Air Force officers repors transfer of number of people to infantry. General Staff responds
Ukrainian military personnel are announcing the transfer of Air Force specialists to units of other branches and types of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular to the infantry. The command assured that the scarce specialists will remain in their positions.
The situation was reported by servicemen, and MPs Oleksii Honcharenko and Mariana Bezuhla also wrote about it. In response, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine issued a statement.
Who is being transferred?
A serviceman of the 114th Air Force Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vitaliy Horzhevskyi, shared an appeal from aviation technical personnel, who spoke about the transfer.
"Our unit received a telegram about the transfer of almost all technical personnel to the infantry, which means the collapse of the Air Force," the appeal says.
According to them, they had already taken 250 people earlier, and now they are planning to take another 218.
"The technical equipment is actually being destroyed, and without us, the aviation actually cannot function. We are trying to maintain combat readiness, but without maintenance personnel this is simply impossible," the military said.
Hero of Ukraine and serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vadym Voroshylov, call sign Karay, reacted to such statements and emphasized that he wants to "defend his people, our aviation."
He explained that by transferring highly qualified engineering and technical specialists, they would not be able to find a replacement, because civilians with the appropriate military accounting specialty are almost impossible to find, and the training was "quite lengthy."
In general, he assessed that such decisions would lead to problems with the maintenance and servicing of aircraft, which would reduce the combat capability of aviation brigades.
What do the lawmakers say?
According to the parliamentarians, such transfers from the Air Force are carried out by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi. This allegedly applies to technicians, mechanics, other specialists, as well as those who detect air targets or teach how to do so.
Honcharenko even proposed summoning Syrskyi to the Verkhovna Rada, but the proposal was supported by only 80 MPs, which is not enough.
Reaction of the General Staff
Amidst the outrage on social media, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that they did not and do not plan to transfer the urgently needed specialists of the Air Force's engineering and aviation service, who maintain aircraft, to infantry units. On the contrary, the Air Force is increasing the number of technical and flight personnel.
These are specialists from the engineering and aviation service, people who studied abroad in Western anti-aircraft missile forces, trained soldiers from mobile fire group teams, and other "narrowly specialized specialists who are objectively difficult to replace," the Air Force explained.
However, certain categories of personnel of the Air Force, as well as other branches and branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after preliminary training in training centers, are strengthening, in particular, the Ground Forces and Air Assault Forces.
The military command explained that "the situation at the front is not easy" - there is a shortage of infantry in many areas, so this requires "difficult decisions."
This is not the first discussion of transfers from the Air Force
In early November 2024, MP Mariana Bezuhla already reported that the air defense troops were being transferred to the infantry. According to her, this led to the fact that fewer Shahed drones were being intercepted.
Then the head of the public relations service of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ihnat, confirmed that the fighters were being transferred “not for good reasons”: “… And there are a lot of them, and it is very painful for the Air Force, those transfers. And of course, this in a certain way affects the overall picture. But there are appropriate decisions, we have to implement them, and you understand why.”
At the end of December, the Guardian reported that the General Staff was allegedly ordering Ukrainian air defense units to transfer their soldiers to infantry due to a shortage of personnel. This allegedly threatens the functioning of the air defense. The General Staff denied this.