Ukrainian MP Accuses Army of Having No Operational Plan for 2024

Nghị sĩ Ukraine cáo buộc quân đội không có kế hoạch tác chiến năm 2024 - 1 — Ukrainian artillery fires on the front line (Illustration: Getty).

Mariana Bezuglaya, deputy chairwoman of the Ukrainian parliament 's security, defense and intelligence committee, said on November 26 that the Ukrainian military leadership "has absolutely no strategic plan for a conflict with Russia in 2024."

According to her, Ukraine's military leaders just want to mobilize tens of thousands of additional soldiers every month without clearly understanding what they should do in a conflict that has lasted more than 21 months.

"The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Valery Zaluzhny) failed to come up with a strategic plan for 2024," she alleged.

She said that Mr. Zaluzhny has not yet presented any plans for combat options, whether large or small scale, symmetrical or asymmetrical.

She said the situation has created major obstacles for lawmakers as they plan the national spending budget for 2024. The congresswoman said there have been problems since at least the summer.

At that time, Ukraine was preparing for a counterattack against Russia in early June. This campaign has been going on for the past 5 months, but Ukraine has not achieved the expected results against the Russian defense system.

According to Ms. Bezuglaya’s accusation, Mr. Zaluzhny and other top commanders of the Ukrainian army have so far failed to provide any detailed plans for future training, troop rotations or the necessary funding for some of the new brigades they plan to create.

Instead, the Ukrainian military "simply said that they would need to recruit no less than 20,000 people per month," the senior lawmaker added.

“If the military leadership cannot come up with any plans for 2024 and all their mobilization proposals lead to the fact that more people are needed without any changes to the Armed Forces system, then they need to resign,” said Ms. Bezuglaya, a member of the ruling Servant of the People party.

In early November, Mr. Zaluzhny admitted that the conflict with Russia was in a stalemate and that this could allow Russia time to reorganize its forces and resources.

He also said that Russia had the upper hand in the war of attrition thanks to its abundant manpower and weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly disagreed with Mr Zaluzhny's assessment, but acknowledged that people are tired after more than 21 months of fighting.

“Everyone is tired. There are different opinions. Everyone is human, regardless of status… But this is not a deadlock. I emphasize this again,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Mr. Zelensky also warned the country's military leaders not to get involved in politics , otherwise it would risk affecting "domestic unity".

Earlier this week, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said Ukraine's Western allies had pushed Kiev to expand its recruitment efforts to make up for manpower losses after the summer counteroffensive.

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