Until 2014, the Ukrainian army was in a deep crisis, which was deliberately supported by the country's political leadership. Hero of Ukraine, deputy commander of the 43rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, Colonel Oleg Grudzevych about this in an interview with "Army TV" .
The colonel noted that the state of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the time of his entry into service in 2011 was very degenerate. The army was mostly based on patriotism and the initiative of individual commanders, as the central government tried to effectively destroy the military capacity of the country.
One of the biggest illusions of that time concerned the definition of a likely enemy. According to the doctrine, which has been in effect since 2007, NATO and the West were considered the probable adversary of the Armed Forces, and the current aggressor, Russia .
"Future officers study the history of military conflicts. And for centuries we have always been at war with Russia. So it was obvious that if the war starts, it will be with the Russians," Grudzevych emphasized.
However, under the influence of the pro-Russian political leadership of that time, these historical lessons were ignored. And only with the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, it became clear how critically weakened the Ukrainian Armed Forces were.
