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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“It really was in a lamentable condition,” he said.<\/p>\n
But now, as tensions soar over a massive Russian military buildup on its border, Ukraine’s armed forces present a far tougher prospect.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Now they are the best armed forces that Ukraine has had in thirty years of independence. The best prepared and the best trained.”<\/p>\n
Drones, anti-tank missiles<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Soldiers-of-the-92nd-Mechanised-Brigade-of-the-Ukrainian-Armed-Forces-take-part-in-a-combat-drill-in-Kharkiv.jpg\")
<\/a>Tanks of the 92nd Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces take part in a combat drill in Kharkiv. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The authorities have pledged to ramp up wages for those serving and professionalise the army by ending conscription by 2024.<\/p>\n
A crucial addition has also been the influx of foreign weaponry that has bolstered the military’s Soviet-era stockpile.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Nonetheless, there are key deficiencies in Ukraine that have not been addressed.”<\/p>\n
He pointed to its limited air defence systems, lack of assets able to carry out long-range strikes and doubts over its reconnaissance capabilities.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s airforce and navy also remain weak points.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
British minesweepers are on their way but more ambitious plans to rebuild are hampered by severe budget constraints as the economy struggles.<\/p>\n
And graft remains a problem draining those tight resources.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“We are working on this and we have agreements in place to try to improve all this,” he said.<\/p>\n
Outgunned, outmanned<\/strong><\/h2>\nAfter years of conflict, Ukraine’s forces are combat-experienced and highly motivated.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Tanks of the 92nd Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces take part in a combat drill in Kharkiv. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The authorities have pledged to ramp up wages for those serving and professionalise the army by ending conscription by 2024.<\/p>\n
A crucial addition has also been the influx of foreign weaponry that has bolstered the military’s Soviet-era stockpile.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“Nonetheless, there are key deficiencies in Ukraine that have not been addressed.”<\/p>\n
He pointed to its limited air defence systems, lack of assets able to carry out long-range strikes and doubts over its reconnaissance capabilities.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s airforce and navy also remain weak points.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
British minesweepers are on their way but more ambitious plans to rebuild are hampered by severe budget constraints as the economy struggles.<\/p>\n
And graft remains a problem draining those tight resources.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“We are working on this and we have agreements in place to try to improve all this,” he said.<\/p>\n