BRUSSELS, February 4. /TASS/. Ukraine's push to convince US President Donald Trump of the expediency of prolonging aid to the country is not being helped by the mass desertions in its army, which is now not only a military problem for Kiev, but also a political one, Politico reports.

According to the newspaper, as the Russian Armed Forces advance rapidly, "the situation is straining the [Ukrainian] military, with soaring numbers of ill-trained and exhausted soldiers going AWOL, difficulty in recruiting new troops and arrests of respected and popular combat officers." For Trump, this is another argument in favor of cutting off American aid to Kiev, supporting the position he took during his election campaign, Politico said.

On January 21, Trump remarked that Washington had spent $200 billion more on military aid to Ukraine than other NATO countries. On January 22, the US leader did not rule out the possibility of a complete cessation of arms deliveries to Kiev.

Recently, the Ukrainian military leadership has been increasingly discussing the difficult operational and strategic situation Kiev’s army is facing. It is experiencing personnel shortages, which the authorities are unsuccessfully attempting to compensate for by intensifying mobilization and transferring niche specialists from technologically advanced units, particularly air defense divisions, to assault brigades. Desertion, at times on a massive scale, has become a serious concern. Meanwhile, Kiev is trying to shift the responsibility for the failures of the Ukrainian armed forces onto its Western partners, accusing them of untimely and insufficient arms deliveries.