Since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Russia has dispatched hundreds of thousands of men to battlefields that have become charnel houses. Groups involving tens of thousands of missing soldiers’ relatives and friends have sprouted up on Russian social media, where they share information in the hopes of discovering what happened to the missing men. The Kremlin has suppressed domestic coverage of the war and offers no official figure for soldiers missing in action. Russian antiwar commentators believe the Russian military abandons dead fighters to avoid paying compensation to the families. It was less than two weeks after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Source: Wall Street Journal May 08, 2024 09:35 UTC