Ukrainian Soldiers Refuse to Fight on the Donbass Frontlines

A RT.com news report dated June 17, 2022 revealed that Ukrainian soldiers are without logistical support: there is no ammunition, food, or artillery support. Increasingly, they are abandoning their positions and posting videos with complaints about their command. 

As with other countries’ armed forces, there are legislative provisions in Ukraine that hold military personnel legally responsible for desertion – article 408 of the Criminal Code. Moreover, desertion under martial law or in a combat situation provides for fairly harsh punishment – from five to twelve years in prison. However, these measures have not stopped the soldiers in some units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from leaving their positions. 

According to Ukrainian news sources Unian and Dialog, there is a bill giving officers the right to execute deserters. And there are Telegram messages that informed of soldiers being shot for desertion.  

The first cases of group desertion began at the end of April and were associated with the deterioration of the situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass in the southeastern part of the country. At that time, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that more than 860 soldiers had deserted from the units of the National Guard of Ukraine. 

And then there was the case of a whole platoon of the 115th Territorial Defense Brigade who appealed to [V]olodymyr [Z]elensky and [V]alery [Z]aluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a refusal to carry out a combat mission near Severodonetsk. 

Later, a similar statement was recorded by units of the 58th Brigade and the 46th separate rifle battalion. The soldiers accused the command of throwing them into a hopeless situation as cannon fodder in order to plug the most problematic areas of the front. They had been on their way to Zaporozhye, but eventually ended up at the front near Popasna – one of the hottest spots in Donbass. They did not have heavy weapons, no supplies arrived, and the command turned out to be incompetent. As a result, they suffered heavy losses and had to retreat from their positions. 

Literally at the same time, another recording appeared from Donbass, where the servicemen of the 71st Jaeger Brigade directly refused to carry out an order from their officers to enter the battlefield unarmed against guns and howitzers and to shoot it on video. The soldiers considered the order “criminal” and left the positions. 

“We stand with machine guns against cannons, Grads, and mortars. No one helps us. We don’t have any sensible weapons, there is nothing. How can we fight for a country that doesn’t care about us?” complains one of the soldiers. 

“We don’t want to go into the meat grinder and come out ground beef. We don’t have tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, guns…”, a second echoes. 

These and many other cases indicate that, in addition to members of territorial defense units, members of regular Ukrainian Army units are also withdrawing from their positions. 

The mainstream media is not reporting any of this – but one thing is clear and it is worth repeating: Ukraine is losing the war! 

“By autumn, it’ll all be over”! This was Ioannis Mazis’ assessment of the situation there and which was published by Al Jazeera on June 16, 2022. 

“Crimea and a whole region that will include Odesa will essentially be ceded to Russia. If Odesa falls, it won’t be through attacks. Mykolaiv will fall first, then there will be an easy [Russian] advance to Transnistria. Ukraine will become landlocked, referenda will happen in the autumn, and there will be annexations to Russia… Russia will predominate in the region”, the chair of the department of Turkish and Modern Asian Studies at the University of Athens elaborated. 

Therefore, it befuddles me when Washington warned Beijing it risked ending up "on the wrong side of history" when it is the US and NATO that are the ones on the wrong side of history! The remonstrance was made when Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday had assured Vladimir Putin of China's support on Russian "sovereignty and security".

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before Ukraine collapses or if it is wise, surrenders!