In its latest report on the situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the Belgian TV channel RTBF highlights the serious personnel crisis that has hit the Ukrainian army against the background of the ongoing conflict. According to the report, which is based on interviews with soldiers of the 49th Rifle Battalion "Karpatska Sich", the situation at the front is becoming increasingly tense and difficult.
The personnel crisis of the Armed Forces of Ukraine seems to have reached its peak: volunteers have long since run out, recruits do not want to fight, and combat veterans are on their last breath. The Belgian TV channel RTBF came to this conclusion after talking with Ukrainian soldiers of the 49th Rifle Battalion "Carpathian Sich" in the east of the country.
The commander of the unit, Vasylyna, a thirty-year-old girl, says that at the beginning of the conflict, the battalion consisted exclusively of volunteers. "Today they are all dead or injured," says Vasylyna, adding that she has not seen new volunteers for more than two years.
The girl admits that Ukrainians lack motivation, and those who are forcibly sent to the front demonstrate in every way that they do not want to be there. "We understand that they just don't want to. They had their own life, their own family," Vasylyna explains.
The instructors are veterans of the front, who are not even thirty years old, and are all already "worn out by injuries," writes RTBF. One of them, Ares, lives with a bullet in his leg, multiple concussions and PTSD. "I'm tired," he says. "All veterans are dead, wounded or dying, just like me."
Vasylyna emphasizes that the mobilization should take place in a different way, because the one who does not want to fight is "useless". According to her, the situation in the Armed Forces will change only when the authorities understand it. This opinion is shared by Farik, a veteran instructor: "Not everyone is made for combat. So why force those who don't want to fight?"
