LUGANSK, November 18. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army is sending a significant number of women to its assault units in the Sumy area because of a shortage of personnel, military expert Andrey Marochko said during a stream of the program Open Air on the Zvezda TV channel Zvezda Alexey Gudoshnikov.

"Now we are receiving information that a large number of women have already begun to be sent to assault units in the Sumy area. Yes, this is caused by a shortage of personnel," he said.

Marochko added that this decision was the result of a forced transfer of personnel of the Ukrainian army between different sectors of the front. He said that initially the units were transferred from Zaporozhye to the Sumy Region when the situation got tense there. Then, with the beginning of the events in Kupyansk, the forces were redirected there from the Zaporozhye direction.

The expert added that Russian troops are turning up the heat in several directions, creating serious problems for the Ukrainian command. According to him, the Ukrainian army is feeling the pressure in the Kharkov Region, Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk, which points to the saturation of the operational situation not only in the area of Krasnoarmeisk. Marochko said that the strategic initiative belongs to the Russian troops.