The testimonies are multiplying. As the thousandth day of the war approaches, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted. Harassed, surrounded, bombarded, they have long stopped believing in the counter-offensive which was to return the territories controlled by Russia to the power of Kiew. Lack of weapons and ammunition? Maybe. Not only that. Journalist Stanislav Asseyev, former soldier, ex-prisoner of the Russians, wounded twice in Donbass, tells the newspaper The World: “There is almost no motivation left. There is a major crisis in the infantry due to a lack of personnel, training and communication between units. This is an internal problem in Ukraine that no Western country can change. We can have as many drones or munitions as we want, if there are no soldiers in the trenches, nothing will change.” And he adds: “We have a huge army of deserters roaming the country.” There are also those hiding, false disability certificates in their pockets, obtained by favors from above or with thousands of dollars. The problem is recognized even by President Zelensky who has just dismissed the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriï Kostin. The latter had to resign after an investigation revealed a system of corruption which would have allowed officials in his administration to avoid enlistment in the army. One case among many others, suspected, brought to light or ignored. Government militiamen roam the cities, as far as Lviv, the heart of nationalism, to flush out men over the age of 25 who are hiding. Controlled, roughly embarked, they are sent for a brief training then to the front.
In no modern war, in no camp, have there been so many desertions. Neither in 14-18, nor in 39-45. A few hundred it is true during the Algerian war, very few. The question is not to pass judgment on those who refuse the call and the fight. It’s about questioning their reasons.
In Ukraine, it is the absence of prospects, the flaws and contradictions of commands, the vain adventure of the incursion into Russia, so costly in human lives, the disgust at corruption. And for some, probably a minority, fundamental questions which end up emerging. Would it not have been better to conclude an agreement in the first days as was attempted? Was it reasonable, from 2014, to fight with arms the autonomists who then became separatists in Donbass? Why didn’t the Europeans put more pressure on the Minsk agreements to be respected? Because let’s not forget, what resulted was the basis of the infernal spiral.
On the Russian side, war fatigue is there too. But it has fewer consequences because general mobilization has not been decreed. Troops are renewed through well-paid voluntary commitments and the addition of foreign mercenaries. Perhaps by a North Korean continent which is making a lot of noise. Old recipe… During the Iraq War in 2003, in Afghanistan, the Americans also called on a lot of external military support.
In the other current conflict that horrifies us, in the Middle East, what is happening? Although the phenomenon is not recognized in high places and is little addressed by the media, the fact is that Israeli soldiers engaged in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank are beginning, many of them in all case, to experience weariness and worry. The guerrillas in the ruins of Gaza are still causing deaths in their ranks. The incursion into Lebanon is proving more difficult than expected despite the blows dealt to Hezbollah, more costly in human lives than officially announced. Certainly the overwhelming technological superiority and total air control allow the IDF to raze the south of the country, to strike blows everywhere, but no war is won without physical control of the terrain, without the winner feeling secure in the conquered towns and villages. We are far from it if we know the resistance capacity of the Lebanese who have seen so much… Even if this invasion is even more destructive than the last, in 2006. No reason for euphoria for the Israeli general staff.
We also note that some of these soldiers, along with other voices, openly say, on the platforms and networks, that they no longer want these terrible wars in Israel’s neighborhood. Few in number no doubt, but not without echo in part of public opinion. Thanks to a space for freedom of expression which, it is remarkable, persists despite everything. One hundred and twenty reservists who fought have just published a letter where they announce that they will no longer join the army. One of them, Max Kresch, declared to Monde: “This is not an existential war but pure revenge.” Other young people, not yet enlisted, are leaving the country by the thousands with their families. Because, as in Ukraine, they see no prospects for peace and want to escape a destiny marked by misfortune.
Conclusion? The powers carried away by warlike passion can draw up all possible plans on their tables, well sheltered, they can prefer for a long time the hope of a military victory to that of negotiations, but the moment arrives, sooner or later, when men destined for the worst no longer enter into their visions.
