Tag: perpetual war

Ukraine’s Military In Turmoil: 576 Soldiers Desert Daily, 10X More Than Russian Army; What’s Going Wrong?

In the three-year-old Russia-Ukraine war, one of the most significant issues facing Kyiv is a shortage of manpower. In a battle of attrition, the manpower and quantity of equipment are the biggest strengths of a military force.

Ukraine has been able to somewhat compensate for its lack of equipment with Western supplies. However, the lack of manpower has consistently hindered Kyiv’s ability to defend itself against the Russian onslaught.

Before the war began, Russia’s population was already nearly 3.7 times bigger than Ukraine’s. However, since the war started, a significant part of Ukraine, along with its population, has merged with Russia. Additionally, millions of Ukrainians have fled to European countries to escape the war.

Ukraine has demonstrated considerable ingenuity in repelling the Russian invasion; however, its limited manpower means that Kyiv is consistently at a disadvantage against Moscow.

In addition to this handicap, Ukraine now faces a new concern—the rising number of desertions from the frontline.

Ukraine’s Rising Desertions From The Frontline

According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, since the war began in 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have witnessed more than 250,000 desertions. These numbers include both AWOLs (absences without official leave) and desertions from the front line.

More than 250,000 criminal cases have been opened into soldiers’ absence without leave (AWOL) and desertion since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The official data was provided under the “Unified Report on Criminal Offenses” under Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service).

As many as 202,997 criminal cases were opened into unauthorized abandonment of military units, also known as absence without leave, from 2022 to July 2025. A total of 15,564 people were officially charged with the crime.

The Prosecutor General’s Office also said that 50,058 desertion cases were opened in the same period, and 1,248 individuals were charged with desertion.

Under Ukraine’s martial law, men aged 25 to 60 can be conscripted into the armed forces.

Some 250,000 desertions in more than three years may not seem like a large number. However, as the saying goes, ‘Devil is in the Detail,’ these numbers hide a brutal truth, which is that the number of desertions in the Ukrainian Army is rising continuously, and that also at an alarming pace.

For instance, there were nearly 7,000 AWOL cases in 2022, 17,658 in 2023, 67,840 in 2024, and 105,500 from January to July 2025.

Similarly, for desertion, there were approximately 3,400 cases in 2022, 7,900 in 2023, 23,300 in 2024, and 15,400 from January to July 2025.

Together, the Ukrainian Army recorded nearly 10,400 desertions (including AWOL) in 2022, 25,558 in 2023, 91,140 in 2024, and 120,900 in the first seven months of 2025.

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Romania’s Globalist Foreign Minister Ramps Up War Rhetoric as Critics Accuse State of Psychologically Preparing the Public for Armed Conflict with Russia

Romania’s globalist, Brussels-backed government has escalated its language of military confrontation, declaring itself ready to respond with force to security threats from the war in Ukraine—rhetoric that veteran journalist Ion Cristoiu warns is nothing less than an attempt to condition the Romanian public for a war with Russia, which the population never sought and does not want.

Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu announced that Bucharest already has “a set of measures prepared” after consulting the increasingly unpopular President Nicușor Dan, who is widely viewed by his lack of popular legitimacy.

She explicitly linked these preparations to drone incidents near Romania’s borders and in the Black Sea, stating: “We are prepared to respond both militarily and diplomatically in order to defend the safety of our citizens on our territory.”

In a country still reeling from political instability and exceedingly deep public distrust, this type of language from the highest levels of government seems to many as far more than routine defense talk. They signal a readiness to treat spillover from a neighboring war as grounds for direct military engagement with Russia.

The most-publicized incident occurred on Aug. 20 near the Neptun Deep offshore gas project. A commercial vessel reported a small maritime drone drifting several hundred meters from the platform.

Romania scrambled two F-16s; one fired its cannon, and naval specialists later destroyed the craft, confirming it carried explosives. Several hundred workers were on the platform.

Defense Minister Radu Miruță framed the action as necessary to protect lives and critical infrastructure. Ukrainian authorities told Romania the drone was not theirs. Romanian officials promptly pointed toward Russia, despite Țoiu herself admitting there was no evidence Moscow had deliberately directed the craft at Neptun Deep.

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A New Threat Resurfaces as Europe Battles Wildfires and Droughts: Buried Active Bombs from WWI and WWII

Buried dangers have a way of resurfacing.

We have been reporting here on TGP that Europe is facing a hot summer, leading to major wildfires and severe droughts in its most vital rivers.

