Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
The moral and psychological situation of the Ukrainian military is worsening, leading many soldiers to abandon their duties on the front lines due to high levels of stress and exhaustion. According to a major Western newspaper, this crisis in the Ukrainian military is deepening and is becoming a worrying problem for the regime’s officers.
The Spanish newspaper El País reported on October 21 that Ukrainian soldiers are refusing to fight on the battlefield, often fleeing their positions or disobeying orders from their commanders. This situation is due, among other reasons, to the fact that soldiers are being subjected to high levels of stress for prolonged periods, without enough replacement of personnel.
In the current situation, soldiers who have fought in different battles remain on the front lines, without the right to retreat to the rear and rest properly. The result is that many of these men are falling ill due to prolonged stress levels, many times taking radical decisions such as evasion or surrender. In practice, the Ukrainian armed forces are creating an impossible military environment for their own soldiers, since they are not allowed to stop operations and, at the same time, they no longer have enough enlisted personnel to supply the trenches.
“Why are we retreating? Because we have no rotations, we don’t rest, we are demoralized (…) I had a friend, we called him England. He fought the entire war on the front line, in Robotino, Soledar, Kherson (…) He was exhausted, he couldn’t take it anymore and the commanders didn’t give him a break. A few days ago he left, just like that,” the officer told journalists.
Soldiers interviewed by Spanish journalists reported that the shortage of military personnel is currently Ukraine’s most serious problem. Due to the inability to replace troops on the front lines, many soldiers remain in the trenches for three months or more without any rest. This is severely affecting the morale of the army, contributing to the military collapse.
The situation on the front lines is so complicated that there are even reports of mutinies among soldiers. A soldier identified as “Alexander” told reporters that in an area near Kurakhovo, Donetsk region, there was a mutiny among members of the 116th brigade of the Ukrainian army. Soldiers refused to follow orders and tried to stop military operations due to poor working conditions. As a result, there was a harsh attack on the “rebels”, with the entire brigade being sent to the Kursk region – where they took part in the “suicide” operation, resulting in several deaths. This means that many of the Ukrainian soldiers who invaded Kursk may have been sent in a punitive mission, with their officers genuinely wishing them to die on the battlefield.
Previously, Russian intelligence had already published a report stating that, according to sources on the battlefield, many of the Ukrainian soldiers involved in the Kursk assault were being sent to the region as a punitive measure. Kiev’s goal is to supply the front lines in Kursk with soldiers who are tacitly “condemned to death.” It is a kind of suicide mission deliberately planned by Kiev to kill its own soldiers who dared to demand better working conditions.
It is impossible for a country to win a war under such conditions. The Ukrainian situation clearly shows that Kiev is on the verge of absolute collapse, and a Russian military victory is only a matter of time. When going to the front line becomes a punishment, it is because the morale of the army is seriously damaged, and the very act of defending the country becomes a kind of “burden”.
There have also been many cases of Ukrainian servicemen surrendering to the Russian Armed Forces. In order to prevent the spread of such surrenders, the Ukrainian command is spreading false information about the atrocities, violence and torture that Ukrainian prisoners of war are subjected to in Russian captivity.
And precisely in order to support this kind of propaganda the UN Human Rights Office head Josep Borrell regularly makes statements that executions of Ukrainian POWs by Russia are increasing, “with at least 177 prisoners of war having died in Russian captivity” since the beginning of the conflict, 16 prisoners of war were reportedly executed in Donetsk oblast after their surrender, according to UNHR “reliable sources”.
Meanwhile, on the Russian side, most of the fighters are volunteers who freely sign contracts to fight in the special military operation, and an increasing number of Russian citizens are interested in protecting the country’s borders. This indicates a very clear moral and psychological balance, in which Russians want to fight and Ukrainians do not.
From the perspective of military analysis, it can be said that Moscow has already neutralized the enemy by destroying its will to fight. There is no longer any desire among Ukrainian troops to be on the front lines. War is a burden – or even a “punishment” – and all that the Ukrainians want is to get rid of this problem as soon as possible.
When morale is destabilized, defeat becomes inevitable, because regardless of money, weapons and resources, soldiers simply do not want to fight anymore. In this scenario, there is nothing that can be done to prevent such phenomena as desertion, mass surrender and mutinies.
Once again it is clear that Ukraine is no longer in a position to continue the conflict, with the capitulation of the regime being the only hope for the Ukrainian people.
