War

Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov Army, tells how to improve troop management and defense resilience

“A great war requires great changes, and we are talking here about the principles of warfare, procedures for managing troops, the role and place of units on the battlefield, not about a wide range of Western weapons and beautiful signs on the doors of offices.” This is how Colonel Denys Prokopenko, commander of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Azov Army, begins his Facebook post on reforming the army, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

He believes that strategic mistakes in planning cannot be compensated for at the tactical level, when the enemy has a great advantage in almost everything. Denys Prokopenko suggests considering one of the advantages that the enemy has been using from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, organizing command and control at the level of divisions, corps and armies, which facilitates the process of planning and using troops.

The commander of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Azov Army briefly analyzed the advantages of creating divisions/army corps in the conduct of a full-scale war.

1. Unity of command. The commander of a division/army corps, which should be created on the foundations of combat-ready brigades by reducing stillborn organisms that have lost their combat capability without ever gaining it, will be able to organize combat and special training in regular units, personally be responsible for the process and quality of training, soberly assess combat capabilities and assign tasks to each brigade/regiment accordingly.

2. Initiative. More confidently, without losing initiative and situational awareness, it will be possible to lead regular units on the front line, without attached forces, having everything on your own except aviation.

3. Simplicity. Improved troop management and defense sustainability.

4. Saving efforts. Sustainable troop management will allow for the expansion of operational zones and defense strips on the front line (even in breakthrough areas).

5. Security. Reducing the need to plug holes and extinguish fires with attached units, which complicates interaction and almost never gives the desired result in the absence of a fundamental approach.

6 . And most importantly, reducing manual control at the tactical level will allow the generals to deal with strategic planning (as this is their responsibility) and higher priority tasks, such as strategic defense, which includes a set of measures that have not yet been launched.

Denys Prokopenko expressed hope that we will finally start implementing real reforms and accumulate, or at least not waste, resources for the long-awaited victory.