The following is a report from PPI Board member and representative from the Pirate Party of the Netherlands, Mark Anthony van Treuren about his observations during humanitarian missions in Ukraine.

Many people wanted to join the army in the beginning to defend their country from the Russians. In the last year corruption from generals has led to unnecessary deaths among the soldiers. Supplies not arriving. Or money disappearing. And choices made that got people killed. There is an unofficial system that allows you to get a safe job if you have the right friends. It has become more difficult to get new soldiers. So people are now being picked up from the street and brought to the frontline. If you have friends in the army you can tell them you got picked up and are more useful somewhere else and they will arrange this. Young men are not as happy and willing to join the army anymore because of this practice. The enemy is picking up on this and using it to influence the public that the Soviet Union is not that bad and the Russian system worked well in the past and can give them that again as after the Second World War. Those who don’t want to go to the frontline are now advocating for this. Hoping to be saved by the Russians. The corruption is damaging the trust people have in the government too much. The tension among the people has got worse and is making people unwilling to fight. Most people understand also that the Russians will be a lot worse but also understand that some people don’t want to risk their lives for a corrupt government. This is a serious problem and needs to be solved very soon.

The general of Ukraine studied in Russia and his parents are in Russia. And they are still alive. He doesn’t even know the Ukrainian language. The Minister of Defence was against corruption and wanted to digitalize the army and make it more drone focused. The last 3 days are protests because no one understands why the minister was fired by Zelensky. The people think the government is not interested in winning the war. Op Spiderweb was performed by the Security Service of Ukraine and was successful and the leader of the operation was fired.

The general has been in this position for 2 years. He did good work like deoccupying Kharkiv but his methods are Soviet based. So using a lot of people and letting them die instead of focusing on drones and other more effective ways of warfare. It is because the UA army is very autonomous and the battalions get direct support from orgs in Europe that make it possible for them to be effective independent from the UA leadership.

The people of this country understand something is not right. But the country and the army are independent from the government. Even if the government gets infiltrated by Russia it will not affect the war against the occupier. As long as Europe keeps supporting the independent divisions of the army.

The far right nationalist party in Ukraine is the group that got the resistance against the Russians organized in 2014. The Azov division is part of this group. The party is in practice not really functional because everyone is in an active role in the army or government. They are known for the red and black flag and are highly respected among the people. When you think of far right you might think of anti-Islam or fundamentalist fascism. But this is not the case. Its sole purpose was to get the Russian occupiers out. All religions are accepted and welcome, they say. All people from other countries are too, they say. The only ones not welcome are the occupiers that want to eradicate the Ukrainian language, culture, government system, economic system and traditions into what the Russians have. And with force and vicious violence made loyal to Putin like Belarus.

A lot of people don’t like them. Not everyone likes them. Some are critical about them and say they only want money and power. But they also understand this group was and is needed against the enemy.

Some people in west Ukraine get targeted on Telegram and brought into Telegram groups and proposed to do terrorist attacks. The last one was at the station by a citizen of the city. It is not a very successful venture anymore because most people know it doesn’t get the pay that is promised. And the risk is too high.

I am escorting a group of ladies active in the DIY experimental music genre Noise. I drive them to all their shows in different cities.

Noise is a popular music genre in Ukraine. In France there is a group with a lot of Russians and they have a strong anti-Ukraine culture. The Noise scene is very popular in Finland with white-supremacy fascists. They use the music for their propaganda and use rape and other sexually unacceptable art on their covers. They ask to be canceled. This tells me that they might be nihilistic extremists and not real fascists. But I don’t know for sure.

Almost everyone I speak to is active in some way for the military or as a soldier. And it is always directly for a division or battalion.

Ex-military from NATO countries that served in the the foreign legion army in Ukraine help out specific army divisions after their service in the same way.

This is all information I get from talks here. This is not my personal opinion

De Telegraaf (a Dutch newspaper) reports this morning that there are protests in Ukraine over recruitment methods that involve picking people up off the street and sending them to the front line. This is not entirely accurate. While the public is unhappy with this approach, they generally believe that service of some kind is required—though not necessarily at the front. If you report for duty voluntarily, those options are available. If you evade or obstruct the process, however, you risk being picked up off the street, leaving you with little say in the matter. The protests are actually driven by issues such as the dismissal of the Minister of Defence, errors made by army leadership, the removal of highly successful division commanders, cronyism within the military, and political corruption.

I asked people about Zelensky. They all start off with a smile and say he surprised everyone and probably himself as well with winning the elections. He has done good and didn’t expect to be confronted with a war. They say Putin may have thought he was weak and could win in 3 days from a comedian. This mistake will hopefully cost him his life. But Zelensky is an actor. A very good one. He completely embodied the role of president and after so long time he probably doesn’t know what it would feel like to not play this role. He got the whole world to care about Ukraine and he had been wonderful for the people. But people see he has been making more mistakes that has cost lives. It seems as if the war is been taking longer than needed. A different person will be better but no one tells me who they think would be better. Some hint to high-ranking military personnel. They think he doesn’t want to leave the position of president and will probably do anything to make sure no elections will happen. They do think that if elections do happen it will be a fair one. It is a good thing the battalions and divisions get supported from outside the government. This is very important so they are not dependent on the government. They ask us to please continue to do so. They can win this war. As long as we help the military directly and not the government. There is corruption in the higher layers of government-and-friends politics in the drafting procedure that create strange situations and unfair treatment that costs lives and distrust in the government. People are risking their lives willingly. Many have lost friends and family. They are determined to win this war. But they will do that without the politicians and government reps in power. They sometimes behave as if they want Putin to win.

I will now go to Odessa for a few days and then travel back to Amsterdam.

Today I was at The Ukrainian Rehabilitation Center. I delivered Amanita Muscara to this hospital. They will be using it to treat soldiers and citizens with serieus trauma.

pp-international.net/2026/08/u…