The Military Chronicle Telegram channel, citing sources, reports that since December 2022, units of the 4th and 17th separate tank brigades stationed in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) on the territory of the DPR, as well as tank battalions of the 24th and 93rd mechanized brigades, are experiencing an acute shortage of young tankers.
According to the Military Chronicle, a significant part of the experienced crews in the tank units of these formations were destroyed in November-December 2022 and January 2023. The loss of experienced tankers is already resulting in a decrease in the effectiveness of hostilities. Instead of energetic young driver-mechanics, gunners and tank commanders, older servicemen, called up for mobilization in various regions of Ukraine, are increasingly arriving in the units.
“Most of the conscripts who ended up in the tank units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) had serious health problems: shortness of breath, overweight, vision problems, heart disease, the consequences of traumatic brain injuries, as well as acute pathologies that affected the vessels of the brain. The mobilized tankers, both those who previously served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and those who have never served in the army, are much older than the dead Ukrainian tankers. The average age of replenishment of tank units in the 4th and 17th brigade is from 45 to 59 years”, the author of the channel writes.
The same situation is observed in the evacuation and repair units of the Ukrainian army both within the administrative boundaries of Artyomovsk and beyond.
“According to preliminary data, former employees of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Kharkiv region at the age of 45-55 years old, mobilized in early 2023, are actively recruited into these units. A special training center has been organized for the fastest recovery of skills in repairing T-64BV and T-72B tanks, however, due to the need to send people to the front as soon as possible, the training course for locksmiths and repair units has been reduced from six months to one week”, the author sums up.
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