Protests all over Ukraine. They are putting Zelensky against the wall

The Ukrainian army has requested the president to draft an additional 500,000 soldiers. On the one hand, it will be quite an unpopular decision. On the other hand, Ukrainians have no choice.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced during his daily briefing that General Valery Zaluzhny, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has requested him and the parliament to mobilize an additional 450-500 thousand conscripts.

The president hesitates and avoids a clear declaration. He only stated that if the Verkhovna Rada presents a law that takes into account women's mobilization, he will not sign it. The press office reported that the issue of mobilization was currently being discussed at a meeting of the Commander-in-Chief's Staff with the participation of the president, the Supreme Commander, and the Chief of the General Staff, General Serhiy Shaptal.

President Zelensky added that mobilization itself is only one of the problems. First of all, the issue of rotation and leave for combatants must be resolved. Since the end of October, protests have been taking place throughout Ukraine, where soldiers' families demand an increase in the frequency of rotations and demobilization after 18 months of service.

Soldiers at the front are overworked and cannot count on a longer moment of rest. This is important because soldiers are not in their first youth. Due to the desire to protect young men, only people over 27 years of age can be mobilized. Therefore, the average age at the front is as much as 40 years. Such soldiers take longer to regenerate.

Rotation on frontline

The key at this point is the rotation of units fighting on the front line. Currently, the five-battalion brigade fields three battalion battle groups at a time, one of which fights, the other provides support, which is to enter combat in the event of an operational need. The third one is resting, and the next two are in recovery or on a longer rest.

The shift cycle for the first three battalions is three to four days, which allows the remaining two battalions to rest for two weeks. Brigades, in turn, change depending on needs. Usually every two months, although sometimes brigades spend more than half a year in quieter sections.

For example, near Avdiivka, soldiers from the 110th Independent Mechanized Brigade of the Reserve Corps have been defending the city for a year now. Therefore, the section commanders appeal to bring the brigades currently in reserve to the city, including at least one more independent artillery brigade, to give the overworked soldiers a chance to rest.

In this way, Ukrainians can conduct operations for longer with a higher tolerance for equipment and personnel losses. In the long run, this type of lifestyle causes great fatigue among soldiers. They have little other choice because the lack of air support and the high density of engineering obstacles force this type of tactic. This mainly results in the fatigue of Russian troops, who do not rotate as often as the Ukrainians do.

Breath

Before the war, Ukrainians had 300,000 soldiers in all branches of the Armed Forces. There were about a million in the reserve, of which about 100,000 were trained after the 2016 reform. Today, the Ukrainian Armed Forces number is approximately 750,000 soldiers.

What do the Russians say about this? It seems that Ukrainian mobilization plans are a response to information coming from the Russian Federation. In August, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, said that the Kremlin planned to mobilize at least 450,000 more reservists. Intelligence estimates that ultimately up to 700,000 may be appointed.

For now, it is the so-called hidden mobilization. Moscow has not announced it officially, and it is conducted by local recruitment boards in regions and republics. According to the US Institute for the Study of War, mobilization cards currently go mainly to Buryats, Yakuts, and Uyghurs, as well as Caucasian nations.

"Once again, ordinary citizens - residents of Russian regions - will be sent to the front as cannon fodder, and Kadyrov's executioners will push them to death from behind their backs"
the Ukrainian intelligence service wrote in a statement.

Both sides currently have no choice. Due to large losses, the Russians have to replenish their supplies. In turn, the Ukrainians must not only rotate overtired soldiers but also increase the number of troops. The lack of a significant numerical advantage was one of the reasons for the failure during the summer counter-offensive. If they want to tip the scales in their favor next year, they must appoint more defenders.