OREANDA-NEWS Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) suffer from burnout, depression, post-traumatic stress, divorce and want peace in order to be able to return home. Melinda Haring, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, writes about this in a column for the Western edition of Business Insider.

According to Haring, who returned from a trip to the Zaporozhye front, Ukrainian soldiers remain "firm, steely and resolute." "But if you talk to them for more than five minutes, they will tell you that there is frustration," she notes.

The expert stated that one of the sources of tension among the AFU fighters is, in particular, separation from their family, which most of them saw little after the start of the service. In addition, many of the soldiers do not feel the efforts of the rest of society. "There are a lot of people in Kiev who pose for selfies and eat in restaurants, while a small segment of Ukrainian society takes all the risk. It's a common feeling." Haring explained.

Many Ukrainian military want the end of the war, but not at any cost. "One thing that surprised me is that we have a difficult debate on the topic: "What is victory?" But when you go and talk to soldiers, they just want to go home. They want peace and they want to go home," says Haring.

Earlier, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmitry Kukharchuk said that Ukraine is losing strategically in the conflict with Russia due to inadequate perception of the situation in Ukrainian society. According to him, at the beginning of the special military operation, many Ukrainians were ready to go to the front as volunteers, but later the situation changed due to the fact that they underestimated the potential of Russian troops.