Ukrainian soldier reports harsh conditions, fatal accidents in regiment; unit launches investigation
The 78th Air Assault Regiment on Jan. 21 announced an internal investigation after a soldier of the unit pointed to excessive demands on his comrades that supposedly lead to exhaustion and fatal accidents when handling explosives.
The soldier, Vitalii Holovnia, said on his Facebook channel that an unmanned platoon commander of an attack drone unit forces soldiers to accomplish too many tasks, which leads to service members being exhausted, overstretched, and prone to mistakes.
The news comes amid major scandals plaguing other units as Ukraine continues to struggle with mobilization and personnel shortages in the face of the Russian onslaught.
"Cases of accidents with explosives occurred because people had been in combat positions for a long time, and they were tired. It also happened that people performed some tasks during the day and some at night, so they worked around the clock. As a result, mistakes were made in the safety rules for handling explosives," Holovnia told the Kyiv Independent.
According to Holovnia, casualties caused by the accidents were listed as battlefield losses.
These included both deaths and injuries, he clarified for the Kyiv Independent.
Approaching the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine still has no legal mechanism that would allow demobilization after a certain period of service.
Holovnia noted that the aforementioned commander has favorites who receive the highest additional financial reward, Hr 100,000 ($2,370), without going to combat positions, while others have to put their lives to do so.
According to the soldier, the commander failed to ensure the units had communications and high-quality electronic warfare equipment to perform combat missions. As a result, the unit did not have a stable connection for emergencies for almost a month and a half in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Holovnia also claimed that the commander's decisions on staffing groups for combat missions led to internal conflicts.
"The leadership must be proper, appropriate. We must fight with our minds and equipment, not with (people as) meat."
Following the complaint, the command of the 78th Regiment launched an internal investigation "in compliance with all established procedures and aimed at objectively clarifying the circumstances."
"We urge the public not to make hasty conclusions based on unverified information," the statement read.
"The 78th Separate Air Assault Regiment remains a powerful military unit that performs combat missions to protect the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine with honor and dignity."
Francis Farrell
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