100 soldiers tried in Russia every week for refusing to fight in Ukraine - British intelligence
Russian courts try about 100 soldiers every week for refusing to fight in Ukraine, which indicates the poor morale of the Russian army.
The British Ministry of Defense reports this on social network X (Twitter), citing intelligence data, according to Ukrinform.
“Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight. If this trend continues, there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight”, the report says.
Also noted that the high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight. Refusal to fight likely reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline, British intelligence added.
Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.
“Since Russia's September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations”, noted in the intelligence.
As reported, the Ukrainian Defense Forces eliminated about 262,410 Russian invaders from February 24, 2022, to August 30, 2023, 570 of them in the last day.