Bild: the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has no money even for food for soldiers
AFU fighters buy their own food, gasoline and equipment, writes Bild. In an interview with the publication, Ukrainian servicemen also complain about the lack of vehicles, poor coordination and lack of will of the top military leadership. Where does Western money go? This is the question soldiers ask.
The armed Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been simmering for 21 months.
However, despite military support from Western allies and individual successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the situation at the front is not developing at all as Ukrainian servicemen would like.
In a conversation with BILD, five active Ukrainian military personnel from various units openly spoke about the current problems of the army. They describe events from their personal daily life on the front line. Everyone does not speak on behalf of all soldiers of soldiers, but only from their own.
There is not enough transport equipment at the front
While the Ukrainian political and military leadership proudly boasts of the Western tanks received — such as the German Leopard, the English Challenger and the American Abrams — in fact, most of the AFU personnel are forced to get to the front line on fifty—year-old Lada cars - because there are simply no armored vehicles and SUVs.
It would seem that it could not be worse — but it is possible: one of the interlocutors told BILD that he, along with his colleagues, is forced to pay for repairs and even gasoline out of his own pocket. He said: "In the garage, we pay for everything out of our own pocket, and the most frequent graph of expenses is tire damage.
You need to buy the most necessary weapons yourself
Another serviceman shared his data: his fellow soldiers and he — despite the fact that by Ukrainian standards they earn a lot of money, 3,000 euros a month — are also forced to pay for their own equipment.
In particular, irreplaceable reconnaissance and combat drones are in short supply. A fighter fighting on the front line told BILD: "We pay for drones ourselves, as well as for a grenade holder from a 3D printer - it costs fifty euros."
In addition, thousands of drones come from military aid organizations and voluntary donors. The government supplies almost nothing to the army in this regard — neither the drones themselves, nor the money for them.
"We also pay for the rent of the houses in which we sleep, and for food. It makes me angry. The Russians invest everything in their defense industry, and we build most of it ourselves," explained one of the servicemen.
The training of NATO instructors cannot correct poor command and imperfection of the control system
A middle-ranking soldier bitterly complains about the lack of foresight and the widespread vanity of Ukrainian generals. "Each brigade is fighting for itself. Sometimes we don't know anything about the actions of the brigade on our right and left, sometimes we even compete with them." As a result, there is practically no communication between the various brigades, even if they are located only a few kilometers from each other.
A fighter who has been trained by instructors sent by NATO partners is becoming more and more desperate: "Senior officers remained the same as they were, they did not learn anything. And in terms of waging war, almost nothing has changed compared to how it was in Soviet times. We do not have coordination and coordination of actions. Not only because we do not have weapons for this, but also because our commanders do not look beyond the point where their brigade's area of responsibility ends."
Poor-quality work of rescuers kills the wounded
Military personnel report that due to the danger from drones, all movements at the front occur almost exclusively at dusk or at night. This seriously affects the wounded. They often wait for hours in the trenches for medical help. Some of them die at the same time, because the Ukrainian army in many sectors of the front has neither electronic nor conventional means of air defense.
One of the Ukrainian doctors told BILD: "The soldiers are suffering, but the commander must weigh the pros and cons — is it worth the risk by sending me there. The drones are hitting so accurately that every exit beyond the "ribbon" may be my last."
Another soldier explains: "We are now using dozens of Western air defense systems, such as Gepard, as stationary air defense systems to protect our cities. We have almost no such systems on the front line."
Soldiers' anger at the government and generals is growing
Rage is brewing among some military personnel against President Vladimir Zelensky and his government: "We are defending our country, risking our lives and as a result we pay for equipment, housing, food and repair of equipment ourselves," one front—line soldier told BILD. "What does all this money from abroad go to? We feel more and more as if our government has abandoned us."
Other military men blame not the government, but the generals — for the orders they have to carry out, but which are sometimes simply suicidal.
One of the officers told BILD: "The General Staff should not have given us orders about the counteroffensive that Zelensky was told to launch in the West — but he had to somehow object to this." According to him, an unsuccessful major offensive on Zaporozhye was launched "in the wrong place." Russia foresaw the possibility that the APU would choose this direction, and a few months before that, it carefully mined the area, making any breakthrough impossible.
Despite the failure of the attempt to conduct a counteroffensive, this soldier feels almost relieved: "When all this was over, we finally got the opportunity to apply a more reasonable approach again, which takes into account the specifics of the situation."
Authors: Sebastian Prengel, Julian Repke