For Those Who Might Be Wondering Why We Might Be In Ukraine

[Rightguide]

Ukrainian military faces collapse as DESERTIONS hit 300,000 mark
12/01/2025 // Ramon Tomey

The Ukrainian military is hemorrhaging soldiers at an alarming rate, with over 310,000 criminal cases related to desertion and unauthorized absence filed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 – more than half in the first 10 months of 2025 alone.

The staggering figures were confirmed by the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November. They reveal a crisis of morale and manpower that threatens Kyiv's ability to sustain its war effort, even as the Trump administration pushes a 28-point peace plan that could reshape the conflict's trajectory.

Journalist and former People's Deputy Ihor Lutsenko, now commanding a Ukrainian drone unit, warned that October saw a record 21,602 desertions – equivalent to one soldier fleeing every two minutes. "By the time you finish reading this post, another soldier will have put on skis," he wrote, emphasizing that official numbers likely undercount the true scale of abandonment.

The accelerating exodus coincides with reports that Ukraine's military, once estimated at 800,000 strong, may now be a hollow force depleted by casualties and mass defections. Ukrainian officials have long dismissed claims of widespread desertion as Russian propaganda, but the OPG's data paints a grim picture.

Read entire article here: https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-12-01-ukrainian-military-faces-collapse-desertions-hit-300k.html

 

[ll74]

Ukrainian military faces collapse as DESERTIONS hit 300,000 mark
12/01/2025 // Ramon Tomey

The Ukrainian military is hemorrhaging soldiers at an alarming rate, with over 310,000 criminal cases related to desertion and unauthorized absence filed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 – more than half in the first 10 months of 2025 alone.

The staggering figures were confirmed by the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November. They reveal a crisis of morale and manpower that threatens Kyiv's ability to sustain its war effort, even as the Trump administration pushes a 28-point peace plan that could reshape the conflict's trajectory.

Journalist and former People's Deputy Ihor Lutsenko, now commanding a Ukrainian drone unit, warned that October saw a record 21,602 desertions – equivalent to one soldier fleeing every two minutes. "By the time you finish reading this post, another soldier will have put on skis," he wrote, emphasizing that official numbers likely undercount the true scale of abandonment.

The accelerating exodus coincides with reports that Ukraine's military, once estimated at 800,000 strong, may now be a hollow force depleted by casualties and mass defections. Ukrainian officials have long dismissed claims of widespread desertion as Russian propaganda, but the OPG's data paints a grim picture.

Read entire article here: https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-12-01-ukrainian-military-faces-collapse-desertions-hit-300k.html

How many desertions on the Russian side?

 

[Rightguide]

How many desertions on the Russian side?

When the subject is Ukrainian desertion rates, tossing in a question about Russian desertions is a pointless detour. Russia starts with a far larger force, a population four times bigger, and a mobilization system that has no meaningful manpower shortages. A shrinking bucket still empties faster than a lake, even if both lose a little water. Ukraine hemorrhaging troops is strategically catastrophic; Russia losing troops is a replenishable cost of doing business. The scale isn’t comparable, the consequences aren’t comparable, and pretending they are is just an evasion of the actual issue, which you excel at.

 

[ll74]

When the subject is Ukrainian desertion rates, tossing in a question about Russian desertions is a pointless detour. Russia starts with a far larger force, a population four times bigger, and a mobilization system that has no meaningful manpower shortages. A shrinking bucket still empties faster than a lake, even if both lose a little water. Ukraine hemorrhaging troops is strategically catastrophic; Russia losing troops is a replenishable cost of doing business. The scale isn’t comparable, the consequences aren’t comparable, and pretending they are is just an evasion of the actual issue, which you excel at.

So you don't know.

You could have just said that.

 

[Rightguide]

So you don't know.

You could have just said that.

Whatever fantasy you’re clinging to, it isn’t reversing Russian momentum on the battlefield. Your little detour about Russian desertions is just that, an irrelevant distraction on the road to the massive, immovable wall of reality you keep pretending isn’t there.

 

[ll74]

Whatever fantasy you’re clinging to, it isn’t reversing Russian momentum on the battlefield. Your little detour about Russian desertions is just that, an irrelevant distraction on the road to the massive, immovable wall of reality you keep pretending isn’t there.

You don't know how many Russians deserted.

