Quote:
Ukrainian servicemen are increasingly refusing to follow orders and fleeing their positions, accusing their leadership of assigning them suicide missions, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday, citing several Ukrainian officers.
The outlet claimed that soldiers from four brigades fighting near the besieged settlement of Kurakhovo in Russia's Donetsk People's Republic have claimed that "the future of the war is bleak for their interests because there are not enough replacements."
Mark Sledoba is good in this piece around 36 minutes in as to how it will end (or not), concern about Ukraine isn't even in the top 50 issues among US voters (cited from yougov poll, fwiw), 59 minutes some jokes about Ukraine winning.Quote:
A source within Russia's security services has also confirmed to the TASS news agency that Ukraine's 116th TRO brigade had indeed been transferred to participate in the Kursk incursion as punishment for its mutiny. According to a source cited by the outlet, Kiev was trying to "somehow correct the situation in Kursk Region at the expense of the already demoralized Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers."
Alexander also told El Pais that there had been a high-profile case earlier this month where 100 soldiers of the 123rd TRO Brigade abandoned their positions near Ugledar several days before the city was captured by Russian forces. The officer explained that they did this to "announce that without sufficient training and weapons they were being assigned to a suicidal defense," according to El Pais.
Moscow has long characterized the hostilities in Ukraine as a US-initiated proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainian soldiers were being expended as "cannon fodder" with the complicity of their government.
Again I don't really put any stock/import into the Nork troop rumors/claims/worries or whatever you want to call it. Even if they are there/in Russia (or DPR), they are pretty irrelevant.