When Russia invaded Ukraine’s Donbas in 2014, disoriented Ukrainian soldiers often lacked basic combat gear to fight back against the invader and its proxies.
In the ensuing years, the Ukrainian military has risen from the ashes, often thanks to civilian volunteers who provided it with everything from helmets and armored vests to drones and vehicles.
Six years later, history seems to be repeating itself with yet another enemy: the coronavirus pandemic. Again, Ukraine’s 250,000-strong Armed Forces are caught unaware, with shortages of basic protective gear and medical equipment.
In Ukraine, the virus threatens to undermine the military’s ranks from within, especially when it comes to combat formations defending the nation along the 420-kilometer front line in the Donbas.
Now the army is urgently attempting to stock up on thousands of respirator masks, hospital beds, biohazard suits and COVID-19 tests. And despite years of record-high budgets, it is again relying on massive assistance from civilians.
So far, there is no indication that the military has faced mass spread of the disease. But as Ukraine’s Armed Forces record their first cases of COVID-19, military experts say the novel coronavirus will pose a serious challenge to the country’s defense.
Reducing combat readiness?
The Ukrainian military is far from alone in its struggles during the coronavirus pandemic.
Like national economies, virtually all the world’s military forces and defense production agencies will face a significant reduction of their capabilities, experts predict.
“The average age of military service members puts them in the category with the lowest risk for death (from COVID-19),” said Serhiy Zgurets, director of Defense Express, a Kyiv-based consulting company. “But the disease marches through barracks, aircraft carriers and bases. Military staff members are nearly an ideal means of spreading the virus, as they act tightly concentrated. And when one crew member is sick, the whole weapon inventory becomes invalid for combat.”
Recent events in the United States Armed Forces illustrate the pandemic’s effect on military forces. As of March 30, at least 569 U.S. active-duty service members had contracted the illness, in addition to 220 civilian personnel, 190 family members and 64 contractors, the American news outlet The Hill reported. Starting from that day, the Pentagon ordered military bases to stop revealing data on new COVID-19 cases detected in the military.
In such a situation, high-ranking military leaders will inevitably be forced out of operation for the duration of their recovery from the illness. And the need to isolate the sick will jeopardize the military’s ability to control troops and branches of service, Zgurets believes.
“I don’t think Ukraine will be an exception,” he said. “The training and operative activities of Ukraine’s Armed Forces brigades in the (Donbas war zone) at each level face the risk of viral spread, as well. The need to quarantine those who come into contact with the sick will increase gaps in our military ranks exponentially.”
“In these circumstances, the forces’ ability to fulfill their tasks will deteriorate. No matter what is under discussion — the USS Theodore Roosevelt (aircraft carrier) with sick sailors on board or a T-64 tank crew,” Zgurets added, referring to an American aircraft carrier where 114 sailors had tested positive for COVID-19 as of April 2.
Preparing for the worse
Ukraine has identified at least 942 cases of COVID-19 as of the morning of April 3. Twenty-three people have died of the disease in Ukraine.
There have also been two confirmed cases in the military. A female doctor working at the Khmelnytsky Military Hospital was hospitalized with COVID-19 on April 1, and then one of her co-workers tested positive and was isolated.
According to Ukraine’s Medical Command, 140 servicepersons are currently under self-isolation.
At the same time, no confirmed cases have been reported among the Joint Forces, Ukraine’s nearly 40,000-strong military and law enforcement contingent deployed to the Donbas war zone.
Daily communiques from the Donbas do not indicate any changes to the slow-paced, stabilized trench warfare that has dragged on in the region for the last five years. In March, 12 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action, while Ukraine’s forces liquidated 51 enemy troops.
Nonetheless, the military is preparing for the worst with COVID-19.
According to Ruslan Khomchak, the top commanding officer of the Armed Forces, military hospitals across the country currently have 850 special beds in contagious disease isolation wards. If necessary, 800 more beds could be deployed.
“In case of severe epidemic hazard, military recreation centers will be ready to receive up to 2,500 patients,” General Khomchak stated on April 1.
The entire territory of the Ukrainian-control parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are now closed to all non-essential transportation, including private civilian transport. According to the Joint Forces, starting from March 28, no vehicles are allowed to enter or exit, unless involved in “the logistical support of the region’s vital activity.”
Additionally, all combat formations deployed to the war zone or leaving it on rotation are now obliged to undergo observed quarantine for at least 14 days.
Upon Khomchak’s orders, an unprecedented force of 54 chemical, biological and radiological protection units has been deployed to Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to sanitize all vehicles – military and civilian – and crossing checkpoints, and regional borders with a special chlorine solution.
These measures have helped prevent contagion among the large contingent of forces at the front line, according to the Ministry of Defense.
A military serviceperson disinfects a truck at a military checkpoint in Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbas
Civilian aid
Nonetheless, the situation looks rather grim, and the problems extend all the way down to basic medical equipment and protective garments.
Once again, the army faces a desperate lack of rudimentary gear like protective suits, medical face masks, antiseptics, gloves and eye shields.
And, once again, it has to largely rely upon free aid from civilian volunteers and charities.
On March 22, the military charity organization Come Back Alive purchased 2,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 tests at its own expense and handed them over to the Armed Forces, which still had no tests at that point.
All those tests were sent to the war zone, where, according to General-in-Chief Khomchak, they are being used to detect and confirm cases among the commanding officers, medical staff and press service officers.
Additionally, according to the Ministry of Defense, the military units deployed to the Donbas are “selectively” testing service members who often have contact with the civilian population in the rear. As of the morning of April 3, the Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts had eight and three confirmed cases of COVID-19, respectively.
“Today, (military formations) require disinfection solutions, individual protective equipment and some medicines like paracetamol,” Svitlana Andreychuk, a member of the Maidan Hospital charity, said on April 2.
“The demand for these items is just crazy right now.”
As many as 10,000 medical face masks and several hundred containers of sanitizer were provided by the Organization of Afghan War veterans from the city of Irpin, just outside of Kyiv, on April 1. At least 4,000 kilos of aid, including a number of domestically-produced masks and 20 liters of sanitizing liquid, came from Vinnytsia-based charity Diya (“Action”).
Businesses have also provided a lot of assistance. According to Colonel Andriy Halushka, the deputy commanding officer of the Medical Forces, Odesa-based company InterKhim provided at least 60,000 pills of Amixin, a medicine used as a preventive measure against respiratory illnesses, in addition to 10,000 FFP-3 face masks and 70 protective suits.
In late March, local private businesses restored eight lung ventilators for military hospitals in Kharkiv and Dnipro at their own expense, Halushka added.
Additionally, the Ministry of Defense, likely foreseeing the dire need for specialists in the worst-case scenario, issued a call to retired servicepersons and civilians with expertise in medicine, including medical students, to volunteer and help with the COVID-19 response across the country.
“It is crucial now for the Armed Forces’ medical service to mobilize not only material, but also human resources,” Defense Minister Andriy Taran said in a statement issued on March 24.
“All concerned citizens with experience in epidemiology, infectious diseases, anesthesiology, pharmacy, therapy… can make their contribution to the national cause.”
According to the military, by the first days of April, nearly 50 civilian specialists had responded to their call.