Not a fantasy. You literally told me you aren't seeking that information.

You are focused on Ukranian deserters.

 

[Rightguide]

You don't know how many Russians deserted.

Not a fantasy. You literally told me you aren't seeking that information.

You are focused on Ukranian deserters.

The article I posted was focused on Ukraine's desertions. You always want to talk about something else.

 

[ll74]

The article I posted was focused on Ukraine's desertions.

Yes.
And you have no interest in Russian desertions and somehow have an interest in Ukranian.

Wonder why

You always want to talk about something else.

You always want to talk about the war from Russian dominating perspective.

And yes, I have a broader view than that.

 

[Lazaran]

He's no idiot, Laz. He's a smart guy, but ALWAYS from a Russian nationalist perespective. He's jailed, but that he remains alive is a good indicator that he is protected. There's a strong faction in the FSB that looks after him. I always wonder what's going to happen to him,

A “smart guy” can be an idiot.

Dr. Frankenstein was a “smart guy”…

Every “smart guy” that helps / helped create (supports) a monster like Putin, Trump, Xi, Kim, Orban, Erdogan, Khomeini, etc, etc, is an idiot; full stop.



Hope that ^ helps.





We. Told. Them. So.

 

[Lazaran]

Just a little reminder to Russiaguide that Ukraine is STILL fighting in Pokrovsk, etc, causing massive casualties, and continuing the war of attrition (in occupied Ukraine AND inside Russia):

Slava Ukraini!!!

 

[ChloeTzang]

There won't be a peace deal, whatever Trump tries.

1) Russia wants Ukraine to be neutral, can't join NATO.
2) Russia intends to keep the land they have captured.
3) Russia wants land they have not yet captured in 4 years
4) Russia wants the Ukraine military disarmed and reduced in size so they can invade a 3rd time and win

1) Ukraine regards NATO membership as their only security against Russia (correctly)
2) Ukraine has no intention of disarming - they know what happens when you do that
3) Ukraine wants their land back and will not hand over anything, let alone land Russia has not yet taken by force

There is no compromise. These will continue the war until one side or the other surrenders (Ukraine) or is destroyed (Russia)

Trump will again try and pressure Zelensky and Ukraine into surrendering
Trump has no cards.
Trump can fuck off and die.

 

[ChloeTzang]

After what the Wall St Journal just reported, THIS is hilarious. Trump makes Ukrainians look like amateurs. Heck, he makes Biden and Hunter look like street corner hustlers.....

 

[Lazaran]

There won't be a peace deal, whatever Trump tries.

1) Russia wants Ukraine to be neutral, can't join NATO.
2) Russia intends to keep the land they have captured.
3) Russia wants land they have not yet captured in 4 years
4) Russia wants the Ukraine military disarmed and reduced in size so they can invade a 3rd time and win

1) Ukraine regards NATO membership as their only security against Russia (correctly)
2) Ukraine has no intention of disarming - they know what happens when you do that
3) Ukraine wants their land back and will not hand over anything, let alone land Russia has not yet taken by force

There is no compromise. These will continue the war until one side or the other surrenders (Ukraine) or is destroyed (Russia)

Trump will again try and pressure Zelensky and Ukraine into surrendering
Trump has no cards.
Trump can fuck off and die.

View attachment 2580835

Imagine what those Ukrainians sitting across the table from the Russian asset Witkoff and the diminutive simp Rubio are thinking…



We. Told. Them. So.

 

[ChloeTzang]

THIS is what Trump, Rubio and Witkoff are trying to help Putin achieve.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Syrsky Admits Ukraine’s Army Faces Challenges – But Says Fixes Are Coming

Ukraine is working on its version of the US Patriot missile and Russia can expect battle “surprises” in the future, the Ukrainian army’s highest-ranking officer said.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has real and serious manpower and organization problems but it is an increasingly lethal organization that is hitting the Russian army with critical losses, and is on track to improve combat efficiency in the future, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Syrsky, the Ukrainian military’s senior officer, told media on Sunday. Speaking to the major television broadcaster TSN, Syrsky admitted some AFU formations need better commanders, that manpower shortages across the forces are real, and that controversial transfers of technicians from rear area units to frontline duties are ongoing and will continue. “Unfortunately, mobilization capabilities do not cover the need,” Syrsky said. “Therefore, we are taking measures to reduce our logistics component, the support component, the component engaged in maintenance, within reasonable limits.” Technicians with critical skills will not be transferred into frontline jobs like infantrymen or combat medics, Syrsky promised.

