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After the Russian incursion into Kharkiv province the Ukrainian intelligence chief Budanov admitted in an interview with the New York Times that:

“All our troops are now either in Kharkov or in Chasov Yar. I used everything we have. Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone left in reserve.”

The French news agency AFP reported on Russia’s push into Kharkov:

The Ukrainian army is struggling to line up 250K men on the front line. “In all the brigades, there is a 40% shortage of personnel”

A Ukrainian officer admits:

 “We are facing a wave of desertion among young conscripts”

While a French soldier returning from the front after an observation mission noted:

“In Kiev, they no longer talk to us about arms but about recruitment problems”

Since the coming into force of the new troop mobilisation law on May 18th the streets of Ukrainian towns are deserted, big firms with predominantly male workforces are warning of loss of workers to the army and production cuts, workers are protesting and many are committing petty crimes in order to seek the sanctuary of imprisonment rather than be a victim of the ruthless TCC (Official Recruitment offices) and their press gang methods. Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod said in parliament:

Ukrainians are massively committing petty crimes in order to get to prison, not to the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine)

There are increasing signs of citizens fighting back against army recruiters on the streets and 46% of Ukrainians of military age say they will not fight in the war.

A Ukrainian soldier’s video (I have been able to insert only a screenshot below) from the front line relates the process of forced recruitment from the streets to death in the trenches for his three colleagues. He says of his three dead colleagues that they were taken to the trench with no officer and no training:

This is Mozerenko Pashko. Four days ago on the streets in Ternopil region he was taken away. Now he lies here. Here is Gontarenko Kolka he was taken three days ago in Dnipro – here he lies. They just drove us here like meat. There was no senior officer – just us. What to do or how to do it they did not tell us.

This is the fate of thousands of Ukrainians as armchair warmongers in London and Washington and the Baltic States pump in billions of Dollars which do no more than  buy Ukrainian corpses.

Huge Losses and Dead Unaccounted For

Due to the scale of losses, the Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot report on the dead in a timely manner, writes The New York Times.

Relatives note that everywhere they encounter neglect and inaction, bodies are identified from aerial footage taken from a drone, their deaths are reported by colleagues, but Ukrainian commanders “will not lift a finger for months” to find out the fate of Ukrainian servicemen or take their bodies.

The Ukrainian military leadership is simply overloaded with losses and is unable to properly account for the thousands of dead which of course makes Ukrainian dead and wounded figures totally unreliable.

Cities Deserted 

A resident of Zaporozhye, the owner of a small mobile phone store, said that there were almost no people left in the city. 

“There are no people on the street, no passers-by, no one goes anywhere. Almost no cars. In half a day, only two grandmothers came …………..I just give up.”

In the comments on the video, people write that the same thing is happening in all major cities. On the day the new law came into force the beaches of Odessa were empty and there was not a single man on the street.

Ukrainian Truckers Blocked the Kiev-Odessa Highway in Protest 

Hundreds of trucks blocked the highway protesting against the new law on mobilisation. According to a participant in the rally:

“Truckers are protesting against the draconian laws of the semi-legitimate ‘Ze-government’”

After mounting troop losses, the loss of Bakhmut, Avdeevka, and dozens of towns in western Donetsk, the loss of northern Kharkiv province to Russian troops and their advance towards Kharkiv city, President Zelensky’ popularity has never sunk so low. Since there is little hope in the West that the latest financial package from the USA and a similar one proposed by the EU will alter the course of the war in which Ukraine has run out of reserves, there is no demobilisation possible and front line losses are horrific there is now a growing move in the Western press to undermine Zelensky – since he is the main obstacle to peace negotiations.

Ukraine’s Nazi Troops First to Flee Battlefield

The Ukrainian channel “Cartel” reports on the cowardly track record of openly nazi troops who are now integrated into the Ukrainian forces like “AZOV”, “Right Sector’ AIDAR, and “Kraken”:

“It is significant that the nationalists were the first to run at the front. This is by no means the only and not the last case. With the loss of territories and the weakening of funding, unauthorized refusals of nationalist brigades to conduct hostilities will become a practice.

Thus, the most ideological and motivated units, such as the same “Kraken”*, “Right Sector”* or “Azov”*, immediately flee in case of danger. we have already seen this in (the fall of) Mariupol, Avdeevka, and Chasov Yar.

The Channel notes that cowardice may not be the only motivation since the troops were particularly loyal to the sacked General Zaluzhny and ignore the orders of the new commander-in-chief Syrsky whom they see as following the propaganda promotions of Zelensky rather than rational warfare. 

And given that even trained and motivated fighters refuse to fight, recruits snatched from the streets and public transport are unlikely to be able to hold back the professionally trained Russian military. This means that in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, there will also be an increase in the number of surrenders, which is already observed everywhere.”

Ukraine Army and Drugs

The German publication Junge Welt claims that Ukraine is awash with drugs and the armed forces are particularly affected. They write that Ukraine has become an important transit country for drug trafficking. Quoting the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, for military officers drugs are a “means of escape from reality.” Against the backdrop of failures at the front and falling morale, Ukrainian soldiers are becoming easy prey for drug dealers.

Drugs reach the Armed Forces of Ukraine in different ways – by mail or by taxi, where the cargo is disguised as food.

Western Media Urge Peace

With this catastrophic military situation Western governments seem to be preparing coordinated diplomatic action to convince Zelensky to accept the principle of negotiations.

The leading Washington DC publication “The Hill” – the most widely read website/newspaper among Washington lawmakers – writes:

A peace agreement with Russia will require difficult decisions from the West and Ukraine, but they must be made. 

It notes that further attempts to inflict military defeat on Russia are pointless, the Russian Armed Forces have a great advantage, and the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are rapidly deteriorating.

The US publication “Foreign Policy” says Biden should point out to Kiev that its goals are unrealistic – and criticised Washington’s strategy of endlessly pumping money into Ukraine which will ultimately fail.

“The Biden administration should publicly declare that the interests of Ukraine and America do not coincide and that Kiev’s stated goal of returning every inch of Ukrainian territory is unrealistic” 

The aim now, says Foreign Policy, should be peace negotiations. Indeed – the madness must end but all the Western powers can do is hold a “peace conference” in Switzerland to which Russia is not invited!

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