Over the past year or two, there were a few reports with similar content:
I did a quick Google search and came up with an article on the subject:
A youth from Hisar, Sonu, is feared dead in the Russia-Ukraine war, with his companion Aman missing since September 22. Both men were reportedly deceived into joining the Russian army after going to Russia for a foreign language course. Families have sought help from the MHA and the Indian...
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
I am just wondering, how does this happen, being lured into the Russian Army to fight in Ukraine under false pretences? The article says that the two men went to Russia to learn Russian in 2024. The visas were about to expire and they were expected to come back home when the families were told by one of the men that they were being deceived to join the Russian army under a pretext of a security job. So the guy clearly has freedom of movement and is being able to call his family to tell about the “deception”, which he clearly understands to be just that, says he doesn’t want to do it, yet recruited anyway and sent to Ukraine. So what’s the trick? Furthermore, what is the point of recruiting two (well, few) foreign nationals with presumably no military experience (or training, as it appears from the article) who will provide zero benefit on the frontline, risking a scandal with one of your major trading partners and so on?
Several possibilities exist here, in my opinion. First is none of it is true, of course. If it is (or some of it is), this is not happening on some grand scale, but some “patriotic” low level recruitment officers somehow scam an individual or two, still not sure how, and they are sent to the meat grinder. Even that does not seem likely to me. Another possibility is these individuals volunteer and sign up, realize what they signed up for and panic. Fourth is an equivalent of sex trafficking and someone is collecting bonuses for these people being recruited (yet they understand this is being done and are able to contact their families). And so on. None of it makes much sense.
Another note, in the article one of the family remembers insists that he received a message on Telegram allegedly from the Russian authorities to come and collect the body of the deceased fella in Moscow because Russia is not paying the expenses of transferring the bodies internationally. Well, this obviously sounds like a scam, especially since we are talking about India (nothing against India, just real talk). The next step is probably transferring money to some bank account. Second, it could be a message from a fried working for the SBU, in order to create a scandal that I had mentioned above. Third, the body would probably be left/buried where it was found on the battlefield simply to avoid dealing with all this stuff I am discussing here. I mean someone goes to Russia and doesn’t come back is not unheard of. So again, none of it makes any sense.
Another note is from the tweet cited above where “Ukraine notes Russia outsources its war”. Beyond the obvious “what about” stuff, this would be the perfect scenario for Russia to outsource the war, let the Russians live and work in Russia, contribute to the GDP, while mostly foreigners fight and die in the grinder. The amount of money Russia pays to its citizens to sign a contract and fight would be more than sufficient to pay to most of anyone else from the countries a good Ukrainian representative listed as cited in the tweet. A couple of obvious issues though. One would be contracting a capable, but more (most) importantly willing force that will keep pushing and won’t turn around and run once pressured for the very first time. Since Afghanistan is on the list, we all know how it worked out in their own homeland, in spite of being trained and armed by NATO and is a perfect example. Money or not, you need the men with ideology or at least understanding the cause as presented in order to succeed (unless fighting on the undeniably stronger side - then money would suffice - but this isn’t the case). Second, if this was actually happening, we would be seeing a whole lot more foreigners taken prisoner, killed and so on. And I would guess that this is not happening for the very reason I mentioned in one of the previous sentences. Ukrainian mercenaries are not there for the money only, but ideological reasons: fighting the “evil”, some very right oriented fellas, etc. Russia has no such ideology that connects far beyond its borders.
Anyway, I think these random stories that appear once in a while are complete rubbish and have no relevance or meaning.
Next subject. Saw this post yesterday:
Imagine the city with a prewar population of nearly 3 million people, bigger than Paris or Toronto even, for example, is reportedly bombarded all night and there are 8 injured people, five of whom had to be hospitalized with undisclosed injuries. This is with parallel reports of indiscriminate killing of and purposefully targeting civilians.
Another example of the same theme:
Yet in the Russian cities close to the border they attach “drone roofs” and “cages” to ambulances, as well as authorities buying armoured ambulances. Numerous reports of “double-tapping” as well. Many mentioned here previously. I wonder if there is a count on the other side and who would “win” the competition prorated relative to the number of strikes.
All this shit is so tiring and old. Any reasonable person understands the horror of daily air sirens, living out of the bathtub due to being afraid of being killed by the next drone or missile that malfunctions, EW-ed, debris from intercepts, etc, daily trips (several times a day/night, perhaps) to bomb shelters, and so on. Living without heat in the cold, light in the evening… Without hope or with very little… The horror of war. This is real stuff that anyone who read a book or saw a movie understands. This propaganda nonsense is only doing a disservice to the cause, in my opinion; it does not amplify the misery and despair, but the opposite.
A good read on the drones and misconceptions (
@rsemmes, you would probably be interested):
A good read from Dara Massicot. Basically she does not exactly agree with some of the assessments cited in the posts above:
What the Kremlin is learning from the war in Ukraine.
www.foreignaffairs.com
There is also a podcast with her on the subject:
A Conversation With Dara Massicot
www.foreignaffairs.com
In the meantime, Ukraine reportedly orders evacuation of at least parts of Kramatorsk city and surrounding areas:
Ukraine announced on Thursday it was ordering the evacuation of children and their guardians from towns and villages in and around the frontline city of Kramatorsk, citing an uptick in Russian drone attacks.
www.barrons.com
On the subject of air defences mentioned above by Feanor, in addition to likely lower delivery of Patriot and other missiles, there appears to be improvement to the Russian missiles as well, which is not unexpected (no more subscription here from me, so I go as most of everyone else now and cite it as such):
A good thread that is worth a read from the Ukrainian fighter I cited here a few times previously, whose handle is “Salt” on Tweeter:
@solonko1648: Pressure and Chaosization. The russian offensive in Donetsk region has become an indicator of how the enemy applies its accumulated experience, compensates for its own weaknesses, and skillfully exploi...…
threadreaderapp.com
Feanor mentioned some movement at the “bunny ears” salient. There were also numerous reports of Russians using armour again - AFVs and tanks - along with motorcycles and “light vehicles” there as well. Numerous infantry dismounts, multiple vehicles hit, etc. Saw another video cited by multiple (pro-)Ukrainian sources of a great number of UA vehicles hit as well over the past couple of months in the area - another “death road”, suggesting deadly fighting, significant casualties, lacking logistics, and so on. Like I said in my previous post, there is significant fighting taking place there with a lot of people being killed on both sides. In my opinion, there is no chance that the reports like “the defenders are inflicting favourable losses” in the area are true. Both sides are getting more or less equally slaughtered is a more likely scenario. All these reports of multiple “encirclements” (regardless of the side making the claims) likely carry just as much weight. Saw another report, where Ukrainian forces have withdrawn in boats over a reservoir taking almost no casualties seems illogical too.
Either there were no troops remaining (likely the case) or they took heavy casualties when retreating in this environment. Especially since this was the expected turn of events. But stranger things have happened in this war.
www.rusi.org
"The Russian economy is a mess – as Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) assessments show. And BOFIT has been tracking the Russian economy for 30 years.
