Summary

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 160,000 more Russians aged 18–30 be drafted from April 1 to July 15, amid U.S.-brokered ceasefire talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the Kremlin is preparing a major offensive in Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, accusing Russia of stalling negotiations to gain territorial leverage.

Over 100,000 Russian soldiers are confirmed dead. Ukraine reported 46,000 dead and 380,000 wounded.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Vlad should call his MAGA supporters to join his cause and it will fulfill their need for violence.

  • Ksin@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The last round of conscription was meet with uncharacteristically loud pushback from the russian public so pushing ahead with even more is interesting. Is the kremlin that confident in the effect of it’s propaganda? or is it just that desperate?

    • Aux@feddit.uk
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      6 days ago

      The Kremlin is confident that they will kill as many protesters as will be required to destroy any uprising.

      • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        The amount of Russians leaving the country to avoid conscription was very high. You can’t really hide that. There are stories of men being kept hidden to avoid the press gangs. But all of that is probably par for the course considering the amount of soldiers dying on foreign soil.

        • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 days ago

          Ehh sorry. I assumed/hoped you were talking about something more, that I wasn’t aware of. I know of these protests, but they were not nearly intense enough to disrupt the system. Much of the urban youth that might have led the protests has left the country in the meantime too, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the next round of recruitment is met with even weaker resistance…

      • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        There were protests and hundred of thousands of young Russian men left the country after Putin announced the first “partial” mobilisation. The recruitment process was also botched and conscripted even the disabled and old.

    • Motorheadbanger@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      The pushback was for the mobilisation, while this is a start of a routine conscription event, these happen twice every year

    • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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      6 days ago

      Both sides have resorted impressment to refill their ranks, regardless of public pushback men can still get bagged into a van on the street and sent to the front lines.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Are they going to be equipped like the Russian soldiers in late WWII? One soldier gets a rifle, the other gets five bullets, and both get helmets the thickness of tin cans.

    • Apollo42@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Russian soldiers in late WW2 were typically very well equipped, as were most soldiers by that stage in the war (even German soldiers were pretty decently equipped late war, though mostly due to having almost no soldiers left to equip).

      Late summer 1941 and even at points during Stalingrad, sure there were definitely times when soviet soldiers were being thrown into battle massively underequipped, but this was the exception rather than the rule.

      By 1944 (even by 1943) the Red Army was more mechanised than the Wehrmacht and was better at Blitzkrieg than the Wehr ever were.

      • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        Lend lease really helped with mechanization. The jeeps and trucks they had were indispensable for the war effort. We often talk about guns and bombs, but people don’t realize how important transportation and heavy machinery is.

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      That is ww1. Not world war 2. The whole ‘wait for your comrade to die and take his weapons’ did not happen during ww2. It did happen in ww1.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    As we all know, repeatedly drafting several divisions worth of men is a sign you’re winning the war…

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Territorially? Yes, Russia is winning. But politically, economically and socially? Russia already lost. The deaths of thousands of soldiers in the face of Russia’s demographic crisis will result fewer labour force, which means lower tax revenue. The Russian economy is in war footing and this is already causing inflation because of heightened government expenditure, and businesses struggling to pay the ever increasing wage demands of civilians at home, who replaced the jobs that would have been filled instead by soldiers from the front. With secondary sanctions, even Chinese banks are reluctant to lend to Russia. The future generations of Russians will be paying for the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine. In essence, Russia may be winning territorially, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory with generational consequences.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        They still only have 20 percent of the country. After years. At this rate they will run out of people before Ukraine runs out of territory.

  • PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social
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    6 days ago

    And it’s 1 2 3 what are we fighting for don’t ask me I don’t give a damn next stop is Zaporizhzhia

    That’s a lot of meat for the grinder

    • iamjackflack@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      Unless someone steps in, Ukraine is gonna struggle to do this alone. They only have so many people and will naturally fall due to lack of man power, funding, and equip.

  • Denixen@feddit.nu
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    7 days ago

    Let’s just imagine what it would look like if Europe mobilized and armed 160,000 soldiers. The fact that it sees undoable for most tells us how badly situated we are…

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      7 days ago

      With Italy having 338 000 active military personnel, France 304 000 and Spain’s 199 000, it really isn’t that hard to imagine.

      • Denixen@feddit.nu
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        7 days ago

        Where did you get these numbers? I cannot find any sources to support them. Active personnel of mentioned countries is half to 2/3 of mentioned numbers. And this tells us nothing about these countries ability to produce new personnel.

