The Ministry of Defence confirmed forces had left the north of the country, retiring to Belarus or Russia, and said they had left weapons and vehicles abandoned
Russian troops withdrew from northern Ukraine in such haste that they abandoned weapons and vehicles, suggesting morale may have collapsed to the point some deserted, officials have said.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that all forces had left the north of the country, retiring to Belarus or Russia.
They believe the depleted troops will be reconvened over the border before being deployed to the East of Ukraine where a build-up of forces is taking place.
But Western officials said the nature of the withdrawal suggested it was not done in an orderly fashion and suggested a “willingness to fight” had depleted.
“We can confirm that there are no longer Russian units in northern Ukraine,” A Western official said.
“What is clear, though, it’s been a pretty hasty withdrawal by Russian forces and there’s a lot of Russian equipment which has been abandoned.
“That’s only going to exacerbate the challenge they have in terms of the refurbishment and reconstitution of the forces as they remove them both into Belarus and Russia.”
Troops left a mix of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and some artillery when they withdrew, officials said.
“It’s unclear as to why it’s been abandoned because you might have thought that some of these vehicles are still usable,” they added. “There’s something around the collapse of morale and the collapse of the will to fight.”
The official said: “I think we’ve seen some degree of breakdown of discipline, which has led to them fleeing rather than perhaps retiring back over the Belarus and border in particular in good order, and that’s why they’ve abandoned some of that equipment.”
“You’ve also got to take into account the psychological impact on those troops. These are meant to be elite, Russian fighting troops who have been defeated in the objectives in the first 40 days of this battle. They’re now being reconstituted and put back into the fight.”
Russian airborne forces, known as the VDV, are continuing to build up in the Donbass region in the east of the country, with troops joining “a very substantial number of their vehicles being prepared for operations”.
Officials said it was “entirely possible” that President Putin wanted troops to act quickly due to a political desire to have made more gains by 9 May, which is the Victory Day holiday in Russia.
“It’s unclear as to why it’s been abandoned because you might have thought that some of these vehicles are still usable,”
In the West it’s called cowardice, in Russia it’s normal behaviour when the opposition shoot back.
Ukraine just needs to hold on until 9 May and be sure Vladolf can’t have his 9 May parade. Can you imagine his embarrassment? After telling his sheep everything is going as planned and then they can’t have their favorite national holiday? Maybe Vladolf will hop on his favorite bear and ride through Red Square?
The old song comes to mind. Rain on your parade.
That’s right, he seeds the clouds with cement mix, lol, maybe he will seed his Ladas?
LMAO…………
Hey Boss, I wanted to do a fundraiser through the Salvation Army in Ukraine. We have the Tip Jar set up already and I can transfer those funds into my Salvation Army account that I opened. They are mostly helping displaced Ukrainians. What do you think?
Sounds like a great idea and you can trust the Salvation Army.
My wife told me to forget about the Red Cross. That’s saying something. I’ve worked with the SA before and they’ve been great as long as they stay out of politics, ya know. Ok, thanks!
I think many ruSSians who were told to defend the fake republics in the east did not understand why they would have to attack Kyiv. That is why i am not ruSSophobe, i still count on young ruSSian soldiers to refuse to fight against us.
I remember there were some of the initial slaughtered Moscow monkeys near Kyiv that packed their dress uniforms and the journos wondered why they wasted space for that instead of food. It seems they were expecting to be greeted with flowers instead of bullets.
They were prepared for a parade and if Vladolf thinks he can have another 9 May parade he is out of his mind as usual. What will he parade with? Old men with slingshots and sticks?
I’m more interested in what super duper invisible and invincible weapons they’ll put on show. 😂
He can’t last another month. After all, his sheep like the 9 May parade more than Christmas.
I said months ago already that the morale of ruskie troops won’t be the best, having been deployed in field conditions for weeks and months and this in the dead of winter. Then, they were literally thrown into Ukraine to fight there and got their asses kicked, bit-by-bit. No wonder their moral is rock-bottom andthey are next to useless (unless you count committing war crimes).
There is no room for complacency. Putler could order his vermin to start another assault on Kyiv anytime in the coming months or years. To prevent that, free Ukraine must be massively fortified. Starting right now.
That means a comprehensive state of the art air defence architecture, a modern Air Force, unlimited heavy weaponry and shitloads of cruise missiles.