Zürcher Nachrichten - After eight years of war, Ukraine's army a tougher prospect

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.327616
ALL 98.192804
AMD 406.067937
ANG 1.879076
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.840133
AUD 1.601828
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.957546
BBD 2.105077
BDT 124.589901
BGN 1.956284
BHD 0.392592
BIF 3016.094951
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.405287
BOB 7.204528
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.04263
BTN 88.005286
BWP 14.243906
BYN 3.412124
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.101624
CAD 1.456946
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930994
CLF 0.037254
CLP 1027.952249
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4605.144632
CRC 531.073558
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.75048
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.15426
DKK 7.457312
DOP 62.978972
DZD 139.891631
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 128.155793
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831468
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.464915
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8992.026458
GTQ 8.048177
GYD 218.127645
HKD 8.110066
HNL 26.28575
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.86204
HUF 411.533277
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.856892
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1365.316903
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 166.09811
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.249124
KES 134.920816
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4220.449639
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.868887
KZT 520.591707
LAK 22878.565176
LBP 93347.878651
LKR 303.450587
LRD 187.529583
LSL 18.888757
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.089375
MAD 10.49591
MDL 19.017231
MGA 4865.341785
MKD 61.54739
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.359474
MRU 41.574227
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1807.573672
MXN 21.282904
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.888753
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.287608
NOK 11.53576
NPR 140.808938
NZD 1.785942
OMR 0.401107
PAB 1.042655
PEN 3.952739
PGK 4.194144
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.423952
PLN 4.338074
PYG 8139.257775
QAR 3.792783
RON 4.976404
RSD 117.038068
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1427.305728
SAR 3.911717
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.879628
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.497837
SGD 1.402827
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.409088
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.123047
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.888745
THB 35.91223
TJS 11.103861
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.313541
TOP 2.440072
TRY 35.999051
TTD 7.081314
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2771.265486
UAH 43.133048
UGX 3852.435216
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.339112
UZS 13366.666402
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 656.558208
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.793126
XOF 650.625955
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.853084
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.802098
ZWL 335.468513
  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    6.8

    +0.15%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

After eight years of war, Ukraine's army a tougher prospect
After eight years of war, Ukraine's army a tougher prospect

After eight years of war, Ukraine's army a tougher prospect

When he arrived at the front line as a volunteer to fight Russian-backed separatists in 2014, Pavlo Dolynskiy found Ukraine's army in a desperate state.

Text size:

Kyiv had just lost the Crimean peninsula to Moscow without a shot being fired and its regular forces -- eaten away by years of neglect and corruption -- couldn't cope with the spiralling conflict in the east of the country.

"The army had reached the point where it couldn't stand up to the enemy," Dolynskiy, who now works at a veterans association, told AFP.

Soldiers struggled to get uniforms and boots, they had antiquated Soviet-era weapons, equipment often malfunctioned and the army relied on a ragtag mix of volunteers to plug the gaps.

"It really was in a lamentable condition," he said.

But now, as tensions soar over a massive Russian military buildup on its border, Ukraine's armed forces present a far tougher prospect.

Battle-hardened by nearly eight years of a simmering war that has claimed over 13,000 lives, the military has undergone reforms and been bolstered by Western arms and training.

"Eight years ago, the Ukrainian army did not exist. It was only on paper, and did not have the potential to fight," said Mykola Beleskov, a defence analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv.

"Now they are the best armed forces that Ukraine has had in thirty years of independence. The best prepared and the best trained."

- Drones, anti-tank missiles -

The conflict has forced Ukraine's pro-Western leadership to try to turn their depleted Soviet legacy forces into a more modern military aligned closer to NATO standards.

Ukraine's defence budget has tripled over the past decade in US dollar terms to around $4.2 billion in 2021 and reforms have looked to tackle rampant corruption and improve command and control.

The US has provided some $2.5 billion in military aid since 2014 and training from NATO allies -- including also Canada and Britain -- has helped bolster battle readiness.

As part of the modernisation drive, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky this week signed a decree to add an extra 100,000 personnel to the armed forces over the next three years -- taking its total to some 360,000.

The authorities have pledged to ramp up wages for those serving and professionalise the army by ending conscription by 2024.

A crucial addition has also been the influx of foreign weaponry that has bolstered the military's Soviet-era stockpile.

Ukraine has purchased Turkish Bayraktar TB2 combat drones -- which proved pivotal in the 2020 Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia -- and received shipments of anti-tank missiles from the US and Britain.

"Its forces probably are stronger than they have been for a long time," said Sam Cranny-Evans, a research analyst at the RUSI think tank in London.

"Nonetheless, there are key deficiencies in Ukraine that have not been addressed."

He pointed to its limited air defence systems, lack of assets able to carry out long-range strikes and doubts over its reconnaissance capabilities.

Ukraine's airforce and navy also remain weak points.

Kyiv lost an estimated 70 percent of its vessels when Russia seized the strategic Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea, a recent report from the US Congressional Research Service said.

British minesweepers are on their way but more ambitious plans to rebuild are hampered by severe budget constraints as the economy struggles.

And graft remains a problem draining those tight resources.

"It is widely recognised that Ukraine's path forward regarding reforms and building appropriate military capabilities is predicated upon eliminating corruption in its defence sector," said an analysis from defence intelligence agency Janes.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, insisted to journalists Thursday that the military "have taken a big step forward since 2014 -- we increased our combat capacity and ability to repel an invasion".

But he still listed a raft of hardware his troops require: anti-sniper gear, anti-tank weapons, air defence systems, anti-drone systems, reconnaissance systems.

"We are working on this and we have agreements in place to try to improve all this," he said.

- Outgunned, outmanned -

After years of conflict, Ukraine's forces are combat-experienced and highly motivated.

There are also hundreds of thousands of people in the reserves and volunteer fighters have been brought under government control.

Civilians too are preparing, with survival courses becoming increasingly popular among Ukrainians worried about a possible Russian attack.

Despite the improvements, Ukraine understands that its military remains massively outgunned and outmanned by Moscow's vastly superior armed forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pumped vast sums into turning his own creaking military into a well-equiped modern outfit able to impose the Kremlin's goals in global hotspots like Syria.

Analysts said Ukraine would struggle if Moscow unleashed its missiles and aircraft in a major bombardment of critical infrastructure.

"It is no secret that the Russian army is bigger and stronger," said analyst Beleskov.

But, he insisted, if there was a major invasion and Russia tried to hold territory then Ukraine's forces could still turn it into a costly "war of attrition" -- especially if Western arms kept flowing in.

O.Pereira--NZN