Rotation continues at the front: what does it mean and what is special about it this time

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said that they managed to launch the process of rotation and replacement of units that have been performing combat missions at the front line for a long time. UNN has prepared an article about what rotation is and what makes this process special this time.

What is rotation

The Concept of the military personnel policy in the system of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the period up to 2028 defines the following definition of military personnel rotation: the process of planned appointment of military personnel to positions of equivalent military rank in order to increase the level of development of their professional competencies, motivation for professional development, prevention of corruption, for more appropriate service use or replacement of military personnel in areas with special natural, geographical, geological, climatic, environmenta

As military expert Dmytro Snegiryov explains, during martial law, rotation is the replacement of personnel in a particular military unit to perform direct tasks on the front line.

Rotation is possible within one combat unit or with the replacement of an entire combat unit.

What is the peculiarity of the rotation announced by Syrsky?

Despite the fact that rotation in individual combat units is ongoing, military expert Dmytro Snegiryov notes that since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, there has been virtually no rotation involving entire units.

"Until now, we have had rotations within the respective combat units. That is, for two years a unit has been standing on the line of contact, performing combat missions, and, accordingly, it has been changing exclusively within the unit itself, which has caused some complaints from the military. If a unit has been at war for two years, it has suffered personnel losses, and it is necessary to replenish the personnel and withdraw people to give them a chance to rest and, accordingly, to continue performing their immediate tasks. Previously, all rotations took place within the unit itself on the front line. Currently, rotations have been carried out among the units that performed auxiliary functions or covered other parts of the frontline, those that were directly on the front line. This is what has happened in recent weeks on the frontline, particularly in the Avdiivka sector," explained the expert.

A striking example of this rotation of an entire combat unit was the replacement of the defenders of Avdiivka - the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Lieutenant General Marko Bezruchko, which had been in the area for two years - with the Third Separate Assault Brigade.

Similar rotations are currently taking place in other areas.

Length of time on the front line 

When the rotation takes place, soldiers who are sent to the front line are assigned to perform combat missions. According to publicly available information, the duration of such deployments is set by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in accordance with the needs and relevant tasks. At the same time, there is no more detailed information on how long soldiers can be deployed on combat missions.

At the same time, there are certain recommendations as to how long the military can stay on the front line. Psychologists believe that the replacement of personnel on the front line should be carried out no later than 25-30 days of active participation in hostilities. In particular, the Handbook for Officers and NCOs "Formation of Psychological Readiness of Military Personnel to Perform Anti-Terrorist Operation Tasks" approved by the General Staff in 2019 states that the peak of a unit's combat capability occurs on the 10th-20th day of combat, then it catastrophically drops, and after 30-40 days of combat, the unit must be taken to rest; after 8-12 months of war, acute neurotic states and the inability to fight further occur among the personnel.

At the same time, according to MPs who initiated amendments to the law "On Military Duty and Military Service," it is in terms of regulating rotation that, since the beginning of the full-scale war, some units in Ukraine have been in the combat zone for 4-6 months, while others have never been in combat.