Aircraft specialists are transferred to infantry: what the General Staff and Zelensky say

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on the situation with possible transfers of specialists of the Air Force's engineering and aviation service to infantry units. In his evening address, he instructed to look into what happened in detail and explain the situation to the public. The President stressed that it is important to preserve the composition of specialists needed to perform combat tasks of aviation, air defence and mobile fire groups.

Earlier, Sergeant Vitaly "Bart" Gorzhevsky from the 114th Air Force Brigade reported about mass cases of transfer of technical personnel servicing MiG-29 fighters to the infantry. He said 250 technicians had previously been sent to other units and there are plans to transfer another 218. He expressed concern that this could leave some military units without technical support. The source of the order for such transfers has not yet been identified.

The AFU General Staff denied the information about transfers of scarce specialists of the engineering and aviation service. It said that such specialists remain in the Air Force and their number is even increasing. However, they noted that individual servicemen who have undergone preliminary training can reinforce units of the Ground Forces and Airborne Assault Forces. At the same time, the ban applies to the movement of specialists who work with high-tech equipment or have undergone foreign training.

Zelensky stressed that it is important to clarify all aspects of this situation and prevent the reduction of the number of specialists who are critically needed to fulfil key tasks. Such a decision, he said, could have a negative impact on the country's defence capability.