Russian forces are disintegrating in Pokrovsk as soldiers refuse orders, choosing prison over what they call “suicide missions.” The battle has evolved into a lethal war of shadows fought by small autonomous groups, with desertion becoming the logical outcome of a system sending unwilling troops into a drone-dominated meat grinder.
From: Euromaiden Press BY REPORTING FROM UKRAINE
Today, there are interesting updates from the Pokrovsk direction.
Here, the battle for the town has slowly become a lethal war of shadows with almost no chance of survival. The Russian army is disintegrating under the weight of its own losses, and its push to capture Pokrovsk turns into a slow-motion collapse of morale and unit-level desertions.
For many Russian soldiers, the order to attack Pokrovsk has become synonymous with a death sentence.
Soldiers whisper among themselves that entering Pokrovsk means certain annihilation by Ukrainian artillery and drones, as videos from the area reveal the growing panic within the Russian ranks. In one, an agitated officer films two soldiers who refuse to go into the town, both saying they prefer prison over suicide missions. One claims a medical condition, the other shows a wound, but the officer is unmoved. He records them as proof to strip them of their pay, while threatening that they will be transferred to a penal unit and ultimately will be pushed into Pokrovsk at gunpoint anyway.
Such scenes are no longer rare, as the Russian army’s losses in the sector are so extreme that many contract soldiers, who once enlisted for bonuses, now see imprisonment or even death in custody as preferable to the slaughter awaiting them on the front.
Voice of Ukraine 