The Russian army was able to seize a command post in Huliaipole due to desertion and losses in the territorial defense

The Russian army was able to seize a battalion command post in Huliaipole because of mass desertion in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) and heavy losses among Territorial Defense forces.

This was reported by demobilized journalist Volodymyr Boiko on his Facebook page.

According to him, within a few hours after the Russians captured the command post, more than 70 servicemen from the 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade (which had been defending that sector) deserted, and a couple of days later another two dozen did so.

“The reason is no secret: the 102nd separate Territorial Defense Brigade has long been ‘wiped out,’ and with such a shortage of personnel it is not capable of carrying out combat missions. A week before the mass desertion, it was finally decided to withdraw the brigade from the combat zone to restore its combat capability—to let people rest and receive at least some reinforcements. But because of the catastrophic situation on the front, a new order came in before December 18: no rest, send everyone back to positions. When the fighters found out, they simply got into cars and went home,” Boiko said.

He writes that in the Territorial Defense “there has long been no one” to hold the front.

“Neither the 1st battalion of the 106th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, nor the 102nd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, nor the Territorial Defense forces (which were responsible for this sector of the defense in Huliaipole – Ed.) in general have had anyone left to hold positions for a long time. If a typical Territorial Defense battalion has 48 servicemen in its combat units, and a typical company on the rolls (including wounded, sick, missing, deserters, etc.) lists 9 people, then such military units are not capable of carrying out combat missions. The Territorial Defense battalions of the AFU are perhaps the most exhausted and war-worn units of the AFU. But it is their combat capability that primarily determines how far the enemy will advance into Ukraine. Because only infantry holds territory… And that is precisely why the combat losses of the Territorial Defense, the staffing of the Territorial Defense on a residual principle, and the mass desertion of the infantry are three components of Ukraine’s defeat in the war with Russia,” the journalist claims.

According to him, the Territorial Defense is now replenished exclusively with forcibly mobilized people “who were caught on the street like dogs, who didn’t manage to run away on the way from the training center to their place of service, and who didn’t have the money to pay off the enlistment office or at least buy themselves a rear-area position in the AFU.”

Boiko adds that more than a thousand servicemen desert from the Ukrainian army every day.

“This means there is no army, and it is no longer possible to restore it—the point of no return has been passed. Therefore, using Huliaipole as an example, anyone can predict along which line Ukraine will sign an act of capitulation,” the journalist writes.

He considers one of the reasons for mass desertion to be that mobilization does not affect “privileged” Ukrainians.

“No one at the front is going to die so that AFU Captain Vakarchuk can travel abroad with concerts, Junior Lieutenant (now already an officer!) of the National Guard of Ukraine Zhadan can perform at corporate events or at the opening of the 27th Congress of the Ukrainian Association of Football, Senior Sergeant (!) of the AFU Shabunin can be assigned to Kyiv drinking joints, Junior Lieutenant of the National Guard Kipiiani can bear the hardships of service in a press museum, the draft-eligible Sternenko can buy luxury real estate, and the draft-eligible Leshchenko can have fun as a DJ in nightclubs. People like Shabunin or Vakarchuk are no longer in the tens, but in the hundreds of thousands in the AFU: with a million-man army, no more than 50,000 fighters are actually at the front,” Boiko writes.

Recall that earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin was reported to have been briefed on the capture of Myrnohrad, Huliaipole, and Stepnohirsk.