Standing outside that office, chain smoking and drinking sweet coffee, he told CNN he just couldn’t handle watching his men die anymore. They see a lot of enemy drones, artillery and mortars,” one unit commander currently fighting in Pokrovsk told CNN. A group of Ukrainian soldiers rests after completing a long mission in Russia's Kursk region. Several commanders told CNN that many officers would not report desertion and unauthorized absences, hoping instead to convince troops to return voluntarily, without facing punishment. During recent leave in Kyiv, Horetskyi told CNN that while his role has existed for a while, it consisted mostly of paperwork.

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Persons: Ukraine CNN — Dima, Dima, he’d, Pokrovsk, “, didn’t, can’t, Ivana Kottasova, ”, Andryi Horetskyi, Chasiv Yar, Serhiy Tsehotskiy, Horetskyi, Vitalii, Vladimir Putin, –, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s, Oleksandr Syrskyi, …, ” Horetskyi, “ I’ve Organizations: Ukraine CNN, CNN, Motorized Infantry Brigade, Administrative Services Center, Ukraine’s, Kyiv, Dima’s Locations: Pokrovsk, Sumy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Russia, Russia's Kursk, Ukrainian, Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipro, Russian, Donetsk, Russia’s Kursk, Kursk, Moscow, Donetsk region, “