We asked Russian mercenaries and contract soldiers who have already fought in Moscow's war against Ukraine what they think of the new mobilization campaign. One said that on his first day in Ukraine, "I realized I had made the biggest mistake of my life."
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
The same man said that as he rode in an army truck and watched bombed-out villages go by, "I realized that we were the occupiers; we were the fascists. [...] I realized we were actually destroying a country. Along with its civilian population."
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
A veteran of the Wagner PMC told Meduza, "These [newly drafted] IT guys and other cannon fodder — what are they going to do? They won’t change anything [at the front] and they won’t solve anything."
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
Another soldier described his attempts to convince others not to go:
"I say, 'What if NATO did come? Would our lives get worse? Is your life really so good now?' They don’t have any arguments for why NATO is bad — they just repeat [what they hear on TV]."
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
"I say, 'What if NATO did come? Would our lives get worse? Is your life really so good now?' They don’t have any arguments for why NATO is bad — they just repeat [what they hear on TV]."
meduza.io/en/feature/202…
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