From the bottom of the river beds, military vehicles and weapons from the WW2 are resurfacing: German warships, Wehrmacht motorbikes, and bombs.

At the same time, during the battle against the wildfires, a deadly new threat is increasing the danger: unexploded ordnance from WWI and WWII.

Euronews reported:

“Fires have burned through huge areas of land in western Europe in recent months as the continent has battled scorching temperatures and droughts, and firefighters have faced the additional threat of exploding shells.

The fires and droughts are unburying and reactivating what was previously stable.

“One fire close to the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France has revealed a hoard of what is thought to be World War II-era ammunition, while in the province of Liège in eastern Belgium, local governor Hervé Jamar said emergency services were adapting to account for munitions buried in a fire area and that ‘a few sporadic detonations’ had been heard recently.”

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Trump Fired Kellogg For Leaking The Ukraine Peace Plan — Now He’s Back In Kyiv Pushing Women Into The War Machine

Mobilize The Women — Feed The Meat Grinder

Keith Kellogg, the former special envoy for Ukraine and Belarus under President Trump, went to Kyiv this week and outlined the ‘framework’ that he says the USA will continue to use in its dealings with the government in Ukraine. The special envoy’s vision does not differ from that of the rest of the ‘globalist’ globalist establishment of officials, bureaucrats, academics, etc. who have been managing the conflict in Ukraine for years.

“I believe women should be mobilized into the military because they fight every bit as well as men,” Kellogg said. “It is very important that women, as part of society, serve. I see absolutely no problem with it. My wife was a paratrooper and jumped out of airplanes. My daughter was a paratrooper and jumped out of airplanes. My wife fought in Grenada, and my daughter fought in Afghanistan.”

Kellogg stated that it is a matter of equality for women to serve in the Ukrainian military, as it is for men to serve, in order to seek personal pride.

This is the globalist depopulation project with a military uniform on it. Ukraine has already lost hundreds of thousands of men on the front lines of a war that has produced nothing but destroyed cities, shattered families, and a country demographically gutted from the inside out. The solution on offer from Washington’s neocon establishment: mobilize the women too. Send mothers, daughters, and wives into the same meat grinder. Call it equality. Call it courage. Call it anything except what it is — the deliberate destruction of a nation’s reproductive future in service of a proxy war that has no achievable military objective.

Russia Is Losing — Trust Us

Ukraine already has 55,000 women serving in the military. 64 of them have died in action in the first half of 2026. In a bid to add to the growing number of female servicemembers, Ukraine’s former Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called for the mandatory mobilization of women into the military last week. The number of mobilized resources would immediately double, he claimed. This is clearly music to the ears of globalist Ukraine lobbyists.

“Russia thinks it is winning. It is not. Ukraine is winning,” Kellogg declared. “It is difficult to say that against the backdrop of a harsh winter and all the difficulties you are facing. But if you look at it from the outside, Russia has more problems right now than Ukraine does. I believe Ukraine’s courage and combat effectiveness have essentially reduced Russia’s chances of victory to zero.”

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As Many MSM Outlets Speculate on Zelensky’s Departure, Former Minister Fedorov Becomes Ukrainian Opposition Leader, Says President Should Be Questioned About Rampant Corruption

Zelensky now has a direct political opponent, as the MSM is letting go of his hand.

Yesterday, as Ukraine celebrated its 35th Independence Day, a flurry of heads of state and government and other political leaders converged on Kyiv, making the usual protestations of support.

Today, the new British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, made his first international trip to Kyiv, bringing the blueprints for Storm Shadow missiles.

But if you take a look at the world’s headlines, you will find an astonishing change in the wind direction, as several outlets speculate about the end of Volodymyr Zelensky’s power.

A cursory search reveals:

Unherd: Zelensky is running out of political cover;

BBC: The campaign to replace Zelensky;

WSJ: Zelensky’s Leadership Comes Under Biggest Threat Since War Began;

Tovima: How Long Can Zelensky Hold On?;

Berliner Zeitung: Zelensky’s time is up: Only a resignation will make him a war hero;

The Times: Is the tide at home turning against President Zelensky?;

The Telegraph: Is this the beginning of the end for Zelensky?

That level of questioning is unheard of – but, of course, it coincides with dozens of articles and op-eds guaranteeing that ‘Ukraine is actually winning the war’, and that ‘Zelensky is safe as houses’.

