Expert says future Ukrainian army will be smaller but more technologically advanced

This opinion was expressed by General Volodymyr Havrylov on Ihor Dolhov’s program on the Ukrinform YouTube channel.

“First, the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the war will be different from what it was when we started this war. This war has shown that many things are already provided by technological decision-making systems, robotic platforms, and other means, where the role and mission of people is diminishing. Therefore, the number of people on the battlefield in modern warfare is not as important as it used to be. Accordingly, there will be an inevitable reduction of the Armed Forces to a certain core, which in the event of threats should be deployed into something else,” Havrylov said.

According to him, the core of the Armed Forces should consist of professional units, reserves, and combat veterans. It should be financially secure, and military service should be one of the most attractive in the country, with rigorous selection and competition. This will make it possible to attract the most talented people and prepare the army for modern warfare even in peacetime.

At the same time, the general noted that Ukraine will not have enough funds to maintain this core of the Armed Forces and the reserve, “because these are very expensive things anyway,” so the security guarantees we are discussing with Europe and other partners must clearly take this financial element into account.

“How it will be supported by Europe is a separate issue. Because either it is a joint financing mechanism, or they allocate resources there, which our Ministry of Defense already uses as needed. But in any case, it must be a very transparent process… And these security guarantees, if they are written to support the financing of the Armed Forces, all these mechanisms must be clearly defined,” the general emphasized.

According to him, Europe is capable of financing the modern Armed Forces of Ukraine, but money alone does not solve the problem: weapons and production capacity are needed.

Havrylov also drew attention to the fact that a technological war is currently being waged on Ukrainian territory with the widespread use of robotic systems. He noted that this was due to a huge shortage of money and standard conventional weapons, forcing everyone to look for other creative solutions. This has led to the widespread use of inexpensive, simple, and fast systems such as drones, which are produced very quickly and are updated every 3-4 months.

“Therefore, in parallel with talks about money, we need to talk about not losing this energy of innovation in modern warfare… The challenges have not disappeared, the enemy is also developing. And what have you come up with for them for tomorrow, so that it is ready, with limited resources? It turns out that there are many solutions that are cheaper, simpler, and faster, and that need to be implemented. This is a natural element. In nature, all organisms survive this way. Therefore, when we talk about money, we must be very careful about raising the bar, saying that we need more and more money. It will not determine the success of the war,” the general believes.

As reported by Ukrinform, Ukraine has unveiled the Flamingo long-range cruise missile with a range of 3,000 km. Its photo was published by photojournalist Yefrem Lukatsky on Facebook. In the description of the photo, he commented that the missile has already been put into serial production. The photo was taken on August 14 at an undisclosed location. The comment under the photo indicates that the work was carried out by Fire Point.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that successful tests of the domestic Flamingo missile have already taken place, and mass production is scheduled to begin in January-February.

Ukrinform photos can be purchased here.