Report Reveals Mass Desertion & Demoralization Plague Ukraine’s Armed Forces

by SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER

Meanwhile, the situation is now dire for the AFU. Reports indicate that they’ve already begun firing the cluster munitions, which means the deliveries must have now taken place. Ukrainian general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi reportedly stated the munitions are already in Ukraine:

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺Cluster munitions are already in Ukraine – Alexander Tarnavsky, commander of the *Tavria operational-strategic grouping of troops.

“We just got them, haven’t used them yet, but they can make a big difference (on the battlefield).”

According to him, the top military leadership will determine the areas where this ammunition can be used, noting that “this is a very powerful weapon.”

 
And Vostok commander Khodakovsky claims they’re already being used:

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The enemy has started using cluster munitions on the front, – Khodakovskiy

Deputy Chief of the Russian National Guard in the Donetsk People’s Republic on the situation on the Southern Donetsk section of the front:

➡️ “Reports from the positions indicate that cluster munitions have been used against us. Three times. Since our personnel are in shelters, no damage has been inflicted, but the situation is indicative: the previous day, there was a noticeable decrease in artillery activity, presumably due to a shortage of conventional ammunition, and now cluster munitions have arrived (either newly acquired or in reserve).”

➡️”In 2014, we encountered cluster munitions for the first time in the Peski area. Positioning ourselves in any wooded areas greatly helped us back then: the tree canopies absorbed a significant portion of the projectiles. Overall, this type of ammunition poses a particular danger to vehicles and personnel outside of shelters, as well as to non-combatants due to the high dispersion of the low-precision weapon.”

One must recall that clusters have unique advantages but also unique disadvantages. Typical wooden trench covers can be easily destroyed by regular 155mm high explosive shells. But small bomblets can’t do anything to them, they’re simply too dispersed and not powerful enough. So if you’re in cover, cluster bombs are very weak and won’t do much to you.

But if you’re out in the open, then they can be a true menace because their area of dispersal is much wider than a normal shell and they can inflict damage to a much larger concentration of troops. So they are not some wonder weapon and in fact, personally, if I had even a shred of cover I’d likely much prefer the enemy to shoot clusters at me than the powerful high explosive rounds. To dispel a myth: clusters aren’t banned by some international conventions because they’re “so powerful” or do so much damage. They’re simply banned for the fact that many of the bomblets don’t explode and are later picked up by children, to whom they resemble small toys.

On that note, Shoigu has now officially stated that Russia has many types of cluster munitions and will be ‘forced to use them’ if the U.S. hands over clusters to the AFU:

For all those interested, this is an incomplete list of aviation cluster bombs in service within the Russian Federation:
RBC-250-275 AO-1SCh
RBC-250-275 AO-2.5CH
RBC-250 ZAB-2.5
RBC-250
PTAB-2.5
RBC 250-170 MA-3
RBC-500 SPBE
RBC-500 BETAB-20
RBC-500 AO-2.5RT
RBC-500 AO-2.5RTM
RBS-100AO-25-30
RBS-100AO-25-33
BKF PTM-1
BKF PTM-3
BKF ODS-OD
BKF POM-2
BKF POM-1
BKF POM-SV
BKF PTAB-2.5
BKF AO-2.5RT
BKF AO-2.5RTM
BKF PTAB-1M
BKF AS
These are all ordinary bombs, but there are also guided ones, and these are only the types, not taking into account their quantities. There are of every type: cassettes, blocks and bundles in aviation.

And the other point is that the immediate usage of what is likely an inferior weapon suggests the ongoing ammo shortages for Ukraine. In fact, the U.S. itself is feeling the crunch more than ever, as a series of texts from a U.S. artillery officer revealed that the U.S. armed forces at Fort Sill don’t even have any 155mm ammo to fire during training, and are firing concrete warhead rounds instead because all High Explosive ammo has been earmarked for Ukraine:

 
Not to mention that a series of new headlines really drives the point home about how dire the situation for the West currently is.

Five days of training for the latest AFU fodder:

 
Despite all the lip service to the contrary, EU companies are unable to appreciably ramp up any ammo production:

 
The above investigation finds that over a year and a half into the war, “neither Ukraine nor the EU has implemented any solid plans for ammunition production ramp-up.”

It goes on:

EU member states’ governments hardly sign any long-term contracts with producers, while the “wait-and-see” arms industry is reluctant to take financial risks

Similarly, a new Wallstreet Journal piece raises the alarm:

 
Meanwile, rumor has it that Russia’s largest tank producer, UVZ, is halting all secondary production and is going to focus entirely on tanks. A majority of their production has previously been civilian machines like train and trolley cars, so if this is true, it would open up massive new potentials for tank production.