        Also, that’s all on paper. When UK and France discuss a ‘coalition of the willing’ to act as peace keepers in Ukraine they are able to scrape together no more than a few tens of thousands, even though it is believed that 100-200K is required to be a deterring force.

        We are talking about a force of several hundreds of thousands to be trained, armed and moved to a front to fight within a few months or at least within a year, in addition to already existing forces, a large part of which are unavailable to train new recruits because they are deployed.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Europe has 450 million people. It will be easier for them than Russia with 146 million people. Stop spreading FUD.

    • lumony@lemmings.world
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      7 days ago

      Pretty much the only Western-aligned nation that’s ready to fight a war is Israel.

      War, for Americans, really is just all fun and games right now. Most people haven’t seen friends die. When that starts happening and the reality of war sets in, I don’t think most Westerners will stick around. They value their lives too much.

      • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        Isnotreal can barely hold their own against hezbollah and hamas. They cannot fight an actual country that doesn’t have a postcolonial arranged military.

      • gabbath@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        You think Israel would help the West fight Russia? I kinda doubt it. They don’t seem the type to fight real wars, only massacre innocents they fanatically hate.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        7 days ago

        Most people haven’t seen friends die.

        And they didn’t learn the lessons from their grandfather’s experience.

      • Denixen@feddit.nu
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        7 days ago

        I don’t know that it is quite that bad, I think people will surprise you. Europeans stuck with Ukraine even though it costs and while some are turning their back they are a minority and they consider Ukraine none of the their business.

        I think when another NATO or EU country is affected Europeans will see it very differently. It is an existential threat then. Russia wants to paint Europe as decadent and lazy, but Europeans stand firm when it really matters. We’ve proven that with Ukraine.

        The bigger problem for Europe is to produce armed forces in the hundreds of thousands within the next few years. Making the hardware and training the soldiers in that small off a time will be difficult.

        As for Americans… I don’t really know where we have them. I do think there is a non-negligible chance they will be in a civil war by the end of the decade or the start of the next.

        • lumony@lemmings.world
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          7 days ago

          Europeans stuck with Ukraine

          I mean, giving weapons is different from sending soldiers. This is what I mean by “most people haven’t seen friends die.” It’s a completely different ballgame that most of us in the West do not have experience in and are not prepared for.

  • lumony@lemmings.world
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    7 days ago

    Ukrainians are also forcing their working class to go fight for their ruling class.

    https://kaotic.com/video/9fe428c5_20250330071906_t

    Videos are uploaded almost daily to Kaotic of Ukrainians being hauled off to die in a war.

    Pretty sure they’re not allowed to leave the country, too.

    Maybe this is why Ukraine was never allowed in NATO. They are behaving very similarly to Russia.

    Edit: Was just catching up and here’s a video of Ukrainians trying to leave their country and getting stopped by a soldier.

    https://kaotic.com/video/f6591020_20250328155401_t

    The propaganda is real on both sides, guys. Try to understand that most of the information you see is being fed through an “English filter” first.

    Edit: The people replying to my comment wouldn’t be saying the same things about Russian conscription. It just goes to show how strong bias and delusion is on both sides. They’re saying I’m spreading propaganda and calling me a troll, which is an effort to censor me thus further proving my point about an English filter.

    • a9cx34udP4ZZ0@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      And the propaganda you’re trying to feed is straight from Russia with love through a “Russian filter”.

      Ignoring the fact you’re a troll: one of these countries was invaded, and is taking every measure possible to secure their continued existence. One of these countries invaded a sovereign nation, and is wasting citizen lives for no reason beyond an insane, expansionist dictator’s whims.

      These are not the same, no matter how many times you try to spew the false equivalency.

      • lumony@lemmings.world
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        7 days ago

        Err… these are videos taken by Ukrainians. I guess they’re trying to spread propaganda by showing us the truth? That’s how bad it’s gotten on our side, unfortunately.

        Are you seriously trying to justify sending unwilling people to their deaths on the grounds that they were invaded? What if the people being forced into battle think they can’t win? Should they still be forced to fight and blocked from leaving? That’s pretty fucked up, man.

        I expect you to say something like “you know what’s fucked up? getting your country invaded because of one madman” blah blah blah. Like, come on guys. This really just puts into perspective how rational and intelligent the average internet user is these days.

        None of you care about reason. Only looking good in front of your peers.

        Hysteria is real.