General Oleksandr Sîrski, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, on Thursday ordered the introduction of a mandatory two-month limit on front-line troops in advanced positions, despite the numerical superiority of the Russian invasion forces, Reuters reports.
Sîrski's decree came amid frequent, often harrowing, accounts of Ukrainian soldiers serving months under fire as they try to halt the slow but steady advances of Russian forces.
The general's order now comes after photos of four visibly malnourished Ukrainian soldiers went viral in Ukraine last week after they were published by the wife of one of the soldiers. The family claims that the soldiers were left on the front line for months without adequate supplies of food and water.
“When they arrived at the front line, the boys weighed over 80-90 kg. Now they have reached about 50 kg,” wrote the wife of one of them in the description that accompanied the pictures. According to his account, the soldiers had to drink rainwater and melt snow to survive, and in one situation they received no food at all for 10 days.
Their relatives explained that the soldiers had spent eight months defending an ever-shrinking territory on the left bank of the Oskil River near the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, and that supplies of food and medicine could only be delivered by drones.
The General Staff of Ukraine has announced that it has replaced the commander responsible for food supply to the soldiers. The images of the four soldiers sparked a wave of outrage and criticism in Ukraine.
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army says that drones have changed the nature of military operations
Sirski said in a press release Thursday that the dominance of drones — which experts say has created a large so-called “death zone” — has complicated battlefield logistics and “significantly transformed” the concept of combat operations.
“Commanders must ensure that there are conditions for military personnel to remain in their positions for up to two months, followed by a mandatory rotation, which must take place within one month,” he said.
“The rotation on time is not only a matter of organizing the service, but a matter of preserving the lives of our soldiers and the stability of the defense,” the Ukrainian officer emphasized.
Sîrski added that his order includes mandatory medical evaluations and timely provision of food and ammunition for frontline troops.
Ukraine faced a shortage of personnel for most of the war as enthusiasm for military service waned amid reports of poor training and support, as well as harsh methods used by recruiting officers.