Since taking over the AFU’s top command slot in February 2023, Syrsky has kept a low public profile and preferred infrequent, and tightly controlled appearances at field headquarters or at medal awarding ceremonies, to question-and-answer sessions with potentially hostile media. The TSN interview lasting 69 minutes came in the wake of weeks of negative reports about – allegedly – poor personnel policy, overwhelming red tape, and failure to learn from past mistakes by AFU top leadership. Public accusations by military media, MPs, retired general officers and across Ukraine’s giant milblogger community came to a head in early January when Syrsky’s staff – grudgingly – admitted that a high-profile combat brigade armed and trained by France had been broken up upon return to Ukraine and thrown into battle with insufficient equipment and serious ammunition shortages.

Among other topics, Syrsky offered details about his first combat experiences during Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine, his command during the decisive February-Marhc 2022 Battle of Kyiv, Ukraine’s highly-successful September 2022 Kharkiv counter-offensive, the AFU’s strategy of trading ground for maximum Russian casualties, and on controversial army personnel policies. Syrsky confirmed that the Ukrainian military will end a long-criticized policy – which he said pre-dated his coming to command – of forming new fighting units at the expense of reinforcing existing ones, and argued Ukraine is on track to field better-armed, better-trained combat brigades and battalions. Syrsky critics were quick to accuse him of attempting to sweep serious and chronic problems within the AFU under the rug.

“Syrsky noted that the vast majority of decisions on the creation of new brigades were made before his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which he has held for less than a year,” said MP Mariana Bezgula, a long-time opponent of Syrsky, in a Monday response to the interview.

“What a liar! This is downright sick. It was he, as Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces, who lobbied and supported the creation of such brigades, and when he became Commander-in-Chief, he continued and brought it to absurdity,” Bezgula fumed in a diatribe on her personal Telegram channel.

Syrsky said battlefield dynamics were shifting away from Russia, and said that Russian army artillery fires have halved in recent months from about 40,000 rounds of all types fired to some 20,000, thanks to Ukrainian long-range drone and missile strikes against Russian ammunition depots and munitions production facilities. Ukrainian military production led by drones already is outstripping Russian by a significant margin, and research is in progress for the domestic manufacture of long-range anti-aircraft missile systems which the AFU currently fields in too-small numbers, because of limited deliveries from donating countries, Syrsky said. “Back in Soviet times, we actually produced all the control systems for anti-aircraft complexes. We have the capacity and capabilities to create and are working on creating our own air defense complexes,” Syrsky said. He said “he was hopeful” Ukrainian military technicians could deliver a domestically developed air defense system on par with the powerful US-made Patriot anti-aircraft/anti-missile system. Development work on missiles less sophisticated than the Patriot analogue also is in progress.

The AFU has already inflicted crushing losses on the Russian military and will become even more lethal in the future, he said. “In 2024, the Russian Armed Forces suffered heavy losses, amounting to 434,000 people, of whom 150,000 died,” he said. “During this year of hostilities, the enemy lost more than in the previous two years of the war.” Syrsky said that his staff sees better training of combat leaders as a top priority, along with individual soldier skills and massed recruitment and training of tactical drone pilots. The AFU’s objective, over time, is to take the initiative away from Russian forces and shift to the attack, he said. Ukraine’s current defensive tactics have been highly effective at destroying Russian combat power and preventing Russia from attacking more widely, but defense alone will not defeat the Kremlin’s forces, he said.

Most analysts credit Syrsky for managing a reasonably effective AFU defensive strategy cued to trade ground, grudgingly, in order to inflict maximum casualties on Russian forces while keeping Ukrainian losses as low as possible given chronic shortages in manpower, weapons and ammunition. Observers, practically without exception, criticize Syrsky and the AFU leadership for, at the same time, failing to stop incremental Russian capture of Ukrainian terrain for almost a year, and possibly inability to prevent loss of critical towns and cities that might trigger a general collapse of Ukrainian defenses. Military journalist Yury Butusov, a frequent Syrsky critic, wrote in a Friday editorial: “If there are no changes in management, we will lose Pokrovsk and Velika Novoselka very quickly, and the Russians will move further into the Dnipropetrovsk region…if the passivity and months of chaos are not changed, then (President Volodymyr) Zelensky and (AFU commander) Oleksandr Syrsky will be recognized as responsible for the loss of these important cities of Donbas, and for the first-ever penetration by Russian forces into central Ukraine.”

