It appears that the Russians have moral authority on the battlefield.

This may be true in general, as in a big picture, but after reading the stories from the battlefield from the Ukrainian side, one realises, at least I did, that the 'truth' is more complex and disturbing. The only way for me to be able to convey this is by copy/pasting from the article rather than giving my second-hand impressions:


The Great Russian-Ukrainian War has been going on for over three years. All this time, Ukrainians have been desperately resisting aggression. However, it seems that their strength is waning. Shura Burtin, a journalist for the Swiss publication Reportagen, spent two months in Ukraine, visited Kyiv and Donbass, and talked to people the entire time. According to his observations, the mood in the country has noticeably changed over the past year and a half. Many are terrified of possible mobilization and are trying to hide from military patrols. There are not enough soldiers at the front, and the military cannot leave the front line for months. Desertion has become commonplace. It is difficult to evacuate the wounded — the chances of survival are low: this is largely due to drones, which kill infantry much more effectively than old weapons. Meduza publishes Burtin’s report, which contains dozens of testimonies describing the atmosphere at the front and in the rear. These are difficult stories, in which there is a lot of pain, helplessness, and despair.

All characters' names have been changed for safety reasons. This text contains a lot of swearing. If you find this unacceptable, do not read it.

That was just intro ..

Chapter 2
Murderer
There were several news items in one week in February. In Zaporizhia, a 24-year-old guy was killed in the TCC, but his mother turned out to be a lawyer and began investigating the case. A nuclear physicist from Lviv jumped out of a moving truck that was taking him to training and broke the base of his skull (or maybe he was beaten ). In Khmelnytskyi TCC, a guy died after cutting his throat. In Poltava Oblast, a man shot a TCC soldier with a hunting rifle who was escorting mobilized people to training. This caused a lot of schadenfreude on the Internet - the patriotic public demanded that the SBU identify everyone who wrote such comments and send them to the front. On the contrary, there were also calls to lynch the soldier's killer.

I'm going to Pyryatin, the town where the Tsetseka soldier was shot, to attend a court hearing on the measure of restraint. When the police bring in the killer, I'm surprised to see a thin, sad man of about fifty. His name is Vadim, and they bring in Zhenya, his wife's brother, whom he tried to free. Zhenya looks like Vadim, just as thin, shy and stunned, about 35. They both look like intelligent workers. An old woman, Vadim's mother, is crying on a bench next to me. I ask her why her son was so afraid for his brother-in-law. "Well, you see what's going on in the country..."

From the prosecutor's speech I understand the circumstances: Zhenya was "busified", he called Vadim, they decided that the brother-in-law would go by car to get the bus, and at the gas station he would help Zhenya escape. I don't know whether Vadim took the hunting rifle out of anger or stupidity. At the gas station Vadim got out and saw Zhenya, next to whom stood the TCC guard Sasha. Vadim raised the rifle and said: "Put down the machine gun." But Sasha was not afraid, pulled the bolt, raised the weapon - then Vadim shot and hit him in the stomach. Sasha fell to the ground and groaned: "Vanya, Vanya ..." - apparently calling for his partner. Vadim grabbed his machine gun, told Zhenya to get into the car, and they drove away. Vadim said that he did not want to kill the soldier, he only thought of threatening. It is clear that the idea with the gun was stupid: having picked it up, Vadim found himself in a war where it is either you or them. He hoped that the TETsek soldier was simply wounded, but was afraid to stay at the gas station so that they would not be shot. The ambulance arrived 40 minutes later, when Sasha had already died, Zhenya and Vadim returned home and began to wait for the arrest. When they came for them, they immediately admitted their guilt.

What I see is not the sort of thing that people argue about on blogs. This is not revenge on annoying TETsEK workers or a villainous murder that needs to be cruelly punished; it is an absurd tragedy born of fear.

I see a taxi outside the court, get into it, and ask the driver what he thinks about this case.

- Well, the situation is twofold, - he answers evasively, - or rather, threefold. I honestly say, I'm afraid that under this case, they will allow the TCC to shoot at people. And they will shoot...

According to various estimates that I have read, in the fall of 2024 there were between 100,000 and 200,000 deserters. Soldiers said that about a third of those mobilized flee from the front line immediately upon arrival or after the first battle. There is no way to hold on to such a number. Many commanders do not even fill out paperwork for them, they simply have no time to do so. More than 60,000 criminal cases of desertion have been opened in the country , but they are not investigated; the state does not have investigators for even a tenth of this amount. By deserting from the front, a person puts himself outside the law, but there is no real punishment. In fact, commanders understand that it is pointless to hold on to such mobilized people; there is little use in them. Therefore, a third of the efforts of the TCC and training centers simply go down the drain.

And so on .. one really needs to read it .. the article is too long for one post ...