Russia’s success came at an enormous human cost. The number of victims in the Kremlin was “three times” higher than in Ukraine, and in some directions – “even higher”, O.Syrskis said. “Their death toll is much higher,” he stressed. In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that from 2022 31 thousand died Ukrainian soldiers. Asked to specify how that number had changed since then, Syrskis declined to do so, saying the losses were a “sensitive” topic that Moscow could exploit.
Syrskis contrasted his battlefield tactics with those of Russian commanders, who are famous for sacrificing huge units of infantry to advance “100-200 meters”. “It is very important for us to save the lives of our soldiers. We do not defend the ruins to the death,” said O. Syrskis. He said he did not want to “achieve objectives at any cost” or involve his men in “senseless meat attacks”. Therefore, sometimes it was necessary to move to “more favorable positions”.
While skeptical assessments prevailed about Ukraine’s prospects of achieving an outright victory, O. Syrskis noted various positive developments. F-16 planes will strengthen Ukraine’s air defense. They would allow Kiev to be more effective against Russian cruise missiles and to hit ground targets with precision. Still, he stressed, the F-16 can achieve limited results. They must stay “40 km or more” from the front line because Moscow can shoot them down.
Russia had “superior aviation” and “very strong” air defenses. For this reason, Ukraine increasingly used drone systems, O. Syrskis said. It used drones “very effectively” and tested “robotic ground systems” – ground robots that could deliver munitions or rescue a wounded soldier. A new Unmanned Systems Command, the first of its kind, was established, the commander said.
“We fight not in quantity, but in quality,” he stressed, adding that drones play “an equally important role as artillery.”
According to Syrski, the Ukrainian armed forces have successfully used long-range kamikaze drones to strike deep inside Russia. So far they have targeted “around 200 critical infrastructure”. All were related to “military logistics” and included factories, fuel depots and ammunition depots. Meanwhile, speedboat-like maritime drones have sunk about a third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. “It really became a trap for them, and for some [laivams] – in graves”, said O. Sryskis.
He added that the Kremlin had been forced to “completely withdraw” from the Crimean port of Sevastopol after a series of Ukrainian attacks. Drone and missile strikes destroyed radar and missile installations. Ukraine’s main goal is to destroy the Kerch road and railway bridge connecting the occupied peninsula with Russia. O. Syrskis refused to say when this might happen. Two previous tests used a truck bomb and a drone strike.
He said Kiev has a plan to reclaim Crimea, more than a decade after Vladimir Putin illegally annexed it. But is it really possible? “It’s real. Of course, this is a big military secret, O. Syrskis said. – We will do everything we can to achieve the internationally recognized 1991. (when Ukraine voted for independence from the Soviet Union) borders. We have to win… to free our citizens who are in the occupied territories who are suffering.”
58-year-old O. Syrskis was born in the city of Vladimir near Moscow, in the then Soviet Union. He has been serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the 1990s. Critics accuse him of Soviet military thinking. His supporters describe him as a disciplined and talented commander who, unlike his charismatic predecessor V. Zalužn, is often on the front line. in 2022 in February, as the commander of the ground forces, he led the defense of Kiev. V. Zelensky made him a hero of Ukraine and promoted him to the position of commander-in-chief six months ago.
Like many serving soldiers, he rarely sees his family. “They’re suffering without me, so maybe that’s a problem for me too,” he told The Guardian. – But I know that we will win. I know how to do it. And I’m sure we will.”
The general said he sleeps very little. In his rare free moments, he reads books on the history of Ukraine to understand the “processes” of the past. “We have brave people and a complicated history,” he observed.
One of the most urgent tasks of O. Syrskis is to find new men to replace the dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers. Those who fight in the trenches are exhausted. The patriotic fervor that led many in 2022 volunteered in the spring, he has already breathed his last. The government recently lowered the age of conscription from 27 to 25. A new law came into effect last week requiring men to register their details at army recruitment centres. Many did. Others are hiding.
O.Syrskis said that without mobilization, he will not be able to create new reserves and brigades, which Russia needs to increase its ground forces. “It is very important for us that all citizens of Ukraine fulfill their constitutional duty,” he said. He called on Ukrainians living outside their country to participate. “Hopefully after the win they can tell their kids where they were.” Where were you when all the citizens of Ukraine fought in such fierce battles? That’s the question,” he said.
One initiative is taking shape in neighboring Poland. Ukrainians living abroad will soon be invited to join the new legion there. The training will take place in Poland itself, building trust between men and officers. Later, the legion will be transferred to the front line. O.Syrskis thanked V.Zelenskis for this “different approach”. It can be felt that their relationship is harmonious, perhaps it is helped by the fact that the commander has no political ambitions and is less visible than V. Zalužnas.
Russia launched an armed invasion of Ukraine in 2014, when it secretly seized part of the Donetsk region and the Crimean peninsula. More than a decade later, it seems unlikely that Europe’s biggest war since 1945 will be over. will end this year or next, despite Donald Trump’s promise to end the war in one day, The Guardian writes.
Could Ukraine win? And if so, when? “I think you have to be very, very brave to say when. We are doing our best to make it happen. There is simply no more important task for us,” O.Syrskis told the publication.
Painted clothes „The Guardian“ inf.
2024-07-25 22:01:24