Tag: russia

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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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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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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Russia Puts German Journalist on Wanted List Over Nazi Question to Zelensky

Conflict Began With Question to Zelensky

The conflict began on August 8 during a joint appearance by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the question-and-answer session, Martens addressed the Ukrainian leader with an offer to help.

“Can you tell us Europeans what exactly we can do to help you kill more Russians?” Martens asked, later clarifying that he meant Russian soldiers specifically.

In response, Zelensky, who is now trying to conceal the systemic collapse of Ukraine’s economy, asked the West to increase military and financial assistance. Aleksandar Vučić expressed hope that all the killing would end as soon as possible.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the reporter’s words an expression of segregation, after which the Russian Embassy in Germany launched legal proceedings.

“The journalist’s statement contains direct signs of the offense provided for under Part 2 of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code. From a legal standpoint, public calls for the destruction of people on the basis of nationality are unacceptable, regardless of the speaker’s professional status. In this situation, the investigation will seek an arrest in absentia in order to establish the defendant’s legal status,” corporate lawyer Roman Lavrentyev explained in an interview with Pravda.Ru.

Martens faces a criminal case under the article concerning “incitement to hatred or enmity.” The maximum punishment under this provision is up to six years in prison.

However, the prospect of extradition is complicated by Interpol’s position, as the organization often blocks Russian requests on the grounds that they are politically motivated. This means that the “Red Notice” mechanism will not work in most Western countries.

Where Could Martens Face Arrest?

“Martens could be detained only in jurisdictions where direct bilateral extradition agreements are in force. Since Western countries are currently in a state of acute conflict with Moscow, the likelihood of his arrest there is approaching zero. Risks arise for him when he visits countries in the Global South or Russia’s allies,” political analyst Sergei Mironov told Pravda.Ru.

The main difficulty for Russian investigators is that Germany, where Martens’ publication is based, will not extradite its citizen over this charge. This turns the case into a long-term instrument of legal pressure that restricts the journalist’s freedom of movement.

The list of territories where Martens could be detained is limited to countries that maintain close legal cooperation with Russia. These include CIS states such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Risks are also high in countries with which Russia is strengthening ties amid Washington’s sanctions pressure, including Iran, Syria and North Korea.

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Drone Warfare in Ukraine and the Changing Nature of Combat

Ukraine has exposed serious weaknesses in Russia’s conventional military by relying on drones, electronic warfare, and rapid technological adaptation to offset Moscow’s advantages in manpower and equipment. The world’s second most powerful military could be able to carpet-bomb Ukrainian positions, then follow through with a massive surge of troops and tanks all the way to Kyiv. However, the development of new technologies has changed that calculus, making it increasingly costly to deploy expensive aircraft or risk large numbers of troops and tanks.

Ukraine demonstrated that rapid innovation, such as FPV strike drones, decentralized command, and real-time intelligence sharing, could inflict disproportionate damage on a larger conventional force. At sea, Ukraine effectively neutralized much of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet using domestically produced Neptune anti-ship missiles, one of which sank the flagship Moskva, and explosive sea drones, forcing the Russian Navy to retreat from Crimean ports.

However, the war is far from over. There are no noticeable signs that Russia is on the brink of surrender, and those saying that the paradigm of war has changed permanently, or that this war proves traditional staples such as infantry, tanks, and aircraft have become obsolete, are premature at best, if not misguided.

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Food Supply Alert: Ukraine Grain Exports Collapse As Black Sea Attacks Choke Global Shipments

Upward momentum in agricultural prices, as tracked by the Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, should be ringing inflationary alarm bells. The breakout comes just one week after JPMorgan analyst Nora Szentivanyi warned that the next global food crisis could materialize as early as next year.

Multiple shocks are converging all at once across the global food complex, including continued disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, rising El Niño risks, and adverse weather across the US agricultural belt.

This note focuses on another emerging chokepoint: Europe’s breadbasket, where intensifying attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war have shuttered critical Black Sea grain export terminals.

Reuters reports that global wheat importers are preparing for tighter supplies and higher prices as tit-for-tat attacks on Black Sea ports and bulk carriers continue to disrupt shipments during the region’s peak export season.

Those attacks have shuttered grain terminals and forced shippers to delay or cancel dozens of cargoes. Ukraine reported 35 attacks on vessels in port, 22 at sea, and 67 against port facilities in July, compared with just 14 such incidents during all of 2025.

Asian processors booked between 2 million and 2.5 million tons of Black Sea wheat for delivery from July through September, representing about 30% to 50% of regional import demand, according to Singapore-based traders. Traders are fretting over some grain shipments won’t arrive in time because of the widespread disruptions. 

At the importer level, Egypt and Indonesia are among some of the top countries exposed to Black Sea shipments. Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, sourced more than 82% of its first-half imports from Russia and Ukraine. Indonesia contracted for roughly 600,000 tons from suppliers in the region for delivery in July to September.