Syrsky said his command group was well aware of the Russian threat to Pokrovsk. Asked directly whether Ukrainian forces could hold the tactically-important Donbas town, Syrsky said: “I’ll answer this way: the Russians are going to do everything to take it (Pokrovsk), and we are going to do everything to prevent it…we are going to do everything we possibly can, to fight for every square meter of our territory.”

“There will be surprises (for Russian forces) in the future,” he said.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/45739

 

[ChloeTzang]

Brick by Brick, Dull As Drones, Ugly Americans in Kyiv

Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post’s military correspondent, shares his perspective on recent developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Once again, I’m leading off a review with a consumer warning to For God’s Sake, don’t take the American “peace initiative” seriously; it’s a joke and a waste of your time. In this case, the White House is saying peace could probably arrive in a couple of weeks. I think the reason we are going to see a lot of news about it in the coming weeks is the Epstein distraction. Also, possibly because the White House and the Kremlin are cooperating to force a bad peace on Ukraine, but I can’t prove that.

From what I can see on Friday (Nov. 21), this is just the Kremlin capitulation plan for Ukraine rewarmed: Ukraine hands over the Donbas, emasculates the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), promises never to join NATO, promises not to let foreign troops into the country, yada yada yada; and for all this, Russia graciously will agree to stop attacking. If you look closely at the language of the US peace proposal, you can see places where it was probably translated from Russian. I also read (Reuters) that the Americans told the Ukrainians that if the Ukrainians don’t sign in a week, the US will cut off military intelligence data to Ukraine. That will shut down or damage the effectiveness, particularly of US-made F-16 fighter jets operated by the Ukrainian air force, and long-range rocket artillery systems (HIMARS and/or M270) operated by the Ukrainian army.

Another line item in the “peace plan” is a US “security guarantee” to Ukraine. The Russians unsurprisingly think it’s a great plan.

The Europeans and the Ukrainians have said that if Russia wants to talk ceasefire and nothing more, then there can be talks. It’s obvious the Europeans and Ukrainians will drag out talks until the Epstein case, Nov. 26 elections, or something else breaks the MAGA hold on Congress. To a professional and competent US government, all of this should be obvious. I mean, what I just wrote, you can hear in pretty much any Kyiv cafe. It’s just basic geopolitics, the US can’t MAKE Ukraine do anything, and Europe is backing Ukraine, and they welcome the opportunity to send the Americans packing. Pretending a giant conventional war is a real estate dispute in which the side with less expensive lawyers can be brow-beaten doesn’t change the fact of a giant conventional war, in progress, and that the US is siding with the aggressor. Simulating a peace process for personal political gain is not the same as working for peace. The US position is beyond stupid.

Anyone who says it’s serious diplomacy isn’t a serious person.

I direct your attention to the section on Russia bombarding Ukraine – on Wednesday, the Russians killed dozens of civilians by blowing up a Ukrainian apartment building, and within hours, Pentagon officials were in Kyiv telling their Ukrainian counterparts Washington wants Ukraine to capitulate now. At the same time, rescue crews were pulling bodies of Ukrainian children out of the rubble. That’s what a pair of United States senior military officials did this week, when confronted first-hand with murderous military aggression by a dictatorial country against a democracy, in the name of the American people.

They told the victim to surrender.

Comparisons with Chamberlain and Munich are getting so dull; I remind all and sundry that the British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval secretly drafted the Hoare-Laval Pact, in which Britain and France sold Ethiopian independence down the river in December 1935. Paris and London adjudged it easier to betray Ethiopia than to confront Fascist Italy. About 300,000 Ethiopians died from military action, poison gas, and starvation at Italian hands.

The front: Pokrovsk, Kupyansk, *****, and Zaporizhzhia

Fighting is dynamic in all these areas. As has been the case for years, there are no major changes in terrain control, but aggregate, the Russians gained a bit more ground than the Ukrainians. Relative to the size of the country, the gain was smaller than tiny.

