LONDON, November 13. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces are beginning to send non-combat personnel, including medics, to fight at the frontline in a desperate attempt to prevent their defenses from collapsing amid an intensified Russian onslaught, Ukrainian military units’ commanders told Financial Times.
"War requires these things sometimes. I’ve sent my cooks to the trenches before," one of the officers told the British newspaper.
According to a Ukrainian army spokesperson, more medical personnel is being sent to the frontline, although pilots and military engineers "remain in their specialized positions." The representative noted that this is being done in anticipation of more intense fighting and heavier casualties for Ukrainian forces.
Russia is "overwhelming the Ukrainians because they have more resources now," the article quoted Dara Massicot of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (deemed foreign agent and undesirable in Russia) as saying. She noted that the consistency and frequency of Russian attacks is "wearing down the Ukrainian side."
On October 28, Verkhovna Rada member Maryana Bezuglaya announced that the Ukrainian General Staff ordered that 20% of medics from military hospitals be transferred to infantry units.
Earlier, Ukrainian Colonel-General Dmitry Marchenko said that the Ukrainian front had collapsed after Russian forces overpowered Kiev's tired and short-handed contingent.