A special commission has been set up in the Air Force to examine the situation regarding the transfer of servicemen to other branches and services of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by the Ukrainian Navy Command.
It is noted that the commission is working ‘to prevent the transfer of servicemen in shortage specialities’, which could significantly affect the combat capability of the Air Force units.
First of all, this concerns those who operate and maintain technological aircraft, anti-aircraft missile and radio engineering equipment, electronic warfare specialists and other specialities, mobile fire groups, as well as servicemen who have been trained abroad on Western weapons.
‘Appropriate decisions have been made to prevent the transfer of servicemen in short supply to other branches and types of the Armed Forces. The commission is currently checking whether there are any violations. If such cases are found, decisions will be made to correct them,’ the command said.
The military authorities have hotlines and e-mail addresses for feedback.
- On 14 January, aviation technicians from the 114th Air Force Brigade published a public appeal for their transfer to the infantry. A sergeant said that his military unit had received an order to transfer 218 people to infantry units, which is almost all of the brigade's aviation technicians. Previously, 250 people had already been transferred. This brigade is equipped with MiG-29 fighters, and its soldiers take part in repelling enemy air attacks. The sergeant said that this order would turn the tactical aviation brigade into a non-combatant one, as there would be no one to maintain the aircraft.
- The General Staff assured that ‘there were no plans and no plans to transfer the acutely shortage of specialists of the Air Force engineering and aviation service who maintain aircraft to infantry units’.
- In his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had had a separate conversation with the acting commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Anatoliy Kryvonozhko, about the scandal of transferring military aircraft to the infantry. He instructed him to ‘clarify everything to the public and not to reduce the number of specialists needed by the Air Force’.