343 days on the front line: Ukrainian officer’s long deployment underscores Kyiv’s manpower issues

128th Mountain Assault Brigade

Infantry officer Oleksiy Mykhailov just spent 343 days without leaving the front line, in what his battalion believes is one of the longest combat deployments for an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

His lengthy deployment, in the woodlands between settlements in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, underscores Ukraine’s severe lack of manpower as the war drags on after more than four years .

The 37-year-old had the opportunity to leave the front at one point but volunteered to stay due to the manpower challenges.

“My company is understaffed (as are all the others) and of those who are here, roughly half are in the 50-plus age bracket,” said Mykhailov – whose call sign is “Botanik,” a.k.a. “nerd” – in a statement published by his unit last week. “Ideally, an infantryman would spend a month on combat duty and a month recovering in a frontline village. But under current conditions, that’s completely unrealistic due to the shortage of men.”

His battalion told CNN that a typical deployment is about three to four months for their unit. Throughout the military, soldiers typically serve on the front lines in rotations of less than three months, although it varies widely.

“Infantry serve the longest, and the farther from the front line, the shorter the combat deployment,” Major Yaroslav Halas, an officer with the 3rd Mountain Assault Battalion of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, told CNN. “For example, reconnaissance UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots may be in combat positions for 3 to 4 days, while FPV drone pilots stay for a week (as they are closer to the front line).”

The lengthening deployments come as Ukrainian commanders in other units have warned of personnel issues, acknowledging that the army will never match the manpower of Russia’s far larger military force.

CNN has previously reported on Ukraine’s increased use of land robots and drones controlled by pilots positioned miles away from the front line, as the country tries to use technological advances to gain an advantage. Ukraine has also stepped up its efforts to draft more men without a valid exemption from serving.

Other examples of Ukrainian men serving long stints have been reported by local media in recent months. Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kavun, the commander of a machine-gun platoon in the 30th Mechanized Brigade, spent 486 days in a frontline deployment, according to his unit.

“Supplies were dropped to us by drones. If a vehicle came in, it would bring a month’s worth of provisions,” Kavun recounted in a video shared by his unit. “There were both funny and not-so-funny stories. A cat was born in our dugout. Then it was wounded by a tank shell fragment, right there in the dugout.”

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In the statement posted on social media by his brigade, Mykhailov described the horror of losing men under Russian fire, as well as the constant assaults that grew more intense if the weather was too poor for Ukraine to thwart attacks with drones.

“I see my main role as a commander as minimizing personnel losses. Ideally, there would be none at all … But in war, and in the infantry, this is, unfortunately, impossible,” he said. “As for my personal motivation, I don’t want my family, my daughter, to see what I see – explosions, incoming missiles, destroyed villages, death. That’s why I’m here.”

He is called “nerd” because of his “intellectual appearance” and his glasses, but also because he is a scientist by training with a biology degree from Karazin Kharkiv National University. In fact, Botanik’s entire unit of the 3rd Mountain Assault Battalion are former civilians or reservists who only made their way into the armed forces following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Mykhailov described how he maintained morale during his nearly one-year stint on the front line by making sure he and the soldiers working under him stayed in touch with those back home.

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“I made sure everyone had the chance to contact their families every day; that helps a lot,” he said. “When the Starlink verification was taking place on the front line in February, our terminals weren’t working either … so we’d get in touch with the soldiers via radio and pass the message on to their families by phone. I know from my own experience just how important this is – I try to speak to my daughter every day.”

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Mykhailov the Order of the Golden Star and the title of Hero of Ukraine – the country’s highest honor. The president cited Mykhailov’s personal courage and heroism.

Mykhailov was given a short period of leave after his 343 days on the front, which stretched from April 1, 2025, to March 8. 2026. During his roughly one month off, he said he celebrated his daughter’s 10th birthday and taught her how to ride a bike. Then, he returned to his unit.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.

