Russia desperate to recruit more troops

Fox News:

Moscow is trying to bribe its citizens into signing up to serve in the military as Russian President Vladimir Putin watches his forces continue to shrivel up in Ukraine the longer the conflict lasts.

"Putin has launched a full-on recruitment drive," Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and the author of "Putin’s Playbook," told Fox News Digital.

An analysis from The Atlantic Council found that Russian armed forces have turned to the civilian population to help fundraise for additional equipment, including drones, thermal sights, vehicles and medicine, through a group called "All for Victory," run by propagandist Vladimir Solovyov.

The most surprising initiative Russian officials have pursued involves a 1 million ruble payment (around $11,000) for anyone who signs up for the "elite division." Several pro-military accounts on Telegram amplified the initiative.
...

"Every Russian newspaper, from Izvestia to Moscow Young Communist, is carrying an announcement about an ‘elite combat division’ of contract soldiers being recruited for the special military operation," Koffler said.

Koffler argued that "Putin is almost certainly preparing for what likely will be a very long conflict in Ukraine" with what amounts to "effectively" a "covert mobilization."

"As a former KGB operative, Putin is skilled in covert tactics and often uses them to his advantage, when he needs to obfuscate the real situation," she said. "The reality is that these young men will be sent into a meat-grinder."

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said last month the number of Russia's total "permanent" casualties — which includes those discharged due to injury — is as high as 150,000 to 190,000 since the conflict began, with total wounded taking the number to just under 300,000, not including the Wagner Group and "prisoner battalions" that fought in Bakhmut. The ministry in February more specifically cited a figure of 40,000 to 60,000 dead.
...

Many military-aged men have fled Russia to avoid military service.  The 300,000 existing casualties suggest how deadly and disastrous the war has become for Russia.