 
Furthermore, a huge new leaked report uncovers the mass-scale desertion and demoralization utterly decimating the AFU from the inside out.

Members of Ukraine’s Law Enforcement Agencies that oppose the Kiev regime have leaked internal documents and reports that reveal a flood of cases of soldiers of the 2nd and 5th Mechanized Battalions deserting their posts with units being deemed to be combat ineffective.

Click the link above to view the ream of scanned documents showing Ukraine’s units down to 20% levels of effectiveness, riven by demoralization. An example:

Major Usenov goes on to assess the “moral qualities and combat capability level” of the units as low as 20%. In the report, the causes are listed as “a low level of morale and psychological state of the personnel, which significantly reduces the level of combat readiness…” and “a large number of sanitary and irreversible losses”.

 
This follows the deputy commander of Ukraine’s most elite 47th brigade, Valery Markus, one of the recent stars of the Zaporozhye show, yesterday issuing his note of resignation:

Valery Markus, chief sergeant of the 47th brigade of the Ukraine, announced his resignation to a lower position due to disagreement with the command staff.

“I strongly disagree with the decisions on the use and development of the 47th brigade,” he clarifies. Also in his report, he declares that there are no punishments for the incompetence of the higher officer corps of the brigade, and calls Major Ivan Shalamaga an immoral degenerate.

Recall that it was the 47th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that became the star of commercials with columns of burning Western armored vehicles, and their Bradleys are collecting minefields and anti-tank missiles in the Zaporozhye direction, where they are now trying to attack.

It’s funny that back in June, Markus himself cheerfully announced the success of the counteroffensive and some deep breakthroughs in the defense, however, as you can see, something went wrong and one of the most publicized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost its chief sergeant.

This guy was one of the very top stars of the AFU, having given many interviews to top Western publications, done photo shoots with Zelensky and Zaluzhny, and was even rated as having the largest social media following of any figure in the Ukrainian armed forces:

 
Thus, his public resignation is a major sign of morale depletion in the AFU.

So next time someone brings up General Popov’s untimely dismissal in drumming up the issue of morale, remind them that the AFU is in far worse shape. Not to speak of the terrible state that Western militaries are in, in general. Last I checked, Russian Marines weren’t sex trafficking handicapped fourteen year olds in their bases like the USMC:

Not to mention:

 
The only other thing to report is that the NATO Vilnius summit finally came and went:

 
The only semi-tangible reward for Zelensky’s servile mooching was a promise from Macron for the delivery of French ‘long range’ Scalp missiles. These are basically France’s version of the Storm Shadow, and are virtually identical—so it adds no real new capability but simply increases Ukraine’s stock of the missiles.

 
Now that all the looming specters—like the Air Defender exercises, ZNPP plant falseflag, and NATO summit—we anxiously anticipated have come and gone, the last remaining significant thing to watch for from this point on will be Polish-Lithuanian build up. The reason is, now that there remains no tangible saving grace for Ukraine on the horizon, some ‘deus ex machina’-style divine intervention they had hoped to save them, like an improbable overnight admission to NATO and subsequent Article 5 activation, there is very little left to stop Russia from completely dismantling them over the course of the remainder of this year.

So, logically, the only wild card that really remains is potential Polish action of some sort. NATO has now made their decision that Ukraine will not be admitted, nor are “wunderwaffe” like F-16s anywhere on the horizon anytime soon. Poland is the only spoiling agent that can try some trick. This report, for instance, of Polish brigade commanders witnessed in Kiev is not unbelievable in light of things:

Polish brigade commanders have already been seen in Kiev, they are undergoing training at the headquarters, in the control points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and are gaining experience. The Poles will sooner or later enter Ukraine, and after that Belarus will be drawn into the war with the Wagner PMC. In general, the whole war will continue as long as the West makes money from it.

Of course, the ZNPP situation can still flare up at any time as well, and Poland is intrinsically linked to that potential falseflag as it could be their troops to enter first in some staged ‘peacekeeping intervention’ should some nuclear incident occur. But for now, there remains nothing but the abyss staring back for Ukraine.

The attrition rate currently being suffered cannot hold out for much longer, so they’ll soon have no choice but to turtle up, at which point—barring any extenuating circumstances—I foresee a fecund period for the Russian armed forces advancing on nearly every front as they’re doing now. But let’s see how things develop.

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