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German Spy Agency Sends Scouts to Gamescom 2026, Looking To Hire Gamers As Secret Agents: THE TELEGRAPH

BND wants hackers capable of waging cyberwar on Russia.

The newly beefed-up German foreign intelligence service is trying to get a leg up on its Russian foes by tapping a younger, radically different class of agents: gamers.

The BND has launched a recruitment drive for game enthusiasts, eying a ‘new generation of tech-savvy secret agents.’

The Telegraph reported:

“The Telegraph understands that agents from the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German equivalent of Britain’s MI6, will attend the world’s largest video game festival to recruit young spies.

BND officials said there was a ‘significant overlap’ between the skills possessed by gaming fans and those the agency needs to retaliate against Russian hackers targeting critical infrastructure in Germany.”

This is not the first time the BND has tackled gamers, because the exact same drive was enacted last year.

“The recruiting operation, at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, is part of a historic rearmament drive in Germany that seeks to turn the once-toothless BND into a rival of MI6 and Mossad.

An intelligence source said gamers at the festival who fit the BND’s profile would be invited to take a five-step challenge that tests their aptitude for cyber-security and hacking.”

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Why So Many Countries Around the World Quietly Root for Iran

I have been stunned by the number of officials from a wide variety of countries who, while hardly favoring Iran or feeling much empathy for the Islamic Republic, have privately expressed to me a huge sigh of relief over Tehran’s success in thwarting US-Israeli aggression.

Given that many of these officials represent countries squarely in the US camp and have deep problems with the Islamic Republic, this “tacit rooting” for Iran tells us something about the state of global affairs.

There is relief that aggression and violations of international law did not pay off for the US and Israel in Iran, just as they didn’t for Russia in Ukraine. Venezuela was, in the eyes of many, a terrifying case. Regardless of one’s views of Maduro, the idea that a superpower could surgically kidnap the head of state of another country, install its favored ruler – who must now get her social media posts approved by the US Secretary of State – and gleefully announce that Venezuela is now American territory was petrifying to a lot of countries. So was the fact that European leaders praised the regime-change operation while dismissing concerns about its legality.

Europe, which had by and large stood against the George W. Bush administration’s illegal invasion of Iraq, was now enthusiastically onboard with regime change in Venezuela, all while insisting on the sanctity of international law in Ukraine and Greenland. That lack of resistance made the cost of a US neocolonial rampage all the more manageable. And given Donald Trump’s proclivities, both friends and foes of the United States feared they could be next.

The remarkable military success in Venezuela was one reason Trump became so gung-ho about war with Iran. If Venezuela took a few hours, he believed Iran would take four days at most. He promised skeptical regional leaders that the whole ordeal would “take no longer than 100 hours,” according to an Arab official.

Six months later, he is stuck in a losing war with no end in sight. And officials around the world feel relieved because Iran’s successful resistance has effectively prevented Trump from moving on to his next targets.

As one official from a traditional American ally told me: “Had it not been for the resilience of the Iranians, Trump would likely have attacked Cuba by now and perhaps even annexed Greenland.”

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Beyond the Ukraine War, NATO and Europe Are Still Dependent on the US

The Ukraine war has underscored NATO and Europe’s continued reliance on the United States for defense. Ukraine’s air defense is running short of Patriot interceptors, and Europe has not been able to close the gap on its own. President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that Ukraine has only about a tenth of the interceptors it needs from the United States.

The Chatham House reports that the Ukraine Contact Group of European states pledged $4 billion for Ukrainian air defense in June 2026, including more than $1 billion earmarked for Patriots, but notes that it remains doubtful the United States will supply the missiles. Europe does not build the Patriot system itself, and Ukrainian-made Patriots are not a near-term solution. Analysts cited by Chatham House estimate it would take 18 to 24 months just to establish a pilot production line domestically.

European governments have responded by purchasing American-made systems for Ukraine rather than replacing them with European production. Germany pledged more than $2 billion in military aid, including Patriot interceptors, while Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, and Sweden joined the fast-track purchasing program. However, the arrangement still relies on American manufacturing capacity rather than an independent European supply.

Four years into the war, Europe has not built the domestic capacity to cover its own air defense needs, let alone Ukraine’s, leaving Kyiv’s interceptor stocks dependent on U.S.-made weapons.

Beneath the missile shortfall sits a deeper dependency: NATO lacks sufficient independent capacity in satellite intelligence and reconnaissance, strategic airlift, air-to-air refueling, command-and-control infrastructure, and nuclear deterrence, relying heavily on the United States for all five. The NATO Intelligence Fusion Centre, based at RAF Molesworth in the UK, brings together NATO and partner-nation analysts to produce shared intelligence assessments on military threats and terrorism for the alliance as a whole.

