Putin Has a New Ukraine Problem: At the end of the Second World War, Nazi Germany sought to defend its cities with the “Volkssturm” – the German home guard. Established in October 1944, they were poorly trained, poorly equipped, and for the most part barely slowed the Allied and Soviet advances. It has been estimated that as many as 650,000 Volkssturm saw action while they sometimes took 75 percent casualties.
Their only advantage was a belief in their superiority.
Fast forward to the war in Ukraine, and it could be argued that the current Russian troops lack even any belief in superiority.
By most accounts, they’re not much better trained and only marginally better equipped – with many relying on Cold War-era helmets and outdated small arms.
No Will to Fight in Ukraine
According to the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, which was posted to X (formerly Twitter) by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ), many of the Russians being called to serve are simply not even willing to fight.
“On 25 August 2023, two Russian soldiers were sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony by a military court for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine,” the MoD reported while adding that Moscow has been convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight.
“If this trend continues, there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight,” according to the MoD. “The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight. Refusal to fight likely reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline.
The Mass Effect
The Kremlin is now mitigating the loss of those unwilling to fight by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline. That only results in further degrading the morale
It would appear that Russia is looking to use numbers to make up for the lack of training.
“Since Russia’s September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations,” the MoD further noted.
Morale Is All But Non-Existent in Ukraine
This month, there have been multiple accounts of Russian soldiers who have fled to Ukraine or been captured, and their stories are similar – they don’t believe in Moscow’s cause and see the situation as grim.
One soldier told CNN that he had received just two weeks of basic training before being deployed to the frontlines near the ruined city of Bakhmut, where the Kremlin lost thousands of troops in its pyrrhic victory.
“We had no morale,” he explained. “We expected to be holding the line of defense, as we were promised. We were told Wagner PMC (private military company) was the one involved in active hostilities. And that we would be the ones stationed on the liberated territories, as it was explained to us earlier.”
Instead, he and his fellow raw recruits were sent to the frontlines, but he was one of the lucky ones to be captured rather than killed when Ukrainian forces overran the positions. Kyiv has continued to explore ways to convince Russian soldiers to quit the fight – but it would appear little incentive is actually needed.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
From the Vault
The Navy Sent 4 Battleships To Attack North Korea
‘Sir, We Hit a Russian Submarine’: A U.S. Navy Sub Collided with a Nuclear Attack Sub
