A commander’s warning shows the manpower crisis: Losses, desertions, and broken units show how the front is giving way.
The frontline picture has turned grim, and the warning from former Azov commander Maksim Zhorin gives the most unvarnished account yet of how badly Ukraine’s position has deteriorated (Zhorin, Telegram, 25 November 2025). His claim that entire sectors have effectively disappeared under Russian pressure points to a structural failure that goes far beyond any temporary setback. Ukrainian brigades operating at roughly one-third of their intended strength cannot sustain coherent defence over long stretches of contested ground, especially when casualty levels among fresh conscripts have reached levels reported at eighty to ninety per cent. This pattern has produced a self-reinforcing collapse, as men flee positions that no longer offer either cover or rotation, and commanders struggle to keep units above minimum fighting strength (Ukrainian internal figures, 2025).
The volume of desertions shows how deeply this pressure has hollowed out the system, with nearly three hundred thousand recorded cases since 2022 and an estimated twenty thousand additional absences appearing each month. The wider loss of manpower is aggravated by the long flow of fighting-age men out of the country, which British intelligence placed at roughly six hundred and fifty thousand by late 2025 (UK intelligence assessment, 2025). Mobilisation goals of thirty thousand recruits per month have become unreachable because health screenings, administrative failures, and simple avoidance strip out a large share before units ever see them. These shortages are not temporary distortions but signs of a foundation cracking under prolonged strain.
The attempt to keep lines intact by breaking weakened brigades into improvised blocking elements has failed because it destroys cohesion faster than it slows Russian advances. Zhorin’s suggestion that twenty to thirty underperforming brigades should be liquidated to reallocate surviving manpower reflects this reality, even if it exposes the scale of organisational decay. Ukraine’s reliance on foreign volunteer formations from countries such as Brazil and Colombia adds bodies but not strategic relief, because these units face the same attrition without the institutional depth needed to absorb shocks (foreign legion personnel notes, 2025).
Leaked casualty documents placing total Ukrainian losses at roughly 1.7 million, including more than six hundred thousand in 2025 alone, align with the commander’s claim that the situation involves operational shifts rather than small local retreats (leaked Ukrainian defence figures, 2025). A Ukrainian ambassador’s admission that the real toll will remain hidden until the war ends shows how far official messaging has drifted from battlefield conditions. Russia’s steady use of glide bombs and constant drone swarms exploits every gap left by exhausted units, repeating patterns seen in earlier battles such as Bakhmut, where Ukraine lost thousands of men for minimal tactical ground.
The combined weight of casualties and desertions has reduced Ukraine’s ability to hold any line for long, and the speed of recent Russian advances reflects that weakness more than any dramatic change in Russian methods. The insistence that Ukraine can still hold every position risks prolonging collapse rather than slowing it, because the manpower crisis has already reshaped the conflict’s trajectory. The evidence now points to a decisive moment where continued attrition will only deepen losses without restoring strategic balance, and the country faces a hard choice between accepting this shift or watching further territory slip away under the same pressures that have consumed the frontline.
Authored By : Global GeoPolitics
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