Putin's Soldiers Are Running Away From Key Battles: Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are abandoning their posts in key battles, Ukraine's military said this week.

"Due to significant personnel losses, the Luhansk region has seen an increase in the cases of Russian soldiers leaving their combat positions," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in an operational update on Tuesday morning. "In order to maintain control of the situation, the Russian military leadership has increased the number of patrols to detain and return deserters to the units."

The update comes as the Ukrainian armed forces continue their counteroffensive measures in an attempt to retake areas currently under Russian control, including the region of Luhansk.

In September, Putin announced an annexation of four Ukrainian territories: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

"We will defend our land with all our strength and all our means," Putin said when announcing the annexation. Following that announcement, Ukrainian troops have continued to fight back in an attempt to retake control.

Serhiy Haidai, who serves as the regional governor of the Luhansk region, said in a Telegram post this week that if the Russians lose the city of Kreminna, which is located in the Luhansk region, "their entire line of defense will fall."

"The Russian occupation troops managed to build a very powerful defense in a month, even a little more. They are bringing there a huge amount of reserves and equipment. They are constantly renewing their forces," Haidai said in the post.

The New York Times also recently reported that Russian troops have been increasing defense structures near the city of Kreminna as Ukrainian troops continue their counteroffensive.

Earlier this month, the Russian media channel Mozhem Obyasnit (We Can Explain), published a Telegram post that said ads searching for trench diggers were popping up in the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Belgorod.

As the war has continued between Russia and Ukraine, other nations around the globe have continued to push for peace. Over this past weekend, Putin appeared on a Russian state-run TV outlet and said that he is "prepared to negotiate some acceptable outcomes."

"It's not us who refuse talks, it's them," Putin added.

On the other side of the war, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Associated Press this week that Ukraine is interested in holding a summit with Russia. Kuleba also requested that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres serve as a mediator in the negotiations, the AP reported.

Newsweek reached out to the ministry of foreign affairs in Russia and Ukraine for comment.