Ukraine does not have enough soldiers to fight to the end
(Baonghean.vn) - According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the number of soldiers deserting the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased tenfold. They are exhausted from the fighting.
According to Ria Novosti, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are having problems with recruitment. People do not want to sacrifice themselves for the Kiev government, they avoid mobilizing troops by any means or desert.
In 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine opened 117 criminal cases on desertion. Another 2,028 cases were assessed as “illegal abandonment of a military unit or place of service,” meaning the person left the unit but intended to return.
In the first nine months of 2023, 4,638 soldiers deserted the Ukrainian Armed Forces, some 10,940 were temporarily left behind at the front, and 161 committed suicide. The deserters were sentenced to between five and eight years in prison. Before the conflict, such cases usually ended in agreements or suspended sentences.
According to Ria Novosti, there are at least a few brigades of deserters in Ukrainian prisons. Their motive is clear: "fear of death".
The fatigue of fighting was building up in everyone, because the loss of manpower was huge. Many combat units were 30-40% short of manpower. And desertions were almost everywhere. Soldiers, sergeants and officers feigned illness, trying to stay in command posts and rear units, as long as they were not on the front lines.
According to Ria Novosti, a former soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Anton Amosov, among those mobilized to the front line, there were many well-educated and successful people. However, they were often commanded by less competent officers, and often suffered from alcoholism.
"They hand you over to a unit with an idiot, and your first thought will be: why obey him? At first, volunteers lined up at the registration and enlistment office. Now there are no volunteers. The first people mobilized to the front have been at the front for two years and are going crazy there," said former serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anton Amosov.
Amosov added that now no one wants to be on the battlefield, "no one shouts 'For the Motherland' anymore. Instead, they ask: Whose homeland?." According to Amosov, of course, Ukrainian soldiers have "hatred" for Russia. However, they are increasingly dissatisfied with what the leadership is doing.
Bohdan Lysenko of Ukraine's 47th Brigade said: "We cannot afford to engage in a conflict of attrition with Russia. We need fundamental changes in the army."