Putin facing revolt as soldiers refuse to deploy to Ukraine: diplomat

According to a Ukrainian diplomat speaking on the Daily Beast's "The New Abnormal" podcast, Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has multiple problems hampering his attempt to take over the country and now it is being compounded by soldiers refusing to take part in the war against their neighbors.

Speaking with host Molly Jong-Fast, Ukraine's Olexander Scherba explained Putin is now facing some harder choices as the invasion drags on.

With host Jong-Fast stating the invasion seems like a "humongous miscalculation" on the part of Putin, Scherba replied, "The goals he is trying to reach here are unreachable. The people in this country hate him and during this war he will realize the people of this country will hate him even more."

"One should understand the context of the Russian Ukrainian relations for centuries. Russians always saw Ukrainians as a part of the Russian people who choose to speak these funny dialects, who are peasants, "he explained before saying Putin "fell victim to his own propaganda."

Claiming that young soldiers who have entered the country are "extremely demotivated" he added, "I think, pretty much, everybody outside of his very closed circle around Putin knows that this campaign is going down the drain... We have received reports that soldiers from Crimea are refusing to be deployed to Odessa, to fight for Odessa. They see the warships approach the coast and suddenly stop and turned away."

"We, in Ukraine were clueless what was happening. Then it turns out, when they realize why they were sent, refused to," he added. "So if even Russian soldiers are refusing to get in involved, why would China want to get involved with this campaign?"

He added, "The [Ukrainian] soldiers are ready to fight until the last drop of blood here and Russian soldiers increasingly are clueless about what they’re doing here.”