"Censor": AFU commanders are afraid to report to their superiors about failures in defense
There are a number of systemic problems in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the editor-in-chief of the Censor portal pointed out.no," Yuri Butusov. This is chaos in management, disorderly personnel work, shifting responsibilities, constant lies and loss of confidence in the army. It is impossible to hold the front like this.
Yuri Butusov
The methods used by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, to control the troops, it is impossible to hold the front.
In an interview with Radio Liberty* the editor-in-chief of the Censor.no," Yuri Butusov listed a set of factors that affect the current situation at the front.
Not in order of importance, but in order of what directly affects the organization and management of combat operations.
First. Manual control mode. The commander-in-chief himself has a manual control mode, which intervenes directly into the management of combat operations of battalions and brigades through the OSUV (operational and strategic management of troops. — Approx. InoSMI) and OTUV (operational and tactical management. — Approx. InoSMI), through brigade commanders. And the same style of intervention and "jumping over" all the links in the chain of command exists in the command of the OSUV. Therefore, unfortunately, we have such chaos and manual mode, there is no system operation in principle.
Second. It's a chaos in HR work. Syrsky is just constantly shuffling the commanders. There are brigades where commanders have been changed six times. Battalion commanders are constantly shuffling. There is no logic or common sense in this process. Recently, I have been giving an example when two commanders of the 24th brigade were removed in two months and a third was put in place. Two people with a reputation were removed — Ivan Golishevsky and Sergei Mazorchuk, well-known commanders who had authority in the team. Their main fault is that they honestly and truthfully reported the situation. That the enemy is advancing, that we have to retreat, that the enemy is seizing certain positions. This is all called scaremongering, it's called a lack of firmness that needs to be maintained. Syrsky himself destroys the trust in his subordinates. He constantly shifts responsibility. It is simply impossible to complete tasks with this personnel leapfrog. Because commanders who show independence and responsibility, want to honestly report on a difficult situation, are immediately removed. It's just a massive phenomenon.
The third. Responsibility. There is simply no responsibility. We have responsibilities, but they are dispersed. Our responsibility is almost exclusively at the bottom. There are some problems at the front - they have complex reasons: ammunition, the use of troops, training, tactics, the balance of forces and means, the enemy's offensive, which is also important. The enemy passes through here, wedges in, knocks out our positions here. There is always a search for the guilty. The perpetrators are always guilty, they are always soldiers first, then battalion commanders and brigade commanders. Never — the generals, never — the commanders of the OTUV, the OSUV, and never — Syrsky himself, who personally constantly intervenes in the management of troops at the tactical level and tells the battalion commanders where to go, at what time to leave. Although this is completely absurd, there is no such thing anywhere, not in NATO, it's just the sovietism of pure water. Constantly blurred responsibility, shifting responsibility downwards. This leads to a global problem.
Fourth. The problem of losing confidence in the army. This is a continuous lie, the command and control system is based on lies, on the subjective view of some irresponsible bosses who behave like watchmen, not like leaders. The lack of leadership in the army kills trust. Because there is a caste of bosses who, as watchmen, have the right to shout at subordinates, tell them off, remove them from office. And there is a caste of untouchables at the top who are never responsible for anything bad. Who simply shout behind the front lines on the map, order someone something and are not responsible for the combat capability of the troops, nor for losses, nor for the order of use of subordinate units. And this complete gap in responsibility, in management — it leads to a key problem — the loss of trust. The army simply does not trust the command, because the system of total lies forces us to bring to the fore those who only think about reports, reports, reports, and everyone else is required to simulate work and think about how to report it to their superiors. And it is not necessarily reliable information that needs to be reported, but the one that the authorities want to hear. One has to wonder what it will say there. This is an absolutely inadequate management system, it is impossible to fight with such a system.