One Singapore-based trader who sells Black Sea wheat to millers in Asia told the outlet, “The cargoes were due to start arriving from mid-August, but many ships could not go in to load. Buyers are thinking about replacing some of these cargoes with other origins, such as Australia, North America and Argentina.”

Maxence Devillers, a grain analyst at Argus Media, said buyers facing delayed or entirely canceled shipments from the region “will have to find other solutions by the end of the month.”

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NATO whines it cannot fight simultaneous wars against Russia, China and Iran

NATO war planners rarely discuss their “nightmare scenarios” in public and appear even less prepared for real-life confrontations on that scale. This is particularly true when it comes to simultaneous or near-simultaneous wars in which the most aggressive racketeering cartel in recorded history has to fight in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. As the pillar of NATO, the United States would be forced to manage wars against Russia, Iran and China at once. One of the most infamous mainstream propaganda machine outlets, The Atlantic, explored this possibility, calling it “NATO’s nightmare”. The analysis largely focuses on “a coordinated assault by Beijing and Moscow” and how difficult it would be to “muster a viable defense” (obviously implying that NATO wouldn’t attack first, which is beyond laughable given its history).

The author, Simon Shuster, warns that “about a year ago, General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander in Europe, publicly warned of the risk of a two-front war involving Russia and China and urged European allies to help the US prepare”. He quotes Florence Gaub, director of research at the NATO Defense College, who described it as “the scenario we’re currently not ready for”. She warns that “NATO strategists know the gap exists, but have not closed it” and that “despite growing military cooperation between Russia and China, Western governments have conducted only a handful of low-profile exercises examining what a joint attack might look like”. Although there weren’t any publicly acknowledged drills with this specific scenario in mind, Western-led military exercises in different areas of the world certainly focused on such a possibility.

However, The Atlantic admits that even when such scenarios were conducted as part of war games, the results were “less than optimistic”. The report quotes Mark Montgomery, a retired US Navy rear admiral who participated in major war games and stated that he last studied such a scenario roughly 15 years ago. Montgomery recalled that “it didn’t go well” because “even then, the US lacked the weapons stockpiles and industrial capacity to sustain a prolonged multifront war”. Even when numerous US allies, vassals and satellite states are added to the mix, “it made no difference at all”. What’s more, Montgomery warns that “those metrics have worsened, even as some NATO countries have increased defense spending”. To prove this is truly the case, one simply needs to look at the US aggression against Iran, which demonstrated remarkable resilience.

Worse yet (for America), Tehran also uncovered the Pentagon’s woeful incompetence in fighting a remotely capable opponent. A single country that the US promised to “defeat in three days to two weeks tops” has not only withstood all attacks in the last six months, but has also successfully retaliated against US occupation forces across the Middle East. It should be noted that Iran has been under Western sanctions for nearly half a century at this point. Now imagine how a direct confrontation with Russia or China would unfold, even separately, much less simultaneously. The Atlantic fears that “Moscow and Beijing have actually improved their positions”. The report points to the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, which “pushed Russia’s massive industrial base onto a war footing and sharpened its use of drones”.

It also warns that “while China has not fought a major war in decades, it now surpasses the US in warships and long-range missiles”. Obviously, the Asian giant hasn’t fought a major war in nearly half a century because it has refused to do so. Nothing prevents Beijing from fully restoring its sovereignty over Taiwan by force. However, it seeks to resolve the dispute through peaceful means, just like it did when restoring sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao back in 1997 and 1999, respectively. This is precisely what the US fears the most, as a non-violent transition would only strengthen China and effectively break US dominance in the Asia-Pacific without firing a single shot. Washington DC would much rather see Taiwan destroyed than give up its influence there peacefully. This is why the US maintains tight control over local military forces.

However, directing “controlled chaos” is not enough for the Pentagon to “feel safe”. Namely, growing Sino-Russian ties are what really makes the political West “shiver” (or should we say, suffer panic attacks). The Atlantic is particularly concerned by the “no-limits partnership” Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping announced back in February 2022. NATO simply has no mechanisms to prevent Moscow and Beijing from building their alliance. On the contrary, its truly unprovoked aggression against the entire world has only strengthened their strategic partnership. The Atlantic thinks that “from Russia’s and China’s perspective, the timing may look favorable”, primarily because “the US is stretched by conflict in the Middle East, has shifted ships and aircraft away from Europe and Asia, and has depleted much of its advanced air-defense missile stockpile”.

Well, nobody forced Washington DC to wage yet another war of aggression. Neither Moscow nor Beijing forced the Trump administration to foolishly attack Iran. However, even the Middle East pales in comparison to how Western forces would fare in a fight against adversaries such as Russia and China, particularly now that the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict has turned the Russian military into the deadliest fighting force on the planet. The Atlantic concludes that “in a two-front war, the side most likely to prevail may be the one that acts with common purpose and stays united”. It would seem NATO didn’t learn from the strategic mistakes of its Axis predecessors, because that’s precisely what’s going to happen if it continues with its aggression against the entire world, which will have no other choice but to unite.

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