Tag: ukraine

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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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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Nord Stream bombing suspect arrested while working on film about attack

A Ukrainian man arrested in the Nord Stream bombing was detained while working on a Hollywood movie about the gas pipeline attack starring Adrien Brody and Sean Penn, a report said Thursday.

Police in Pula, Croatia on Wednesday arrested Volodymyr Zhuravlyov under a European arrest warrant put out by Germany, which is seeking his extradition.

German prosecutors say Zhuravlyov is a trained diver and accuse him of helping plant explosives on the Baltic Sea energy link between Russia and Germany that destroyed three of the four pipelines in 2022.

Germany’s Legal Tribune Online reported he was arrested while working on the set for the movie “Snake Island” by US director Doug Liman (“Bourne Identity”), with Brody and three-time Oscar winner Penn.

Zhuravlyov worked as an advisor for the film, according to media reports AFP was unable to immediately verify with German or Croatian authorities.

The Ukrainian suspect had previously been held in Poland for his alleged role in destroying the pipelines.

But authorities there refused to extradite him and let him go, judging that any such Ukrainian attack would have been a legitimate act of war rather than a crime.

The Baltic Sea sabotage attack came months after Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

German investigators believe the attack was ordered by a Ukrainian state agency with the aim of depriving Russia of future energy revenues to finance its war in Ukraine.

Prosecutors charge Zhuravlyov worked closely with Sergiy Kuznetsov, another Ukrainian man who was arrested in Italy last year before being extradited to Germany.

The case is politically awkward for Germany and Ukraine, as Berlin has strongly backed Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

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Ukraine Corruption Scandal Deepens: ‘Operation Forrest Gump’ Shocks Zelensky Government With More Searches

Ukrainian anti-corruption services launched searches under codename “Operation Forrest Gump,” targeting, among others, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. The move expands the ongoing anti-corruption investigation which has seen a number of top officials in Zelensky’s cabinet flee to Israel shortly before police could raid their homes.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced they were conducting a special operation involving a criminal organization led by a current and former member of parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials from the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“NABU and SAPO are conducting a special operation aimed at exposing a criminal organization that operated under the leadership of a current and former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, with the participation of high-ranking officials of the Office of the President of Ukraine and other individuals. Details – coming soon,” announced the anti-corruption services on Telegram.

The operation is codenamed “Forrest Gump,” also referred to as Forest Gump. Ukrayinska Pravda sources and other media reported that NABU and SAPO are conducting searches as part of this special operation at premises belonging to MP Vadym Stolar, who was elected to parliament on behalf of the currently banned Opposition Platform – For Life party.

In addition, Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, is also targeted in the raids.

Stolar has confirmed the investigative actions at his home and stated he is fully cooperating without obstruction.

Additional figures linked by media and law-enforcement sources include former MP Maksym Mykytas, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and senior management of the state-owned Sense Bank including the chair of the board and supervisory board. Searches were also reported at the bank premises.

NABU has released excerpts of intercepted conversations.

Fragments reference “bags of money,” discussions of registering assets or proceeds in the names of children, including high tuition costs, the “Forrest Gump” name itself in a context of concealing theft, and mentions of the Office of the President.

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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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