Ukraine’s army seeks to give frontline commanders more authority

Ukrainian staff sergeant Vitalii Tomchyshak believes he knows how to beat Russia on the battlefield: empower frontline leaders such as himself to make critical decisions. Too often, Tomchyshak says, combat commanders are overruled by senior officers who do not understand the specifics of a battlefield situation. “It doesn’t matter who you are — a sergeant, an officer, anyone — you need to be listened to,” the 27-year-old former software developer said. Tomchyshak was among 103 battle-hardened squad commanders pulled from the front line by Ukraine’s military and put through an intensive three-month course this summer aimed at increasing their effectiveness as leaders. As Russia wages its war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian army is trying to transform itself — not just in terms of technological innovation, but also in its culture and leadership. That means dismantling a Soviet-era culture of rigid, top-down command and encouraging more initiative from battle-tested troops. Despite innovating its way through more than four years of war to hold back a bigger, better-armed enemy, Ukraine’s military has faced criticism for heavy losses in some units and poor treatment of some troops — factors blamed by some for discouraging men from joining the military. Expectations are high that the new commander-in-chief, 43-year-old General Mykhailo Drapatyi, will deliver on his pledge to promote better command practices and prioritise soldiers’ lives. NEW GENERATION Many of the men and women on the course are in their twenties and early thirties. It aims to train a younger generation of leaders — already expert in infantry tactics, drone warfare, artillery and logistics — to make autonomous decisions on the battlefield. Crowded around a map covered in tokens denoting military units, a dozen commanders are war-gaming how to repel a Russian assault on a village. A roll of a dice decides whether operations succeed or fail, forcing them to improvise and communicate with colleagues. Run by the Military Institute of Kyiv National University and partly financed by charity Come Back Alive, the Captain’s Course has trained more than 1,200 officers since it was launched during the first year of the war. With Ukraine struggling to draft frontline troops, the emphasis is on preserving manpower, said Artem Chukharev, a 23-year-old sergeant in the Territorial Defence Forces. This is in stark contrast to Russian infantry assaults that have come at a high human cost. “We simply cannot afford to treat them the way our age-old enemy does,” Chukharev said, praising the course for encouraging commanders to take informed decisions. “I finally realised what an officer is, and what he should be like.” The programme is not easy. Although 88 commanders graduated on July 18, 15 students did not – two for health reasons and the remainder for academic shortcomings. OLD HABITS Battlefield flexibility is not a traditional feature of Ukraine’s military. Despite efforts to modernise after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Soviet-style attitudes have persisted among some senior officers trained at traditional top-brass institutes, said battalion commander “Houston”, asking to be identified only by his military call sign. “Officers there are immediately instilled with a certain hatred toward sergeants and soldiers,” said Houston, a career soldier who signed up long before the war, unlike much of Ukraine’s 800,000-strong military. Drapatyi took over as commander-in-chief in July from 61-year-old Oleksandr Syrskyi, whose critics said he tolerated heavy losses and imposed a heavy-handed style, micromanaging the 1,200-km (745-mile) front line. This month, Drapatyi held a high-level meeting with senior sergeants to discuss ways to empower the NCO corps. “A sergeant was a soldier himself yesterday. Today, he is the commander who is closest to the soldier,” he said. “They are the ones who care about the interests and needs of the ordinary soldier first and foremost.” Ukraine’s armed forces, in response to questions for this article, said Drapatyi had published a list of problems to be addressed after the meeting – including an expansion of powers for non-commissioned officers, a clearer command structure and better pay. Work on solving the problems was underway, it said. Drapatyi has promoted several senior commanders known for embracing NATO-style command culture – including Andriy Biletsky, who commands the Third Army Corps – to oversee critical parts of Ukraine’s eastern defences. ‘NEVER STAND STILL’ With new technology rapidly changing the nature of warfare, the course pushes commanders “to constantly seek out and find new solutions, adapt old solutions, modify them, modernise them,” Chukharev said. “But never stand still.” Tomchyshak, who did not comment on the reforms at the highest level of the military, said that showing initiative was still often punished, particularly among sergeants. Letting local commanders take more of the initiative would hand Ukraine an advantage on the battlefield, he said, especially over an enemy known for treating its troops poorly. “We would begin to see radical change,” he said.