LUGANSK, September 8. /TASS/. Soldiers fighting in the Ukrainian Azov national battalion – which is banned in Russia – have lost their motivation, there are almost no motivated soldiers left among them, military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS.
According to him, due to the Azov fighters’ low motivation and poor military training, it has become easier for the Russian military to "grind them down."
Earlier, Marochko told TASS that the Ukrainian armed forces command had deployed Azov fighters to stabilize the front near Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, where Kiev’s front line is collapsing. According to him, the Azov fighters will not influence the battles for these settlements but will merely "postpone the inevitable." In addition, according to the military expert, Azov fighters were also sent to the Kharkov sector.
"We can now say with complete certainty that the Azov fighters have lost steam, and, naturally, our military personnel are now crushing what used to be elite units, since there have long since been no true patriots left in Azov. Now they’re trying to recruit people there by relying on conscripts. Naturally, their motivation is low," he said.
Marochko specified that at this point, Azov can be compared "to the absolutely ordinary assault and motorized infantry units of the Ukrainian army," since there are almost no trained, motivated soldiers left in the national battalion.