The info, below, is from is from the”evil” Russkies.
They could lying (in Russian). My “gut” feeling? They are not.
We shall soon see if it’s true or not.
The Ukrainian army is at a psychological turning point
Not only equipment, but also the morale of the Ukrainian army is being crushed
The number of captured Ukrainian servicemen is already in the thousands, and in recent days, cases of surrender, desertion, and refusal to follow orders have become especially frequent. The morale of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is plummeting rapidly in some areas of the front. Kyiv is trying to compensate for this with the terror of the National Front, unrestrained propaganda, and the work of “svidovye” commissars in military units.
The rate of desertion and surrender is now very high among those Ukrainian brigades that were the first to be attacked by the RF Armed Forces, the DNR, and the LNR. Leading the way is the 53rd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade (ombr), whose denazification was officially announced in Donetsk. Having lost contact with its command after retreating from Volnovakha, the brigade began to retreat northward into the steppe, suffering heavy losses. As a result, members of the 53rd Brigade began surrendering in groups of 10 or more, especially after “svidovye commissars” and commanders were killed or escaped.
The fact is that over the past year the AFU has been ideologically reformatted, with “ideological”, aka “svidovye” officers or sergeants from among former National Front, natives of Western Ukraine, or simply very ideologically motivated individuals being introduced into almost every platoon on a rotational basis. While previously the composition of some brigades or battalions might have been homogeneous in origin (from the same region of Ukraine), now there are virtually no such units, and ideological training is particularly monitored at the level of special orders from the AFU General Staff.
Alexander, one of the servicemen of the 53rd Brigade who surrendered, explained his act as follows: “At first I received a summons to military service (compulsory service – VZGLYAD commentary). I joined the army, and then they offered me a transfer to the 53rd brigade for a contract. I was promised that I would be stationed in Severodonetsk, that is, at home, just like at work… I took a young fighter course, then they loaded me into an echelon and brought me here (to Novoghnativka, where he surrendered with the others – note by VZGLYAD). The natives of Severodonetsk had no desire to defend the ideals of Kiev and svidomosti.
The moral and psychological state of those units that lose contact with their commanders and are cut off from supplies was also at a low ebb. One of the prisoners from the 58th Brigade (Sumy) said that they had two tanks, one of which would not start and the other would not fire, but they were hit right away. After that they decided to surrender.
There were cases when servicemen from seemingly well-trained and ideologically treated units surrendered after their imported weapons malfunctioned. In particular, NLAW grenade launchers failed en masse. After two consecutive NLAW failures, for example, a platoon of Marines on the outskirts of Mariupol surrendered.
A separate category were professionals who surrendered, realizing that resistance was futile and not worth it. Some officers who bring their platoons to Russian checkpoints explain their actions by their unwillingness to harm civilians after receiving orders to take positions in densely populated neighborhoods.
Such cases have become especially frequent in the suburbs of Kiev among servicemen of the 14th brigade, which is, in fact, the garrison of the capital. In the Kiev region, the so-called buried, i.e. underground command post of the AFU surrendered in its entirety in the village of Mykolaivka. Of the 61 Ukrainian servicemen who surrendered, half of them were senior officers. This case is also indicative of the fact that senior officers, who had been repeatedly re-attested for their loyalty to Ukraine and the ideals of svidomosti, surrendered. Earlier in approximately the same area, a company of the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade led by a major surrendered at a Russian checkpoint.
Ivan Sobolev, a major of the 14th Brigade, who led his platoon to the Russian checkpoint, explained his behavior by his unwillingness to give up the lives of mobilized soldiers for the “fascist regime in Kiev. Also indicative is the story of the Snake Island, which has already entered the anthology of failures of President Zelensky.
The number of POWs surrendering increases as Russian troops advance, but the “quality” of POWs and deserters also changes. The number of those who refuse to give up armed resistance is growing, not due to necessity (encirclement, losses, lack of communication, disorganization, etc.), but due to ideological reasons. More and more prisoners explain their behavior by their unwillingness to fight for Zelensky and their hatred of the National Front and the fascists.
