Protesters in Kiev demand Ukrainian troops surrounded in the south-east of the country should be saved (RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)
Putin Calls On Ukraine Militia To Let Blocked Kiev Troops To Cross Into Russia -- RT
President Putin has called on the self-defense militias in Ukraine to provide Kiev's military units blocked in the east of the country with a safe humanitarian corridor to cross into Russia.
“It is clear the militia has achieved a major success in intercepting Kiev’s military operation, which represents a grave danger to the population of Donbass and which has already led to the loss of many lives among peaceful residents,” the Russian leader said in a statement.
As a result of militias’ counter-offense, large numbers of Ukrainian troops – many of whom were taking part in Kiev’s so-called anti-terrorist operation “against their will” and “just following orders” – have been surrounded, the President added.
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My Comment: The stat that I was surprised to read .... and it has been confirmed by one of my Ukrainian sources this evening .... is this one ....
.... Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office has launched over 1,000 investigations into those men on charges of disobedience, desertion and evasion of military service.
That is a lot of soldiers, and with Russian military units now involved in this conflict, I will not be surprised if these numbers increase even higher.
1 comment:
Hah. Doesn't surprise me. Militia's sure - everyone joins up to fight - everyone's patriotic - very few of them have seen the horrors of war. Russian troops enter the fray and suddenly it's off with the flag and boots and they desert. Putin is smart for emphasising on this humanitarian corridor. Many Ukrainian conscripts do not want to fight their Russian neighbor and those who have probable don't want to go back to the meatgrinder that is eastern Ukraine. I agree WNU the desertion toll is probable going to sky rocket to some 10,000 depending on how far Russia expands it's military ops. Something tells me though that Ukraine is lowballing this number. Wouldn't surprise me if it was more like 3,000.
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