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The sweeping offensive by the Russian Federation forces is taking the Ukrainian army to a breaking point for lack of human resources, artillery shells, tanks, planes, drones, and missiles.

But mostly, lack of men.

Russia has captured over 700 square miles in Ukraine since August – and that is a reality that is starting to be openly discussed by the Ukrainians themselves and is also beginning to reach the MSM.

Moscow troops conquered a total of 27 settlements just in the month of October – I checked: Vishnevoye, Verkhnekamenskoye, Ugledar, Zhelannoye Vtoroye, Grodovka, Zolotaya Niva, Zoryanoye Pervoye, Ostrovskoye, Mikhailovka, Levadnoye, Krasny Yar, Nevskoye, Maksimilyanovka, Zoryanoye, Novosadovoye, Nikolaevka, Alexandropol, Izmailovka, Tsukurino, Katerinovka, Gornyak, Dobrovolye, Selidovo, Krugliakovka, Yasnaya Polyana, Leonidovka, Novoukrainka, and Shakhtyorkoye.

While this may look like a meaningless list of foreign names with no significance, it stands to reason that it was a LOT of places, between villages and cities, as the steamroller proceeds unabated by the defenses.

The Red Army is advancing faster than at any time since March 2022, at the onset of the war, and the Kiev forces are facing a tactical crisis in most areas.

Slavyangrad reported:

“Retired Colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Oleg Starikov stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing a tactical crisis in many areas of the SMO zone.

‘I am now showing the real situation that is happening. The real crisis was in one direction, and now – in many’, Starikov noted.

He added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have problems in the Kupyansk, Chasov Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Selidovo, Kurakhovo, and Southern directions.”

And worse, Ukrainian command cannot transfer reserves to the points of contact where the situation is critical.

While the forced conscription continues to pursue men of military age trying to evade them, it’s never enough. And among the ones that get caught and sent, MANY are deserting.

It is estimated that as many as 900 Ukrainian soldiers desert per day – that’s two whole battalions.

The Ukrainian deputy Anna Skorokhod said that the number of official deserters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has exceeded 100,000 people.

French channel LCI published numbers of deserters according to their sources in Ukraine military: in 2022, 10 thousand people; in 2023, 25 thousand; in 2024, 70 thousand people. A total of 105,000 people in the Armed Forces of Ukraine were officially declared deserters.

A militant of the Azov Nazi Brigades, Roman Ponomarenko, has said that the number of fugitives from the Ukrainian Armed Forces tends to increase sharply.

Lord Bebo reported:

“[Ponomarenko] says so few people are fleeing from the Ukrainian Armed Forces because soldiers are NOT aware that NOTHING WILL HAPPEN to them for escaping under current laws.”

It may sound strange, but the unauthorized abandonment of a unit by military personnel (SZCh) was decriminalized by Ukraine.

“The people’s deputies, most of whom have never served in the army, opened a ‘Pandora’s box’ by decriminalizing the first SZCh. Thanks to this, any soldier received a state-guaranteed ‘chance for an attempt’ to escape from the army.

Because if he is detained, nothing will happen to him. Even the time spent in the SZCh will be counted as part of his overall military service.”

So, now, the MSM is crying us a river about the situation in the battlefields. Even with the copes they insist on using, they can’t deny how bad things are going for Kiev.

Bloomberg reported:

“Russia’s army is gaining speed in its advance in eastern Ukraine, seizing more land last week than at any point this year, increasing pressure on Kiev’s U.S. and European allies to bolster its defenses.”

The gain of more than 124 square miles in just a week is gaining attention.

“Russia has captured 1,146 square kilometers in Ukraine since Aug. 6, about a quarter more than in the first seven months of the year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence calculations based on changes recorded by the DeepState map service that’s maintained in cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.”

The prospect of peace under unfavorable conditions is becoming inescapable.

Ukrainian officials feel the war is doomed to fail, and more than two-thirds of the citizens now believe ‘it’s time to start peace talks with Russia’.

“Russian troops took over the town of Selydove this week, with the cities of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove among their next targets. Both are important logistical hubs for Ukraine’s defense in the Donetsk region. Should the cities fall into Putin’s hands, it would become another milestone on his path toward taking Ukraine’s entire industrial east.”

Read more:

‘Our Front Has Collapsed’: Ukrainian General Sounds the Alarm on the Crumbling Defenses as Russians Set Their Sights on Key Hub of Pokrovsk and Its Last Coal Mine