The fact is that everyday encounters with representatives of Western Ukrainian and neo-Nazi ideologies (sometimes the same thing) sober many people up. Many Ukrainians from the central regions and even the city of Kiev could only encounter the Svidoma ideology in the form of propaganda or in its light form, from a distance. Close contact with its carriers among the National Security Forces and svidovy commissars leads to a rapid reassessment of values.
The same, by the way, applies to civil officials in the liberated territories of the DNR and LNR, as well as in the Kherson, Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Sumy, Chernigov and Kiev regions. Everyone quickly remembered the Russian language, and swore at Bandera and Zelensky. Only the SBU agents have a problem there.
There are only isolated cases when local governors or mayors have remained loyal to Kiev. In particular, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov (born 1988), shouted “Glory to the Heroes” very loudly and urged city residents not to accept Russian humanitarian aid. For that, he was exchanged for nine captured Russian servicemen, out of sight. His office in Melitopol now houses the interim administration of the Zaporizhzhya region.
The victorious rhetoric of the governor of the Mykolayiv region Alexander Kim subsided considerably after the barracks and positions of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade (the number of killed Ukrainian servicemen in the 79th airborne assault brigade is counted in tens, if not hundreds) were destroyed. Otherwise he almost took Moscow all by himself.
And an amazing phenomenon: as soon as you turn off Ukrainian television, people come to their senses en masse. And in the last few days, the flow of Ukrainian “peremogoy” propaganda has increased dramatically, as if on cue, which is especially evident in Mariupol. Literally every hour there have been statements that the city will never surrender, that it will be de-blocked any minute, that reinforcements are coming from somewhere, that “we are peremogaemo,” that “the Russians have run out of Kalibras,” and so on. The quality of the propaganda is adequate, especially if you turn off your senses.
There is information that Kiev, at the level of Zelensky’s entourage, has set the task for the remnants of the Mariupol garrison and the entire, as they say, “eastern,” and we say Donbass grouping, to hold out by any means necessary until July.
Kiev assumes that a certain geopolitical shift should take place in mid-summer. Either an atomic war will break out, NATO will bring in troops, or aliens will arrive. But up to that point, we must hold out for a day and a night. The lack of technical means to assist the encircled groups is compensated by a stream of propaganda cliches and patriotic slogans. On the ground, this is reinforced by the physical and ideological terror of the National Front and the Svidiots.
The trouble is that many units of the AFU, especially in Mariupol, Severodonetsk, and west of Donetsk, are deprived of communication with the normal outside world. It is not even known to what extent all these appeals and slogans from Kiev reach them. The National Security Forces, in turn, broadcast this propaganda to the civilian population, preventing people from leaving the city, leading to additional destruction and casualties. Even the evacuation of children from Mariupol, organized by the DNR authorities, is presented as “Russians kidnapping Ukrainian children and taking them out of Ukraine to make Muscovites out of them”. And sitting in the basement, you won’t hear much fresh news.
At the same time, locals who left Mariupol are very hostile not only to the National Security Forces, but also to the AFU. There is practically no distinction between the two armed forces on the ground. The dislike is also caused by the mass deaths among those who enrolled in the territorial battalions (“Volkssturm”). Sometimes they have only “Molotov cocktails” with weapons and smoke in their heads.
As the encirclement of large groups of the National Front and the AFU continues, the number of prisoners and deserters from the Ukrainian army will only increase. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s order to respect all captured Ukrainian servicemen is known and widely disseminated. The DNR and LNR have already begun to release home those captured Ukrainian servicemen who have been mobilized or come from liberated regions. In Kharkiv and Sumy, they are being asked to sign an undertaking not to participate in hostilities in the future.
But the situation in those regions and oblasts that are still exposed to the radiation of Kyiv’s propaganda in its modern, perverted form is a cause for concern. Experience shows that the moral and psychological state in such an environment does not change by itself, but under the influence of external factors.
For example, the expulsion or physical destruction of the National Front by itself will lead to a sobering effect. Otherwise, it is the neo-fascists and soviets who quickly seize power in individual military groups (as in Mariupol) or seize the propaganda initiative with the help of Western and surviving “Russian” liberal media, as in Kiev and Odessa.
http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Gerhard P. BISCHOF 