Ukraine’s army chief Zaluzhnyi reveals main tasks for 2024

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi expressed his views in an article for CNN.

According to him, in 2024, Ukraine needs to focus its main efforts on:

• Creating a system to provide our armed forces with high-tech assets.

• Introducing a new philosophy of training and warfare which takes account of restrictions in assets and how they can be deployed.

• And mastering new combat capabilities as soon as possible.

Zaluzhnyi clarifies that the main reason for the change in the strategy, forms, and methods of using troops is the development of weapons and military equipment, especially unmanned systems. Their use has become widespread and allows performing a wide range of tasks.

“Crucially, it is these unmanned systems – such as drones –  along with other types of advanced weapons, that provide the best way for Ukraine to avoid being drawn into a positional war, where we do not possess the advantage. But while mastery of such technologies is key, it is not the only factor influencing current strategy,” Zaluzhnyi writes.

But while mastery of such technologies is key, it is not the only factor influencing current strategy, Ukraine’s army chief says. The other factors include:

• reduction in military support from key allies, grappling with their own political tensions;

• partners’ stocks of missiles, air defense interceptors and ammunition for artillery is becoming exhausted;

• Russia might seek to provoke further conflicts elsewhere;

• weakness of the international sanctions’ regime;

• significant advantage enjoyed by Russia in mobilizing human resources;

• Ukraine remains hamstrung by the imperfections of the regulatory framework.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi is convinced that in order to defeat the enemy, the Ukrainian army must be more mobile in tactics and means. He also believes that we need to use Ukraine's unique experience in warfare and look for new capabilities and ways to gain an advantage.

“Technology boasts an undoubted superiority over tradition. The remote control of these assets means fewer soldiers in harm’s way, thus reducing the level of human losses. It offers the opportunity to reduce reliance on heavy materiel in combat missions and the overall conduct of hostilities. And it opens up the possibility of inflicting sudden massive strikes against critical infrastructure facilities and communications hubs without deploying expensive missiles or manned aircraft,” the general goes on to say.

Zaluzhnyi says Ukraine already possess capabilities to eliminate the enemy and ensure the existence of statehood.

“Our goal must be to seize the moment – to maximize our accumulation of the latest combat capabilities, which will allow us to commit fewer resources to inflicting maximum damage on the enemy, to end the aggression and protect Ukraine from it in the future,” he concludes.