How small?

If Ukraine were the size of a European football field paved over with bricks (A/I says that’s about 288,200 standard-sized bricks), then this week the Russians captured about the surface area of 28 bricks. Ukraine captured the surface area of about three to five bricks. That leaves more than 288,170 bricks up for grabs.

In Kupyansk, reports are clear that this week the Ukrainians recovered sections of the city in hard fighting, and I’ve seen reports that the Ukrainians have cleared the left bank of the Oskil River of Russians. Artillery, day and night bombardment, dense drones. The situation is still fluid; no one I’ve read is talking about the Ukrainians having fully stabilized things here. Both sides have elements of about ten brigade equivalents in the area, and a good two-thirds of them are mechanized/motor rifle, meaning there’s a lot of artillery trading bombardments here. Units to flag probably are the 92nd Mech on the Ukrainian side and the 16th Spetsnaz on the Russian side.

Overall, the battle is in progress, Ukrainians perhaps gaining a little.

That’s in the real world. At the same time, not making this up, the Kremlin announced that Kupyansk was fully under Russian control, Ukrainians kicked out, thousands more surrounded, excellent victory. On national television. Valery Gerasimov telling Vladimir Putin in person. It was so disconnected from reality, even the pro-Moscow bloggers said it was BS. But there is a benefit: Any English-language platform reporting Kupyansk is under Russian control, for the next week or so, you can for sure classify as a Russian bot, so good for informational hygiene.

In Pokrovsk, I’m sorry, it looks like the Ukrainians have held. Sources across the board this week reported Russian infantry attacks had fallen off to almost zero, and that what Russian infantry was in the city had gone to ground, and now both sides are playing lethal hide-and-seek in the city. Tellingly, General Oleksandr Syrsky appeared in the Pokrovsk sector on Wednesday, and probably even more significantly, Major Robert Brovdi was there with him. This is the second time in as many weeks that the head of the entire AFU, along with the head of the AFU drone forces, made personal visits to Pokrovsk. If that’s not enough, I read that President Volodymyr Zelensky over the week visited every single large drone unit in the sector. This is what it looks like when a national government decides to take a stand.

We noted last week the drone troops set one-day kill records in Pokrovsk and predicted that by logic, the Russians couldn’t sustain those losses; this week, that prediction seems vindicated. Looking ahead, if the Dobropillia fight is anything to base conclusions on – and my guess, it is – the Ukrainians will take their time, mop up slowly, and let cold and starvation take their toll on the Russians in the city. This is not a battle that the AFU won, but objectively, this week it stabilized. However, be warned, this is a minority view; the conventional wisdom/general opinion remains that Pokrovsk is either a disaster about to happen or in progress.

An excellent video for anyone understanding Ukrainian was published by the 1st Assault Regiment this week. You want to know how the Ukrainians do counterattacks in 2025, this is how. This is not theory. They did it.


Colonel Dmito Kotsyubaila, commander 1st Assault Regiment, led successful counterattacks against Russian infantry infiltration. He says the key is coordinated, all-arms operations and systematic work. His unit was one of the formations that defeated the Russian assault against Dobropillia. (Screen grab from the unit, YouTube video published on Nov. 18).

 

[ChloeTzang]

Brick by Brick, Dull As Drones, Ugly Americans in Kyiv Part II

In the Siversk-***** sector, fighting intensified this week, and it seems that the Russians repeated their infiltrate-while-it’s-foggy-and-the-Ukrainian-drones-can’t-fly tactic. This is by and large in and around the Serebryansky Forest, or more exactly, what’s left of it. ***** is a critical defense point and bridgehead that has held since 2022, so in this sector in general, it looks like the medium-term Russian objective is to somehow kick the Ukrainians out of ***** and try and establish a solid front along the Siversky Donets River. On the other side of the river, the fighting is for the city of Siversk, which, if captured, becomes a Russian bridgehead going the opposite direction. I’ve seen reports of Russian GRU teams trying to sneak into *****, of Russian infantry probing little villages in the hills and forest there, trying to get behind *****, and proper attacks on the main village between ***** and Siversk, which is a little place called Yampil.

