(MENAFN- UkrinForm) National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko stated this in an interview with Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

According to Pivnenko, Russia continues to have an advantage in manpower after nearly four years of war in Ukraine, but Kyiv and Moscow have parity in the number of drones on key sections of the battlefield.

"It is not easy for us now. I think it will be consistently difficult... because there is wet mud, it will be harder to drive. We need to stop the enemy more as they approach on foot, so that they do not infiltrate, and do not let them through we carry out these tasks with greater density on the front line and the enemy infiltrates less deeply, it will be better for us," Pivnenko said.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, fierce fighting has raged along a front more than 1,200 km long. But the nature of combat has changed drastically, said the 39-year-old general, who fought Russian forces in the eastern city of Bakhmut before the mass deployment of drones that now hover above the front lines targeting anything that moves. Pivnenko's units are now defending the strategic city of Pokrovsk against soldiers and drones.

To accelerate their advance in Pokrovsk, Russian troops have changed tactics and entered the city in small groups. Within weeks, they were active in several parts of the city, relying on drones to provide cover and identify and attack enemy positions. To offset a shortage of troops that has allowed the enemy to break through defensive lines, Ukraine needs to quickly harness technological and tactical change, Pivnenko said.

One way of doing this would be to better coordinate the "layers" of drone operations so that those who operate drones closer to the contact line, for example, do not compete with or duplicate those further back.

"We need to build this in tiers," he said. "So that one unit deals with one thing and another with others. And we do not get in each other's way."

Pivnenko currently commands two corps - Azov and Khartia. He said the reforms would help strengthen Ukrainian defences thanks to better controls, command and coordination, and would promote younger commanders with combat experience.

Read also: Anti-drone systems, turrets, radars: Zelensky inspects products from local arms manufacturers in Spain

"Young commanders are more decisive, less experienced, but more determined to take action, and to change something in the situation in general. That's what they're focused on, change," he said.

As Ukrinform reported, on the front line over the past day, November 17, there were 151 combat engagements between Ukraine's Defense Forces and Russian invaders, 40 of them in the Pokrovsk sector.

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