Two and a half years of Russian invasion decimated many Ukrainian units. The situation is peculiarly hard among infantry divisions close Pokrowska and another places on the east front line. CNN journalists spoke to six commanders and officers who had until late fought in the area. Everyone confirms that desertion and insubordination become a common problem, especially among recently recruited soldiers.
Difficult months
One of the commanders, presently fighting in Pokrowsk, emphasized that not all mobilized soldiers leave their posts, but most did. erstwhile fresh ones arrive, they see quite a few hostile drones, artillery and mortars, they go into position once, and if they survive, they don't come back. They abandon positions, refuse to fight, or effort to find a way to leave the ranks of the army. Recruits were appointed after the entry into force of the fresh Ukrainian mobilization law and cannot legally leave until the government implements the demobilization, unless they receive peculiar permission. In addition, last winter and spring were highly hard – months of delays in U.S. support supplies led to a shortage of ammunition and a fall in morale. The artillery soldiers said they were in good position and they saw the enemy, but they did not have missiles. any were accompanied by guilt due to the fact that they could not supply adequate cover for the infantry.
Andrij Horeckia, a Ukrainian officer trained to supply moral and intellectual support to soldiers, whose squad is presently fighting in Twaiw Jara, says that people served 24 hours a day, saw the Russians approach, and knew that if they had anything to shoot, nothing would have happened. This cannot be without morale. Another officer says that it became besides dangerous for drones to rotate soldiers on the front, so they stay in position for up to 20 days, although they were 3 to 4 days earlier. As the situation on the battlefield deteriorates, an expanding number of soldiers are tired of fighting. Only in the first 4 months of 2024 did prosecutors launch criminal proceedings against nearly 19,000 of those who abandoned their positions or deserted. However, this is not full data. respective commanders told CNN that many officers did not study desertion, hoping they could convince the soldiers to return.
Chaos on the front line
Ukrainians in the Pokrovsk region describe a grim image of the situation. Kiev forces are in a number and stay little armed than Russians, and any commanders estimation that there are 10 Russian soldiers per Ukrainian. An additional problem is bad communication between Ukrainian units. In turn, bomb squads stationed close the border between Ukraine and the Russian Kursk circuit did not realize why they were sent to Kursk while the east front line is in chaos. 1 of them says that erstwhile he entered Russia, he felt "strange" due to the fact that he was expected to defend his land, not fight in the territory of another country. erstwhile talking to CNN, the bomb squad looked exhausted – they had no remainder between the mission in Pokrowsk and the 1 in Kursk.
Many Ukrainians besides effort to avoid being called into the army. At the beginning of the war, there were plenty of volunteers to fight Russia, and now people are missing. A lawyer from Kiev who qualified for the draft erstwhile Ukraine reduced his draft age from 27 to 25 years old, admits in an interview with NBC News that he is afraid of people in uniform, due to the fact that it comes to his head that individual would like to mobilize him against his will. Even though he thinks he's a patriot, he says he doesn't feel ready to kill. Even the Russians.
