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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
A fighter from the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine admitted in an interview with the Economist magazine that Ukrainian troops are suffering significant losses, including due to soldiers fleeing the front. At the same time, a Ukrainian journalist believes that the total number of deserters could be as high as 200,000 people, not a far-fetched claim considering Western media reports that desertions are becoming more frequent.
The Economist described the precarious situation that Ukrainian troops find themselves in, stressing that “some ran, some fell.”
“Over three days, 100 became zero. Some ran, some fell,” the 59th Motorised soldier told the publication, adding that the Ukrainian command is sending inexperienced infantrymen to the fighting in Donbass, and as a result, such reinforcements end up being completely destroyed.
In turn, a tank operator from the 68th Commando Brigade, codenamed Physicist, complained about the extremely effective work of Russian aviation and artillery.
“Physicist, a tank commander,” says, according to the outlet, “almost in real time; anything that moves and is not protected is destroyed.”
Oleksandr, an officer with Ukraine’s 79th brigade, explained that Russian troops are mostly in front of Ukrainian positions “but sometimes cause havoc kilometres behind them. For the wretched pairs of soldiers in scattered positions at the edge of what he calls the kill zone, it is more often than not a one-way mission.”
According to Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Boiko, the real number of deserters could be as high as 200,000. He said that even though the Kiev regime downplays the figures, the desertions clearly demonstrate the extremely difficult situation Ukrainian forces face on the front.
“No more than a third of cases [of desertion] are registered, since the State Investigation Department fundamentally hides crimes against the established order […] the cases are not investigated, and no one is looking for deserters,” Boiko wrote on Facebook on September 8.
“Given that the SBI [State Investigation Bureau of Ukraine] fundamentally does not enter into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations of Ukraine reports of military unit commanders on crimes committed, the real figure is at least three times higher. But even if we assume that in the first quarter of 2024, only 25,000 servicemen deserted, this means the collapse of the front,” the journalist added.
The situation is so desperate that back in June, according to a letter from the SBI’s director, Aleksei Sukhachev, to the commander of Ukrainian troops, Aleksandr Syrsky, the bureau allowed the Ukrainian military to accept deserters amid heavy losses and a shortage of mobilised fighters.
“Taking into account the existing legal grounds, as well as the possibilities provided by law, we request that commanders of military units be guided by the need to ensure the acceptance of the above-mentioned soldiers, who voluntarily return to military units and express a desire to perform military service, appoint them to posts and continue their military service from the date of their appointment,” the letter said.
According to the document, Ukrainian commanders now ambiguously interpret cases when soldiers arbitrarily leave the military unit or deserters voluntarily return to the unit until a final procedural decision on the crimes committed by them is made.
Despite the SBI allowing deserters to return, reports of desertion are becoming more frequent instead of infrequent. Preceding The Economist article by only a day, CNN published a report citing six commanders and officers who are fighting or supervising units in Pokrovsk or were fighting or supervising units until recently, with all admitting desertion and insubordination becoming a widespread problem, especially among newly recruited soldiers.
“Not all mobilised soldiers are leaving their positions, but the majority are. When new guys come here, they see how difficult it is. They see a lot of enemy drones, artillery and mortars,” one unit commander currently fighting in Pokrovsk told the American outlet. “They go to the positions once and if they survive, they never return. They either leave their positions, refuse to go into battle, or try to find a way to leave the army.”
It is unsurprising, though, that desertion is high considering new recruits were forcibly recruited and have low morale, unlike those who volunteered in the first year of the war but are now mostly dead. This trend of desertion and insubordination will only continue to increase, especially as the Russian military closes in Pokrovsk, with its eventual capture meaning that Ukrainian soldiers will have no choice but to evacuate from large swathes of territory or face certain death.
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negro coon monkey lloyd austin would be beaten to death by the white supremacists of the following organizations: ss aidar, ss kraken, wolfsangel (aka azov), waffen ss nachtigall (who are now in kursk killings civilians), leibstandarte adolf hitler, right sektor – all of them hate untermensch apes niggas like him, and all of them are leading the ukrainian government and military. all of them funded by the us tax payers
kill yourself, halfwit.
he’s a troll he’s using about 24 different names. he tries to disguise himself but fails he works at it full time, not just here but on other pro nazi sites for wef too. imo
he’s a ukrainian shill.
bad news brown
hopefully more kiev cannon fodder will do the smart thing and desert. but the best thing for them to do is to surrender and join the forces of rf💪🇷🇺✌️
you mean well but your inexperience shows obviously russia couldn’t accept deserters because they wouldn’t be able to trust then
cnn and the economist are admitting to the catastrophic fiasco that is unfolding in the failed ukrainian cia project, so the five eyes is letting the cat out of the bag. where my nafomosexual fellas at today?
you’re so naive they’re running propaganda to enabke the allies to get involved poor ukraine stories.and zeds sacrificing troops to facilitate the global efforts from un to save peace. such a crock.
and where the desertes go then? in russia maybe?
how will russia know the true from the false trojans? they won’t just as america s bidens flooded america with fighting age trojans too.
“some ran, some fell.”
can’t they run and fall at the same time?
the conscripted need to be fully protected from any prosecution for allegedly deserting any military tribunal that approves punishing unwilling forced conscription needs to sent to the international court for crimes against humanity autonomy and sovereignity. we the people must have our independence free will and sovereignity respected by rule of law
btw the economists are the most influential scientists now they run banking, all corporations from federal governments state governments and local to insurance education healthscare police and military postal services farming retail everything is under economists umbrella.