Since the start of the war, Ukraine has bombarded Russian telephone numbers with text messages telling troops how to surrender, and a few days ago a tank commander replied that he would like to defect.
After negotiations with the Kiev security services, the place was agreed.
A Russian officer drove up in his tank and, after a drone flew overhead to defend against an ambush, was taken away by Ukrainian special forces.
“He didn’t see the point in war,” said Viktor Andrusiv, an adviser to the interior minister, adding that all the other servicemen in the tank had already fled home to Russia.
Killed in action: Islam Abduragimov, 19 years old (left) and Shamil Aselderov (right)
“He could not return home because his commander told him that he would shoot him and say that he died in battle.
“Misha told us that he had almost no food left, the command structure was chaotic and almost non-existent, morale is very low.”
Andrusiv told the story on social media yesterday, saying that the defector would be paid $10,000 and would spend the rest of the war in “comfortable conditions” with a TV, telephone, kitchen and shower.
His announcement follows growing speculation that the Russian invasion is being hampered by desertions among military personnel, many of whom are conscripts, that are hindering its advance, along with unexpectedly high casualties, fierce resistance and poor logistics.
“We are seeing cases of surrender, when Russian troops voluntarily contact our military and say they want to surrender, that they are not taking part in active hostilities,” Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky said.
Konstantin Druzhkov, GRU special forces fighter who died in the war in Ukraine.
He added that they deserted with military equipment, including tanks, after realizing their commanders were using them as “cannon fodder”.
Such claims are unverified. And it is a war waged in the media almost as much as on the battlefield, with a barrage of propaganda on both sides.
Yet there is increasing talk of desertion, defection and dangerously low morale as the Russian war machine stalls.
“Russian forces are aware of the hopelessness of their situation and are increasingly choosing to desert to avoid death,” said the Center for Defense Strategies, a leading Ukrainian think tank.
Yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that 300 Russian servicemen “refused to carry out the order to conduct combat” and “left” the area of fierce fighting in the Sumy region.
The day before, they said that they had observed a sharp increase in the number of defectors and enemy soldiers refusing to fight in the south of the Kherson and Nikolaev regions. “Having seen the real strength of the Ukrainian defenders, the occupiers are no longer interested in easy money and the possibility of robberies that they were promised before the invasion,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s intelligence service said.
And it is alleged that in one town near Kiev, recaptured yesterday by Ukrainian troops, the Russian military stole cars and, dressed in civilian clothes, hastily left towards the border with Belarus.
There were also reports of intercepted messages from demoralized Russian troops that spoke of officers who “shot themselves in the foot to get back home.” U.S. and British intelligence reports are also speculated to indicate low morale among Russian troops as casualties mount.
One Pentagon document describes how soldiers simply park their cars and walk away from the war into the woods.
About a quarter of the Russian armed forces are conscripts, whose morale is generally considered to be lower than that of professional soldiers.
Images of some of the soldiers who died in action showed recruits barely in their teens. The documents of three elite GRU special forces fighters who were allegedly killed in the battles for Mariupol by the Azov National Guard Regiment of Ukraine indicate that one of them, Islam Abduragimov, was only 19 years old.
Another, Konstantin Druzhkov, was 33 years old, and the age of the third, Shamil Aselderov, was not indicated in the newspapers.
Mortality rates on both sides cannot be verified.
Islam Abduragimov, GRU special forces fighter, died in the war in Ukraine.
Russia admitted 498 combat casualties at the start of the month, while Ukraine put forward a figure of 15,000.
Almost two weeks ago, Ukraine said that about 1,300 people had died as a result of the fighting.
Figures released briefly this week on a pro-Kremlin website show that 9,861 Russian troops have been killed and 16,153 wounded.
About 15,000 Russian troops died in Afghanistan after the 1979 invasion, but more than a decade from all over the Soviet Union.
Sources in Belarus suggest that many wounded soldiers were brought there for treatment, often arriving in a terrible condition with festering wounds and after several days without food.
The military hospital in Moscow is also said to be “overcrowded”.
Alexander Danilyuk, director of the think tank Center for Defense Reform, said that even among the elite units of the Russian army, there are signs of significant desertion.
A former government intelligence adviser said 220 members of the Marine brigade refused to fight, and one special unit brigade commander was removed from his post after refusing to send reinforcements due to heavy casualties.
“These are signs that even in the head military units, many soldiers do not want to be sent to Ukraine or fight in Ukraine,” Danylyuk said.
“They don’t want to be killed and they see a very high risk of death in this war.”
Ukrainian security services say the prisoners told them their troops were being followed by “punitive squads” ordered to kill any soldiers trying to escape, in a revival of Stalinist tactics. There were also reports that Chechen units were being sent to stop Russian desertions. Since the start of the war, Kyiv has released videos showing Russian prisoners, some of whom say they would rather leave than continue fighting.
This is a powerful media strategy, although human rights groups claim it violates the Geneva Convention.
“My BMP was shot down, so I dropped all my weapons and surrendered,” one soldier said, giving his name and military number. Another Russian, identified as a senior sergeant, said they “decided to lay down their arms and surrender to local authorities” after they discovered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Ukraine was run by nationalists were false.
Handwritten letters have also surfaced that allegedly came from Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine, telling higher-ranking officers why they would not return.
Konstantin Druzhkov, GRU special forces fighter who died in the war in Ukraine.
“Once again, I refuse to take part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine due to the lack of technical support, lack of coordination of actions, lack of any connection with the unit and with the command,” wrote one of the sergeants of the motorized unit.
The Kremlin has already called on Chechen and Syrian troops to strengthen their forces.
Kiev intelligence agencies intercepted information suggesting that Moscow may now be trying to convince the North Koreans to increase their forces.
Belarusian opposition officials have claimed to have information that Putin’s original plan to have their forces join his invasion was thwarted when several high-ranking officers resigned, fled the country and then contacted them.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is believed to be reluctant to send his troops across the border due to ongoing unrest in his own armed forces.
The Belarusian branch of the Ukrainian armed forces is also urging its troops to desert if they are forced to invade.
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