I have little sympathy but I have sympathy. Many of these volunteers did so for the money. It’s a major part of their recruitment strategy. “You fight for your country, your family has more money, and if you die there’s enough for their comfort.” This is their country that’s been lying to them their whole lives. And they’re doing it for their family.
I feel no sympathy for their deaths in battle, but this isn’t Russians vs Ukrainians here, this is poor people being convinced to die for their rich leader’s ego and he isn’t even giving their family the money he promised. And many of these people likely think they’ll be conscripted anyways so they may as well take the cash when it’s an option
I appreciate the separation between those two concepts, and find that too few people look at it that way.
Every last one of them needs to be booted off Ukrainian soil, of course - that also goes without saying - but the Russian Army has a long history of lying to their citizens, promising money that never appears, and pulling small numbers of people from e.g., remote villages so that surviving families believe they’re one of the few and don’t see the larger losses at scale.
I can’t locate my well-thumbed copy of Grau at the moment, but I’m reasonably sure he substantiates the above at least as far back as Afghanistan.
I have little sympathy but I have sympathy. Many of these volunteers did so for the money. It’s a major part of their recruitment strategy. “You fight for your country, your family has more money, and if you die there’s enough for their comfort.” This is their country that’s been lying to them their whole lives. And they’re doing it for their family.
I feel no sympathy for their deaths in battle, but this isn’t Russians vs Ukrainians here, this is poor people being convinced to die for their rich leader’s ego and he isn’t even giving their family the money he promised. And many of these people likely think they’ll be conscripted anyways so they may as well take the cash when it’s an option
I appreciate the separation between those two concepts, and find that too few people look at it that way.
Every last one of them needs to be booted off Ukrainian soil, of course - that also goes without saying - but the Russian Army has a long history of lying to their citizens, promising money that never appears, and pulling small numbers of people from e.g., remote villages so that surviving families believe they’re one of the few and don’t see the larger losses at scale.
I can’t locate my well-thumbed copy of Grau at the moment, but I’m reasonably sure he substantiates the above at least as far back as Afghanistan.
Hunh. Doesn’t sound all that different from what we’ve got here in the US, if I’m being honest.