Washington is pressuring Zelensky to lower the draft age from 25 to 18. Meanwhile, Western media is reporting that Ukrainian recruits have begun deserting forces training in European NATO countries hundreds at a time. Retired Russian Army colonel and renowned military observer Viktor Litovkin explains how these events are connected.

Just Business: US MIC Wants Ukrainian Bloodbath to Continue Even If It Means Drafting 18-Year-Olds

“The war in Ukraine is profitable to the United States economically, politically and so on. That’s why they’re interested in this war continuing,” Litovkin told Sputnik, commenting the Biden administration’s steady pressure on Kiev to reduce the draft age to 18.

Besides the cash the US military-industrial complex can expect from new contracts from its Eastern European NATO allies from the “recycling” their Warsaw Pact-era Soviet equipment, and the replenishment of Pentagon warehouses after sending old stocks off to Kiev, hawks in Washington are able to pursue their long-term obsession with “weakening Russia,” Litovkin explained.

The gruesome “business” in Ukraine is so profitable that Litovkin doesn’t expect it to stop once Donald Trump is in charge. After all, he recalled, it was Trump who first sent lethal weapons to the country in 2019. 

“I’m more than certain that Trump will not rush to stop this ‘business’. He will likely simply dump part of it onto Europe, while continuing the rest because it’s profitable for the US. Trump has always been on the side of the US military-industrial complex,” Litovkin said.

As for plans to draft 18-year-olds, how else “how can this conflict continue, if a million Ukrainian servicemen have already been knocked out, killed, wounded, maimed and so on," with other draft-age men fleeing to Europe, Russia, etc., the observer asked.

"There are about 30,000 mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. All the complex military equipment is controlled by mercenaries, US, Polish and German specialists, from HIMARS to Patriots and others…But someone has to man the front lines, someone has to man the trenches” if the reserve of 25-year-olds and up - the current draft age, is exhausted, the retired soldier said.

Unfortunately, Litovkin doesn’t expect Ukraine’s population to rise up and overthrow the government sending its sons to their deaths.

“Power in Ukraine is in the hands of the Banderites, who keep the people who are left in fear…Maybe individuals and groups can declare a protest, but they will be immediately thrown in jail and the men sent to the front,” he said.

Fighting Spirit Wins Wars

Ukrainian and US business media reported this week that Ukraine's brand new, elite NATO-trained 155th Mechanized Brigade "disintegrated" before reaching the frontlines, with over 1,700 of its 5,800 members said to have fled during training in France and Poland, before deployment in the ongoing bloody battles in the Donbass.

The mass desertion signals a critical lack of "fighting spirit," Litovkin believes.

“Victory in every war is determined by the fighting spirit of those masses who shed blood on the battlefield,” Litovkin explained, suggesting the incident shows that “coercion,” not fighting spirit, are the main remaining motivator in the Ukrainian Army, hence the regular mass desertions, mass surrenders, etc.

“If it weren’t for the Banderites standing behind them, threatening to shoot them in the back or executing those who surrender or desert, the front line would have disappeared a long time ago,” the observer believes.

The shortfalls of the NATO equipment sent to the front along with the brigade’s troops likely didn’t help matters, Litovkin said, pointing out that the CAESAR wheeled self-propelled howitzer is underpowered compared to Russian systems and unsuitable for use in Ukraine during the muddy seasons, and that the Leopard 2 tanks the brigade was equipped with weigh 10-20 tons more than Russian ones, meaning inferior maneuverability characteristics.

Ultimately, the brigade’s training was just a bureaucratic exercise, Litovkin said, with the money doled out and spent, and the French side especially not particularly concerned about the unit’s fate.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250104/just-business-us-mic-wants-ukrainian-bloodbath-to-continue-even-if-it-means-drafting-18-year-olds-1121353761.html

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