There are a lot of deserters in the Russian army, but this trend has not changed since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It does not depend on the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine but on the conditions in which the mobilized found themselves.

"The mobilized are not ready to carry out the tasks. They do not understand what tasks they were mobilized for, being on foreign territory, realizing that they are practically ready" semi-cauldrons "and" boilers "of the Ukrainian army," military expert Roman Svitan said.

At the same time, he pointed out that the movement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine towards the Sea of ​​Azov would block the land corridor, and the Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as well as the Crimea, will find themselves in an operational boiler.

"Seeing all these actions, many refuseniks leave their combat positions. In the same Zaporizhzhia region, helicopters drive them across the steppes. This is a big problem for the Russian army; sometimes there are as many refuseniks as there are 200s," the expert said.

At the same time, he believes that Bakhmut will have to fight to the last occupier because the Wagner PMC mercenaries have taken over him.

“Bakhmut will most likely be a hot spot until the end of this campaign. Participants of the so-called Wagner private military company have taken up this section of about 10 kilometers. They cannot lose it now. They are working to access the water conduit from the Seversky Donets. If they do not comply, then the political reputation of Prigozhin and the military reputation of Wagner will simply die. They will not leave Bakhmut until everyone there dies," Svitan explained.