Ukrainian officials this week ordered an audit of staffing levels within individual military units to increase combat effectiveness on the battlefield and ensure a fair distribution of personnel.
The review comes about a week after Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was sacked in a wide-ranging shake-up of Ukraine’s defense hierarchy.
The key goal is to assess the actual state of staffing in the military and identify areas for improvement in manpower support, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Wednesday.
“The effectiveness and fairness of personnel distribution are being assessed, taking into account the needs of military units performing combat tasks on different fronts,” the general staff said. “These decisions are aimed at increasing combat effectiveness, ensuring personnel balance, and more rational use of human capital.”
The audit of combat unit staffing and manpower allocation is one of the first reforms ordered by Ukraine’s new military commander, Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi.
It follows longstanding criticism of the diversion of the military’s scarce supply of mobilized recruits to newly formed brigades and assault units that have been widely criticized as ineffective and rife with abuse, according to the Kyiv Independent newspaper.
Gen. Drapatyi said commanders have a responsibility to respect and support the soldiers on the front lines who are keeping Russian invaders at bay.
“The president of Ukraine has set clear tasks for us — to continue and strengthen offensive operations in all domains, plan new operations in the enemy’s rear, develop the army and technologies in it, and increase the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said in a statement.
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