第128山地突击旅

步兵军官奥列克西·米哈伊洛夫连续 343 天没有离开前线，他的营认为这是乌克兰武装部队军官服役时间最长的战斗部署之一。

他在扎波罗热州东部居民点之间的林地中长期驻扎，凸显了乌克兰在战争持续四年多后，人力资源严重短缺的问题。

这位37岁的士兵一度有机会离开前线，但由于人手不足，他自愿留了下来。

“我的连队人手不足（其他连队也一样），而且在这里的士兵中，大约有一半都超过50岁了，”米哈伊洛夫（代号“植物学家”，又称“书呆子”）在上周部队发布的一份声明中说道。“理想情况下，一名步兵应该在前线村庄服役一个月，然后休养一个月。但在目前的情况下，由于人手短缺，这完全不现实。”

他的营告诉CNN，他们部队的典型部署周期约为三到四个月。在整个军队中，士兵通常在前线轮换服役，每次轮换时间不到三个月，尽管具体情况差异很大。

“步兵服役时间最长，而且离前线越远，作战部署时间就越短，”第128山地突击旅第3山地突击营的军官雅罗斯拉夫·哈拉斯少校告诉CNN。“例如，侦察无人机飞行员可能在作战位置待3到4天，而FPV无人机飞行员则要待一周（因为他们离前线更近）。”

随着部署时间的延长，其他部队的乌克兰指挥官也警告说，乌克兰军队面临人员短缺问题，他们承认乌克兰军队的人力永远无法与规模远大于自己的俄罗斯军队相匹敌。

此前，CNN曾报道，乌克兰越来越多地使用陆地机器人和无人机，这些机器人和无人机由远在数英里之外的飞行员操控，该国试图利用技术进步来获取优势。乌克兰还加大了征兵力度，强征更多没有合法豁免资格的男性入伍。

近几个月来，当地媒体还报道了其他乌克兰男性长期服役的例子。据其所在部队称，第30机械化旅机枪排排长伊万·卡文中尉在前线部署了486天。

“无人机给我们空投补给。如果有车辆过来，就会运来够用一个月的物资，”卡文在他所在部队分享的一段视频中回忆道。“有些故事很有趣，有些则不那么有趣。一只猫在我们的掩体里出生了。然后它就在掩体里被坦克炮弹碎片炸伤了。”

德米特罗·斯莫连科/Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images

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米哈伊洛夫在他的旅发布的社交媒体声明中描述了在俄罗斯炮火下失去战友的恐怖，以及如果天气太恶劣导致乌克兰无法用无人机阻止袭击，袭击就会变得更加猛烈。

“我认为我作为指挥官的主要职责是最大限度地减少人员伤亡。理想情况下，最好是零伤亡……但在战争中，尤其是在步兵部队，这很不幸是不可能的，”他说。“至于我个人的动机，我不想让我的家人，我的女儿，看到我所看到的——爆炸、来袭的导弹、被摧毁的村庄、死亡。这就是我在这里的原因。”

他因为“知识分子的外表”和眼镜而被称作“书呆子”，也因为他接受过科学训练，拥有卡拉津哈尔科夫国立大学的生物学学位。事实上，博塔尼克所在的第三山地突击营的所有成员都是前平民或预备役人员，他们是在俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后才得以入伍的。

米哈伊洛夫描述了他在前线近一年的时间里，如何通过确保他和手下的士兵与家乡的亲人保持联系来维持士气。

瓦伦丁·奥吉连科/路透社

泽连斯基告诉CNN，关于乌克兰问题的谈判不能等到伊朗战争结束后再进行。

“我确保每个人每天都有机会联系家人；这很有帮助，”他说。“二月份在前线进行星链验证时，我们的终端也无法使用……所以我们通过无线电与士兵们联系，然后通过电话将信息转达给他们的家人。我从自己的经历中深知这有多么重要——我尽量每天都和女儿通话。”

周三，乌克兰总统泽连斯基授予米哈伊洛夫金星勋章和乌克兰英雄称号——这是该国最高荣誉。总统赞扬了米哈伊洛夫的个人勇气和英雄气概。

米哈伊洛夫在前线服役343天后（从2025年4月1日至2026年3月8日），获得了一段短暂的假期。他说，在大约一个月的假期里，他为女儿庆祝了10岁生日，并教她骑自行车。之后，他返回了部队。

本文已更新，添加了新的进展。

CNN的维多利亚·布滕科对本报道亦有贡献。