Message The main problem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is “the depressed state of Ukrainian soldiers who do not see the prospect of victory”
Russian media "quotes" the Director of the Center for Intelligence and Global Affairs, Joshua Huminski, who allegedly called the condition of the personnel one of the key problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It's like Huminski wrote about it for The Hill. Anonymous telegram channels added to the news that allegedly the Ukrainian military did not trust "neither Zelenskyi nor their commanders." Huminski's words allegedly confirm the results of a survey published in Deutsche Welle, which says that no more than 25% of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to fight for Ukraine. The rest allegedly “sympathize” with Russia, or are “extremely passive” and “ready to show themselves to the enemy in order to stay alive.”
As the StopFake fact checkers checked, Huminski's quotes are distorted and taken out of context, and the statistics are made up. In fact, on August 24, The Hill published an article by Huminski entitled “How a long, cold winter could dampen Western support for Ukraine” in the “own thought” section of The Hill. The author reflects on how the countries that support Ukraine determine an acceptable political solution to end the war in Ukraine. He notes that now neither Ukraine nor Russia can end the war on the battlefield or create more favorable conditions for negotiations. He also noted that the West can provide Ukraine with all possible weapons, but cannot create more Ukrainians. These words were used by propagandists for manipulation, although the author of the article did not consider the emotional state of the Ukrainian army. Also, Huminski never spoke about the trust or distrust of the soldiers in the leadership of the state.
As for the statistics cited by propagandists, Deutsche Welle did not publish a survey on the motivation of the Ukrainian military or similar topics. In total, according to the results of sociological surveys, more than 90% of Ukrainians believe in the victory of Ukraine.
Russian propaganda systematically manipulates quotes taken out of context in order to pass off wishful thinking. Propagandists used similar tactics to convince Europe to force Kyiv to make concessions to Russia.