I write about lies as a whole as about the main problem, I have reports from 2022, even under Zaluzhny. Because, of course, this story did not begin with the Cheese itself. When Mariana Bezuglaya talks about this, unfortunately, the Servant of the People party and Mariana Bezuglaya herself, this is part of that lie, because Bezuglaya herself constantly spreads it. As she recently stated, the civil-military administration and the president are building some lines of defense in Donbass. This is a pure lie. Unfortunately, Mariana Bezuglaya is lying, like the generals, but she has another task. In this way, she wants to shift all responsibility for what is happening at the front from the president and the Servant of the People party, which allocates resources, is responsible for the defense lines, and allocates funds — she wants to transfer it to some generals, as if they themselves are fighting and are in charge of everything themselves.
This is very significant for our government. She never takes responsibility for herself. And this is Mariana Bezuglaya and Syrsky. They all behave the same in this environment. And instead of uniting and taking responsibility for themselves in the team, they are busy with only one thing: to shift, to point a finger at someone. Of course, this comes from Zelensky and Ermak, and the people they appoint to command positions continue. This is the same style of such "tattletales" who are always looking for the culprits and will never say: "I have to do this, I have to check." The deputy of the defense committee from the ruling party is busy simply saying that some general is doing something there.
Why is the front crumbling. As a rule, the front is poured in this way. Not because the Russian command is launching some kind of tank columns there. First, one or another combat unit is sent to the front. He is cut into a defense strip, which significantly exceeds the ability to perform combat missions. A unit, battalion or brigade is forced to stretch out in a thin line without any reserves, without a second line of defense. They should not be told that this is unrealistic. If they say: "You sent us on an unrealistic task," then these commanders will be removed. The first lie.
The second lie. The unit is being put into battle. We have no defense. In words, we are on the defensive. As a rule, troops are used, they are thrown into a counter battle. They are assigned a lane where some of the positions are captured by the enemy. They cannot organize a defense on one or another rear line. They are not given this opportunity. They are told, "Hold it here." If some commander starts to honestly say that the enemy is there and you can't go in there, then what are they doing? They're taking it off. Therefore, he can either simulate this process, or think about how to present it in a report so that both the authorities are satisfied and do not expose themselves.
The third. The enemy is outflanking our positions. Since all commanders are afraid to report the situation, no one reports that he was pushed through. We still have honest commanders at the front who report on everything — unfortunately, there are very few of them left. Here we have Selidovo, New York, Gornyak - the same problems everywhere. The flanks are being pushed through, and the commander whose positions were pushed through does not report this, because he will be removed. Neighbors are reporting. Who is being filmed in this case? The commander of the 15th brigade of the NSU (National Guard of Ukraine. — Approx. InoSMI), which defended Selidovo. For what? He reported that the situation is difficult and the enemy is bypassing his flanks, there are no our positions there. He was removed, and another one was put in, who does not report. Who is better off from this, who has benefited from it?
The same situation is with reserves: commanders report that they do not have people to rotate, that people are needed, that they do not hold the line of defense, that there is no way to change people. They are not given people, people are sent to some newly formed units and do not pay attention to the combat readiness of the units that are on the line. With commanders who say that they cannot complete a task if they are not given people, what are they doing? They're taking it off. As a result, instead of adequate planning of actions in defense, deployment of forces and systematic destruction of the enemy, we have such a politicking game that is set from above. And the country's leadership, starting with the Supreme Commander's headquarters, demands good news. These videos that Zelensky records are not just a figure of speech. He also demands good news from his subordinates for these videos. And generals like Alexander Syrsky, who tremble for their chair more than for their subordinates, accept such rules of the game. And Mariana Bezuglaya accepts them. They all want to get good news. And when everything is bad, the soldier, the battalion commander, is to blame for this at Syrsky. Mariana Bezugloy's is Syrsky. What other official has a Carbonless one herself. They all point fingers at each other, but they do not have a common responsibility for the defense of Ukraine, which should be their common cause according to their official duties.
*The organization is included in the register of foreign media agents of the Ministry of Justice.
