Russia has stopped sending
units into Ukraine because volunteer soldiers are ‘categorically refusing’ to
fight, Kyiv has claimed.
The General Staff of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine said that ‘distrust of the higher command’, fears about the
huge death toll and the treatment of wounded soldiers are putting off troops
from joining the front lines.
Ukraine’s push around Kharkiv is
continuing to gain ground and stretch Russian forces who are surrendering en
masse, leading some to hope that a turning point in the war has finally
been reached.
The Ukrainian general staff
said: ‘The military command of the Russian Federation has suspended the
sending of new, already formed units into the territory of Ukraine.
‘The current situation in the
theatre of operations and distrust of the higher command forced a large number
of volunteers to categorically refuse the prospect of service in combat
conditions.
Since Moscow abandoned its
main bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, marking its worst defeat
since the early days of the war, Ukrainian troops have recaptured dozens of
towns in a stunning shift in battleground momentum.
Moscow has described its troop
withdrawal in north-eastern Kharkiv amid Ukraine’s push as a ‘regrouping’ with
the aim of focusing on the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Speaking in the central square
of Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub taken by Ukrainian forces late last
week, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said 150,000 people had
been liberated from Russian rule in the area.
