Army reform was drawn up without consultation with military personnel who are not afraid to speak truth, - Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Osyka. VIDEO
The Ministry of Defence and the General Staff need to consult with the military before making any changes.
This was stated by Roman Osyka, an officer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, during a broadcast hosted by Rostyslav Pavlenko, a Member of Parliament from the ‘European Solidarity’ party, as reported by Censor.NET.
Details
"It seems to me that when this reform was being drawn up, there was most likely absolutely no communication with the military. I mean those military personnel who are not afraid to speak the truth, who are not afraid to highlight the problems that exist in the army. Most likely, there was definitely no communication with such military personnel," he emphasised.
According to Osyka, had such communication taken place, the reform would have been completely different.
"A reform that would tackle sensitive issues. One that would attempt to resolve these issues," he noted.
The officer stressed that it is important for the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff to work directly with the military before they seek to introduce any changes.
"There are currently around a million people in the Armed Forces. This million have relatives, friends and acquaintances. And when they see a reform like this, they view it, to put it mildly, negatively. Everyone stays here because they have no choice: either go on AWOL or stay.
If, whilst preparing this, the Ministry of Defence had consulted with service personnel who are not afraid to voice their concerns, then these issues would have been resolved, and the service personnel would have said that they were finally being heard and that efforts were being made to address the problems," he concluded.
Launch of a comprehensive reform of the army
As a reminder, on 12 June, the Ministry of Defence officially announced the launch of the most comprehensive reform of the military service system. Unique contract formats with clear terms (from 10 months) are being introduced, along with payments for infantry personnel (up to 460,000 UAH per month), a fast-track return for servicemen from the AWOL, and the large-scale recruitment of foreign volunteers to the front line.
