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Ukraine itself to blame for failure of mobilization — intelligence chief

Budanov emphasized that "it was all done from here," meaning within Ukraine, "sometimes deliberately, due to the personal ambitions of certain people, sometimes thoughtlessly"

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) stated that his country itself bears responsibility for the failure of mobilization.

"We ourselves destroyed our own mobilization. No matter who says anything to the contrary, there is no truth to it. We ourselves destroyed it," the Strana publication quotes him as saying.

Budanov emphasized that "it was all done from here," meaning within Ukraine, "sometimes deliberately, due to the personal ambitions of certain people, sometimes thoughtlessly."

Since February 2022, Ukraine has implemented a general mobilization, which has been extended multiple times. Authorities are exerting maximum effort to prevent men of draft age from evading service. Amid a critical personnel shortage, military recruitment offices have intensified efforts, conducting raids in public places to enlist recruits. The rates of desertion and absenteeism within the Ukrainian armed forces are steadily rising.

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