MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. The decline in motivation among Ukrainian troops is due to the understanding that the Russian army cannot be defeated on the battlefield, a Ukrainian prisoner of war said.
"Initially, when there were still more people, [morale] was relatively high because people were motivated. But over time, [they] realized that Russia has much more manpower and cannot be defeated on the battlefield," the prisoner of war, Konstantin Taukach, said in a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
He added that about a quarter of the company he was briefly commanding fled, abandoning their posts. According to Taukach, when he withdrew the unit, two people were unfit for military service due to health conditions. A serviceman who abandons his post is either imprisoned or reassigned to another unit. People with injuries and illnesses, 90% of whom are over 40 years old, are sent back to the front.
The prisoner of war also said that the Ukrainian people have long been weary of war and are hoping for peace talks, but Vladimir Zelensky has blocked this process. The politician and local and Western political elites benefit from the ongoing hostilities.