The historians among you will recall that in May 2022, it was right in this area that the Russians made their final, last-bid attempt to assault the bridge over the Sivierskyi Donets and surround a big chunk of the AFU; they failed spectacularly because the Americans and their buddies got NATO-standard 155mm howitzers to the sector that murdered the crossing attempts. It was a classic case of the Democratic West to the rescue. Those were the days.

Anyway, in this sector, the Ukrainians evacuated some covering forces, but the news is that this sector used to be quiet; now not so much.

The Zaporizhzhia sector is where the sharpest spike in fighting took place this week, although in part that’s because, relative to Pokrovsk, for months it’s been not as violent. Over the week, the Russians seized something like four to six villages, depending on whom you believe, but more critically, they crossed the Yanchur River and took full control of a village called Rivnopillya; this is creating a serious threat where there wasn’t one before to the city of Hulyaipole. The really worrying aspect is that there is strong evidence that the AFU leadership basically parked a single National Guard Brigade in this sector and hoped it would stay quiet, and now they’re playing catch-up. I confirm the 3rd Battalion, 225th Assault Regiment is in the sector and mopping up where Russians have gone to ground, and according to the Assault Troops Command, those operations are proceeding normally. But if the Russians come up with a lot more force here quickly, I’m not seeing a really organized Ukrainian defense here; I’m seeing Syrsky paying for having taken a calculated risk that bit him. So very dynamic here, and from my perspective, the most worrying.

NATO training: Yeah, it will be easier if we train without those Ukrainian drones

On Nov. 17, 2025, BBC documented what pretty much any soldier in Ukraine or Russia knows intuitively: NATO is not training for a future war; its exercises are simulating wars of the past. Since I am about to slam European NATO, I include an image of “cutting-edge” US drone training at Grafenwoehr. By my calculation, the American army is at least eight years behind the AFU and the Russian army. Maybe 10 to 12.

Since I am about to slam European NATO, I include an image of “cutting-edge” US drone training at Grafenwoehr. By my calculation, the American army is at least eight years behind the AFU and the Russian army. Maybe 10 to 12.



This is the cutting edge of US Army drone warfare. This is a Skydio X10 Delta drone rigged to drop M67 grenades as part of field experimentation by the “JMTG-U UAV innovation team” at Grafenwoehr training area, Germany. The drone cost $30,000. This is technology that was common in the ZSU in about 2018. Ukraine manufactures a longer-ranged, more capable, jam-resistant drone that can carry a grenade for $500-$1,000, depending on the modification. It’s disconnects like that that make US claims of military superiority sound stupid. (US DoD image published on Sept. 15, 2025, by Global Defense News)

What happened was a BBC reporter got access, apparently, to Ukrainian translators who had been working at a new training site called Jomsborg, built in Poland for Norwegian money.

It started operating in October. The place is part of a larger Polish-Nordic project to systematize training for Ukrainian troops above the individual level. The Jomsborg site supposedly is part of that training structure where, among other things, drone threat and drone warfare can be trained. To that end, NATO – give credit where credit is due – invited Ukrainian marine drone teams. Some of you will be aware that way back in late October 2023, it was the Ukrainian marines and a then little-known and aging lieutenant named Robert Brovdi who decided the only way to support a marine toe-hold on the south/left bank of the Dnipro River was with drones.

According to the BBC report, for instance, when the NATO guys decided they were going to practice an amphibious assault, the Ukrainian marines – remember, these are guys that are veterans of the amphibious assault across the Dnipro from October 2023-June 2024 (roughly) – said to the NATO trainers: “Your amphibious assault doctrine won’t work. The way you plan to attack, amphibious vehicles would get swarmed by drones. All the soldiers would die, and all the vehicles would get burnt.”

At which the Polish trainers responded, reportedly, “Not so, our APCs swim pretty fast, and they’re armored.” I feel the Ukrainian marines’ pain. One of the irritating parts of this war is all the people who know so much about combat and what works and doesn’t in combat, without actually having been in any combat. And they’re not shy at all about explaining how combat works to those who have survived it.

