MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Ukraine’s armed forces are increasingly running out of reserve troops, which may cause an imbalance in its military strength and a collapse on the battlefield for Kiev, a retired French army general, Dominique Delawarde, told TASS.
Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Anna Skorokhod stated that the Ukrainian society was now divided into those who can buy themselves off mobilization and leave abroad and people who cannot afford that. While conscript offices have "raided Ukrainian villages," those men who get caught on the streets as part of forced mobilization do not have enough incentives for military service, she added. Full mobilization has been repeatedly announced and extended in Ukraine since February 2022.
"We can see that Russia certainly continues to recruit more soldiers, at a pace of around 1,000 per day, - yes, 1,000 per day, or more than it loses on the battlefield. Therefore, it is getting stronger," Delawarde shared. "Meanwhile, the Ukrainians lose more troops on the front line than they can draft. As they have repeatedly mobilized their forces, they are increasingly running out of reserves," he continued. The apparent imbalance between Russian and Ukrainian troops on the ground will increase and may even lead to a collapse for Kiev, the general argued.
"There is no balance of forces whatsoever. The balance has clearly shifted toward Russia which, on the one hand, has not used all its contingent on the Ukrainian battlefield," Delawarde maintained.
According to him, time plays into Russia’s hands not only militarily. "They are not in a rush to exhaust their soldiers, but, more importantly, they have been weakening NATO’s Western allies who have funneled colossal amounts of money into this bottomless pit of Ukraine, while driving themselves to financial ruin and falling into economic chaos," Delawarde said. "Europe’s economic weakening will eventually benefit Russia," he concluded.