"We learn everything about enemy from intelligence – and always f#ck it all up," – Armed Forces of Ukraine officer Hlushchenko. VIDEO
Armed Forces of Ukraine officer Dmytro Hlushchenko said that the Ukrainian military has high-quality intelligence on the actions and plans of the Russian occupiers, but the command system is often unable to translate this information into the necessary command decisions in time.
He said this in an interview with Khvylia while discussing the battle for Huliaipole, in which he took part, Censor.NET reports.
Loss of Velyka Novosilka
"After the loss of Velyka Novosilka, which was also defended by a Territorial Defence Forces brigade — the 110th — there was a major problem. We have this practice of ‘shuffling’ units around. The 110th Brigade command had only one 11th Battalion, while everything else consisted of attached units — up to a dozen disparate formations: the National Guard, various assault troops and different battalions with different command systems, traditions and operating procedures. A whole host of attached units are thrown together in one place. We also sent our 203rd Battalion there, and I provided crews when I was the battalion’s unmanned systems officer. Because of this whole mess, this organisational confusion, we lost Velyka Novosilka. This allowed the enemy to strike the 102nd Brigade’s flank. That was where Huliaipole’s problems began. Novosilka fell, the enemy began advancing towards the flank, and there were neither fortifications nor troops in the Solone area. The enemy simply advanced over long distances and seized territory for as long as it could keep moving. That is why we began losing so much territory north of Huliaipole — there was simply no one there," the Armed Forces of Ukraine officer said.
Effective intelligence versus inaction
According to Hlushchenko, intelligence makes it possible to know in advance what actions the enemy is planning, but this does not always prevent positions from being lost.
"Logically, as Butusov said, when a brigade starts collapsing, at that stage — the thing is: our intelligence works very well, we always know where, when and with what forces the enemy will advance. In other words, we understand from the outset what needs to be done to stop it. And we traditionally f#ck it all up every time. We know everything about the enemy — we do not even know that much about ourselves — yet we still somehow manage to f#ck it all up every time," the serviceman said.
He added that when the 110th Brigade, which was holding the 102nd Brigade’s left flank, began to collapse, the enemy gained an opportunity to launch a flanking attack and exploited it, advancing towards Huliaipole, Tersy and Vozdvyzhivka and in the direction of Orikhiv.