Some topics, like small unit tactics, make sense. But navigation – still – is taught with paper maps. In October 2025, at a new NATO training base specifically built so drones could be used in training, in Poland, not only did not a single Polish trainer know how to fly a MAVIC drone, but there were also no MAVICS to fly; NATO hadn’t bought any (The Ukrainians, being Ukrainians, brought their own). Medical evacuation assumed no drones, and that troops evacuating wounded will call in helicopters, and casualties will be whisked away to the hospital in a golden hour or less. One of the Ukrainians talking to the BBC said that with that kind of medical planning, in modern war, lots of casualties will die or lose limbs, because they aren’t trained to loosen tourniquets. The Ukrainians know this not because they are smarter, but because they went to war with NATO training on tourniquets, which led to soldiers losing limbs because they weren’t evacuated for hours, and the tourniquet had been cutting off blood to the injured limb for all that time. A basic combat lesson paid for in Ukrainian blood. Not yet learned by NATO, apparently.

During a tactical exercise practicing assaults, the Ukrainians were asked to stop flying drones because the NATO assault troops kept getting detected too easily. In the assaults themselves, NATO is still training to drive an assault vehicle right up to an enemy trench, with no drone overwatch. That’s suicidal in modern war.

To reiterate, this is not just the Europeans. I personally confirm that US Army drone training (I can’t speak on the USMC) is even more primitive. It’s hard to believe, but “drone-that-drops-a-single-grenade” is considered advanced small drone operations in Big Army right now. In general, in the US Army, the idea is that special operations are allowed to mess around with drones if they feel like it and are encouraged, while the line troops are technically supposed to demonstrate a minimum interest in drones to please higher command, but to focus their energy on practicing winning battles where FPV drones basically don’t exist.

At the cutting edge of US Army tactical development, JSOC, advanced drone tactics is using a MAVIC to reconnoiter a route. Meanwhile, in real war, in Ukraine, a platoon assault is covered by a minimum of four observation drones and probably twice that many FPVs either ready to launch or circling in “taxi stand” mode above the battle area, and heavy bomber drones are on tap to hit bigger targets or enemy that’s gone to ground. Armored ground drones deliver supplies and even evacuate casualties. Meanwhile, the US plan, as nearly as I can tell, is that the US Air Force will somehow magically eliminate the enemy FPV drones.

According to the report, the Czech instructors seemed more willing to learn from the Ukrainians than the Poles.

The BBC article points out another issue in the training when it’s NATO people training Ukrainians – invariably, there will be Ukrainian combat veterans who, if they’ve been shot at enough, simply won’t listen to anybody.

This is a real problem in the AFU; there are so many combat veterans who have been through so much that they reject almost any suggestion from anyone who isn’t just like them. The solution is an effective and professionalized AFU officer and NCO corps, and I have been complaining about that since about the third month of the war.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Soapbox advice for NATO

This is not news; this is opinion, and it’s only a little pretext to post an image of some Jocks.

In case anyone asks, the best way for NATO to learn to fight in a modern war is by learning from Ukrainian best practices up close, with as few layers of bureaucracy as possible.

The Ukrainians’ lessons learned in war aren’t complicated, and you don’t need colonels writing reports that generals are rewriting that then committees are discussing so that other committees can review the findings. There is no perfect way to fight, but there is a body of knowledge of what generally works, and the best way to learn that is to put some NATO fighting soldiers next to some Ukrainian fighting soldiers. A training environment is fine.

All that is needed is an infantry platoon or company from one of the more professional NATO militaries, not special forces, not commandos, just solid battle line troops, and dump them in a training area with the Ukrainians. Leave it to the platoon or company to figure out what NATO tactics are outdated and which still work. It’s not as simple as “just use lots and lots of drones.”

Ukrainian frontline soldiers swear up and down that tanks and artillery aren’t obsolete, but they need to be used differently in modern war to be effective. This is all low-level, tactical doctrinal change, and the best way to do that is to find a NATO mechanized infantry company and order the commander and the chain of command in that unit to learn everything they possibly can from the Ukrainians in about six months of training. Then they make recommendations, and then NATO doctrine adapts, it takes the recommendations seriously and assumes that the NATO fighting style must be modified somewhat. Not to turn NATO into the AFU. But to create NATO units prepared to fight and win on the same battlefield as the AFU has.

That’s what NATO needs to do. We will see what they actually do.

Full article here (there's more)

 

[TJX]

Ukrainian military faces collapse as DESERTIONS hit 300,000 mark
12/01/2025 // Ramon Tomey

The Ukrainian military is hemorrhaging soldiers at an alarming rate, with over 310,000 criminal cases related to desertion and unauthorized absence filed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 – more than half in the first 10 months of 2025 alone.