Though housed in Britain, the Fusion Centre was established with the United States as the “framework nation,” meaning American intelligence architecture and staffing underpin an institution that operates as a multinational NATO body. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who oversees NATO’s intelligence and surveillance forces, has by convention always been an American general.

A Kiel Institute report, produced with Bruegel, states that Europe depends heavily on the US not only for deployable troops but also for ‘strategic enablers,’ pointing to continued reliance on American systems for critical modern military capabilities even as European defense budgets have surged. Sven Biscop of the Egmont Royal Institute told Defense News that Europe is “almost completely dependent” on U.S. intelligence for satellite capability and everything that goes with it, adding that closing the gap will take time. The United States operated 246 military satellites as of 2023, compared with 49 for all of European NATO combined, led by France with 15, according to the same reporting.

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Putin Says Kiev ‘Opened Pandora’s Box’ by Striking Russian ‌Economic Targets – Moscow To Hit Back At Ukraine’s ‘Most Sensitive Economic Sectors’ 

Kiev is starting to see shortages of a wide variety of produce in grocery stores and markets.

Early in the summer, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced a ‘40-day campaign of deep strikes in Russia’ to pressure Russians to end the war.

Like in the 2023 failed counteroffensive or the disastrous 2024 Kursk incursion, Globalist shills and the MSM were ready to claim that Ukraine was ‘now turning the tide’, had a ‘decisive upper hand’, and was even ‘winning the war’.

But what really happened was that Russian forces increased attacks on all of Ukraine, with combined missile/drone packages primarily targeting Kiev.

We saw massive strikes on July 19 and 29, and August 1, 5, 8 and 20.

And now, besides the power generating and transmission on the brink, food shortage is another threat to the population.

Responsible Statecraft reported:

“The [Ukrainian] drone attacks have elicited the most severe Russian retaliation yet. Moscow has markedly stepped up its strikes on Ukraine, including one of the largest ballistic missile attacks of the entire war [August 20], at the precise time the United States and Europe are running low on interceptors to defend it. With Russia now attacking Ukraine’s port facilities and commercial vessels in the Black Sea, the country is being starved of billions of dollars of revenue, and its GDP could drop by as much as 1.5%.”

Some outlets estimate the drop at 2% of GDP.

“In other words, the ultimately unsuccessful Ukrainian drone assault is something we have now seen over and over again: Kiev embarks on an audacious, headline-grabbing military gambit; Western media and officials seize on it to claim the tide is turning; and then when the smoke clears, it turns out nothing has been achieved but an escalation of the war. Ukraine winds up battered even worse, and with less favorable negotiating terms on the table.

Aa It’s a consistent pattern: a combination of wishful thinking and misinformation does just enough to keep the idea of a military victory alive, undermining the chance for painful but necessary negotiations, and ultimately rebounding in ever worsening ways on Ukraine and its people. The major human, economic, and social costs for Ukraine of continuing war, meanwhile, remain invisible to much of the Western public, which is instead fed a recurring diet of headlines and rhetoric assuring it that victory is close at hand.”

Now, as the upcoming winter promises to be the most severe for the population, there’s another nightmare scenario: empty shelves.

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U.S. Ambassador Barrack: Israel Bombed Syria During Election Cycle — Without Warning Turkey, Despite Intelligence Clearance

U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack stated that the Israeli strikes on Syrian airfields had been conducted without the knowledge or consent of the Turkish government. Ambassador Barrack revealed that, via their respective intelligence services, the Syrian government and the Israeli Mossad had ascertained prior to the strikes that there were no Turkish military assets in the area.

Barrack laid out the diplomatic efforts the U.S. took to facilitate peaceful Israeli monitoring of Syrian activities — efforts that ultimately fell apart.

“Israel had told us for a preceding five days they were concerned about what was going on,” Barrack stated. “We went to our intelligence agencies. Syria talked to Mossad, gave them the information that there were no Turkish military, there were no Turkish convoys, there were no Turkish armaments, and that there was nothing adversarial or offensive going on. That was on Friday. They were supposed to meet again the next week.”

Despite that, Israel struck — without warning Ankara.

“Something went wrong,” Ambassador Barrack continued. “And they decided in the last minute to bomb the craters on the two runways. The problem was that the Turkish side was not notified.”

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