Some Russian Troops Are Refusing to Fight – For weeks, Western news outlets have reported that Russian soldiers were running low on food and ammunition and that many troops were experiencing low morale after failing to take control of the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. In March, the British Ministry of Defence said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “faltering” and that Russian forces were being forced to move “large numbers of troops” to defend supply lines rather than continuing the offensive in Kyiv.
Now, six weeks into the war, Ukraine claims that some Russian soldiers are refusing to fight as the situation looks increasingly hopeless for Russia.
In a daily update published on Facebook, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russian troops are “refusing to participate in further combat in Ukraine,” although no information was provided about where these troops are.
“The morale and psychological condition of the said personnel is low and tends to deteriorate,” the post reads, according to Facebook’s translation tool.
In recent weeks, Russia has repositioned many of its troops to the east of Ukraine as the country pushes forward with plans to “liberate” the contested Donbas region. While troops are leaving the Kiev region, some remain and are likely to be experiencing greater morale issues as supplies run out and the fight to take control of the capital city appears increasingly futile.
The post also described how Russian forces are still attempting to replenish food supplies and ammunition, with some heading north to the border with Belarus where supplies are reportedly being distributed.
Russian Troops Placed In “Tent Cities” On Russia-Ukraine Border
In the same statement, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that some Russian troops have been placed in so-called “tent cities” along the Russian border with Ukraine, as the Kremlin works to re-supply troops and decide where they will be reallocated.
The same kind of “tent cities” were spotted in satellite images shared by The Washington Post in March, showing Russian forces building a large tent camp east of the besieged city of Mariupol, which lies between the Crimean peninsula and the contested Donbas region.
Several Ukrainian and Eastern European news outlets have reported that Russian troops unsuccessfully attempted to break through the Ukrainian defenses in Novotoshkivske, later withdrawing to the tent camps on the Russian border.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