The staggering figures were confirmed by the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November. They reveal a crisis of morale and manpower that threatens Kyiv's ability to sustain its war effort, even as the Trump administration pushes a 28-point peace plan that could reshape the conflict's trajectory.

Journalist and former People's Deputy Ihor Lutsenko, now commanding a Ukrainian drone unit, warned that October saw a record 21,602 desertions – equivalent to one soldier fleeing every two minutes. "By the time you finish reading this post, another soldier will have put on skis," he wrote, emphasizing that official numbers likely undercount the true scale of abandonment.

The accelerating exodus coincides with reports that Ukraine's military, once estimated at 800,000 strong, may now be a hollow force depleted by casualties and mass defections. Ukrainian officials have long dismissed claims of widespread desertion as Russian propaganda, but the OPG's data paints a grim picture.

Read entire article here: https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-12-01-ukrainian-military-faces-collapse-desertions-hit-300k.html

Natural News is a conspiracy and anti vax website. In other words they are wack jobs. Nothing to see here folks.

 

[latecomer91364]

Putin does want to negotiate. The best play for the U.S. is to get out and leave NATO and the Europeans to clean up the mess.

It's goddam about time for Europe to defend their own fucking selves.

 

[Lazaran]

Putin does want to negotiate. The best play for the U.S. is to get out and leave NATO and the Europeans to clean up the mess.

It's goddam about time for Europe to defend their own fucking selves.

MAGAt91364 seems to forget that the ONLY time Article Five has been invoked was when a republican President of the United States demanded it.

And the rest of NATO responded by providing blood & treasure, even though they were skeptical about the republican President’s dubious claims of WMDs in Iraq.



Also:

There are maaaaaany U.S. companies and U.S. interests in Europe, etc, so it is only fitting that the U.S. contribute to the defense of those companies & interests.



The fact that the U.S. pledged defense support for Ukraine in the Budapest memorandum is also something to consider…if one has a shred of dignity…



MAGAt91364



We. Told. Them. So.

 

[latecomer91364]

MAGAt91364 seems to forget that the ONLY time Article Five has been invoked was when a republican President of the United States demanded it.

And the rest of NATO responded by providing blood & treasure, even though they were skeptical about the republican President’s dubious claims of WMDs in Iraq.



Also:

There are maaaaaany U.S. companies and U.S. interests in Europe, etc, so it is only fitting that the U.S. contribute to the defense of those companies & interests.



The fact that the U.S. pledged defense support for Ukraine in the Budapest memorandum is also something to consider…if one has a shred of dignity…



MAGAt91364



We. Told. Them. So.

Idiot. Stop trying your adolescent smoke and mirrors bullshit on people who are aware of the facts. The Obama led US did not honor the Budapest memorandum when Russia took Crimea in 2014.

Did you conveniently forget about that, you lying piece if shit?

You just embarrass yourself - if that's even possible.

 

[Lazaran]

<snip MAGAt91364’s false narrative & massive deflection>

MAGAt91364 pretends that circumstance were the same in Ukraine back in 2014…



Also:

President Obama DID respond with sanctions against Russia and certain aid to Ukraine while the fog of ongoing events was still present (we didn’t even know who would ultimately take charge of Ukraine or if they would be reliable partners.

And President Obama was also dealing with Bush’s Iraq & Afghanistan blunders, as well as lingering domestic unrest from the Bush - republican financial meltdown (and rising white Christo-fascist nationalism).



Also:

Even when President Biden was confronted with the Russian invasion in 2022, there were STILL some lingering questions about Ukrainian leadership and corruption, but President Biden quickly rallied to Ukraine’s defense and formed a coalition to stand against Russian aggression - and by 2023, the Ukrainian PEOPLE had more than proved they were willing to fight for their country’s right to join Europe & the free world democracies: Thus, by 2023, the Ukrainian people & government had EARNED the right to have the Budapest memorandum honored - and then DonOld & the MAGAt republicans sabotaged the defense of Ukraine.



We. Told. Them. So.

 

[latecomer91364]

^^^
Utter bullshit.

 

[Lazaran]

^^^
Utter bullshit.

MAGAt91364 FAILS to realize that every bit of what I posted can be verified / validated by some simple searches.

They should try it.





We. Told. Them. So.