Former Australian general Mick Ryan believes that currently the best army in the world is the Ukrainian army.
Retired Australian Major General Mik Rajan he stated this week that the Ukrainian army is currently the best army in the world, writes Newsweek. “She is the most experienced in modern warfare. She has shown that over the last 13 months. Admittedly, the lessons of modern warfare they learned were paid for in the blood of many of their young and old. However, a lot can be learned from them,” said Rajan in an interview with Kyiv Post.
Ryan noted that the Ukrainian military began to change in 2014 and that it then began to adapt to the standards of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Ryan said yes Ukrainian army consists of several basic elements.
“You have the units that make up their Territorial Defense, a mixture of professional senior soldiers and recently mobilized young men. It seems that there are quite a few independent units operating in it. And there are foreign soldiers as well. Their army grew rapidly and all these battalions had to be coordinated. With that the best generals would fight in peacetime conditions, let alone wartime” Ryan said. The Australian general said he did not see why the Ukrainian military could not launch a quick attack like the one the US-led coalition launched in Iraq.
“You have to create leadership. Experience is not enough, you have to gather different experiences to be a good leaderr”, said Ryan and added that this is why NATO trainings are important. “Ukrainians can use them to upgrade the knowledge that their soldiers and commanders have acquired in Ukrainian schools”, said the Australian general.
Army to have NATO standard
Rajan said yes the Ukrainian military should strive to meet NATO standards and that he can achieve it, but that it won’t happen overnight. He added that Ukraine eventually wants to join NATO and that is why it is important to adopt its own military standards. The Australian general said that the Ukrainian army, like many other armies, is currently fighting two battles – one against Russian forces and one within itself.
Ryan says it’s perfectly normal to old and new soldiers, old and new ways of thinking, are constantly clashing, and this has been happening since the time of Alexander the Great. “Commanders must strike a balance between killing the enemy and allowing their soldiers to learn and grow. The American military that entered World War II is fundamentally different from the American military that came out of it. The Ukrainian military that will emerge victorious from the war with Russia will be different than the ukrainian army that went into it. It needs good leadership to win, and the ukrainian military leadership has shown that it is better than the Russian one. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. I think it has to balance between heavy and light units. In addition, we saw how vulnerable helicopters are and how important air defense is. We need to see how much should be invested in that, and how much should be invested in units that are on the front line,” said Rajan.
Mark Kankian, senior adviser to the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek on Thursday that Ryan was right about the importance of the human element in warfare, especially leadership and training.
“There is no doubt that the Ukrainians, along with the Russians, have the latest combat experience. The Ukrainian army is better than the Russian one, but that does not mean that it is the best in the world. The Ukrainians sent two battalions for exercises. “The US military sends 60 of them to similar exercises every year. Most of the Ukrainian commanders have shown great ability, but they are probably insufficiently trained to perform complex maneuvers,” Kankian said.
Kanciyan said that US Marines undergo 22 weeks of training before going to the battlefield. Ukrainian soldiers were sent to the battlefields after two or three weeks of training.
(WORLD)