Mobilization measures and saturation with anti-personnel weapons: military expert names challenges for Ukraine in 2025
Kyiv • UNN
The head of the Ukrainian Security Center called mobilization and involvement of civilians in the army the main challenges of 2025. To counter Russian attacks, Ukraine needs a large-scale supply of anti-personnel weapons.
The main challenges for Ukraine next year will be mobilization activities and the involvement of civilians in the army. In working with partners, task No. 1 is to supply anti-personnel weapons. This opinion was expressed by Serhiy Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, to UNN.
"All the problems are caused by the Russians' superiority in manpower in the war. They are maximizing the use of their manpower, plus (there is help from - ed.) North Korea, and this is the biggest burden we will have to face. It is clear that losses are increasing, we are trying to minimize these losses, but this is possible only at the cost of losing territory. The more we saturate the positions with people, the higher the losses from air bombs, artillery ammunition, etc. will be," Kuzan said.
He noted that Russian losses are now unrealistically high.
"The Russians' calculation is that we will simply exhaust ourselves and that eventually our front will collapse. Since the Russians are building up their groups, we cannot but build up our group, and this involves mobilization measures, I mean mobilization in a broad sense, that is, the involvement of civilians in the army, in the army. This will be the main challenge for the next year," Kuzan said.
The expert emphasized that it depends on Ukraine, because no one will give us people.
"A successful recruitment campaign, a successful campaign to replenish the ranks of not just the Armed Forces, but the Defense Forces, is our answer, our homework, to the main challenge that will be faced at least until the beginning of 2025," Kuzan said.
The expert also believes that in working with international partners, task No. 1 is to supply Ukraine with anti-personnel weapons.
"That is, we need anti-personnel mines, but in large quantities and long-range weapons so that we can hit their warehouses, their command and logistics centers. That is, there is a mechanism to stop the Russian meat waves," Kuzan said.
As an example, Kuzan cites the Russian "Surovikin line," which Ukraine stormed during a counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 and failed to break through because it was well-staffed with people and a sufficient number of mines.
"There were four or five times as many mines there as is required not only by NATO standards, but also by the Soviet and Russian armies. Saturation with weapons and saturation with people allows, as the Surovikin line shows, to hold the territory. Therefore, the issue of attracting people, attracting quality people, quality training and using them in the war is our main homework," Kuzan believes.
Military expert Valeriy Ryabykh in a commentary to UNN commented on the chances that there will be a ceasefire in 2025.
"There are no fundamental changes on the part of the aggressor, they are still waging a war to destroy Ukraine and do not want to give up this idea. Therefore, I have no reason to say that at least the first half of 2025 can bring some kind of ceasefire," Ryabykh said.
Dmytro Levus, an international expert at the United Ukraine Analytical Center, told UNN that in 2025, a full-scale war remains the main event for Ukraine, and there are a number of problems that Ukraine needs to solve.
"This is the scaling up of military production, solving problems with mobilization, and the task of defeating Russian troops," Levus said.
In a commentary to UNN, political analyst and president of the Politics Analytical Center Oleh Lisnyi noted that in 2025 Ukraine will be able to stop Putin at the front and named the conditions
For reference
The "Surovikin Line" or "Fabergé Line" is a fortification complex of structures and trenches built by Russian state and other military formations in the second half of 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after successful counteroffensives by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions. The line itself is a part of Russian fortifications located along the border with Ukraine in Kursk and Belgorod regions, and along the front line in the occupied regions.
Addendum Addendum
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reportedthat Putin may have abandoned the capture of Pokrovsk and set the army another task.
