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2/ Russian warblogger Alex Kartavykh received thousands of responses to his question of why his followers are "still not storming Pokrovsk". The first thread in this series summarises what respondents gave as their reasons for not joining the army:
2/ After Russian warblogger Alex Kartavykh asked his followers on Telegram why "you're ... still fixing a stove in civilian life ... and you're still not storming Pokrovsk", he received no fewer than 4,396 responses. This thread continues a look at what they said.
3/ Kartavykh has collated quotes from his respondents into a number of categories, and highlighted representative examples. They provide a rare insight into unfiltered Russian public opinion, which isn't normally on display like this:
2/ Warblogger Alex Kartavykh has written a commentary on why Russian civilians are increasingly wary of signing military contracts, despite very lucrative salaries and bonuses. The reasons why seem to be escaping those responsible for recruitment.
2/ "The chalk mountains, so unassuming against the backdrop of the kilometres-high, snow-capped giants, certainly make a deceptive impression on the traveler from afar. What's the issue with climbing a hundred metres, really?
2/ The author of the 'Vault No. 8' Telegram channel, one of the relatively few surviving mobilised soldiers from September 2022, writes of his experience of encountering contract soldiers over the course of 2024 to 2025:
2/ 'Voenkor Kotenok' has published a commentary, which has since mostly been deleted, on the tendency of the Russian army (here referred to euphemistically as the "Laotian army") to compensate for huge manpower losses by transferring scarce specialists into assault squads.
2/ Soldiers and volunteers have been speaking for some time about shortages of almost everything on the front line, with the gaps being filled at their own expense by 'humanitarian aid' fundraisers and the soldiers' own expenditure.
2/ The Russian independent media outlet The Insider has been speaking with a number of airline pilots about the impact of sanctions on their work.
3/ While he has not (yet) been charged with any criminal offences, this was followed a week later by Alekhin being declared a 'foreign agent' by the Russian government – effectively forbidding him from all public activity.
2/ The wife of Daniyal Saifullaevich Ilyasov, a sapper-deminer serving with the 89th Guards Sapper Regiment (military unit 75406), has recorded a pair of videos complaining about how her husband has likely been sent to his death in Ukraine. 
2/ The account from Alexander Zaborovsky, a soldier fighting near Pokrovsk in late September 2025 illustrates how difficult the conditions are there. The Russian offensive currently appears to be largely stalled in the area.
2/ Throughout the Ukraine war, Russian troops have faced constant shortages of medical supplies, with many being given first aid kits manufactured as long ago as the 1950s (as seen in the photo above). Many have bled to death due to tourniquets that snap when used.
2/ In 2024, the Urzus Special Purpose Medical Unit (SPMU) of the Volunteer Assault Corps was established in Luhansk to treat Russian soldiers injured in the Ukraine war. It was run by a married couple from Stavropol, Evgeny and Ekaterina Runov, call signs "Shepherd" and "Cat." 
2/ Earlier this year, the Russian army decided to impose what it calls 'peacetime order' on the rear areas of the occupied territories. They are now defined as "territory living by the rules of the permanent point of deployment."