Having known Russian people on and off all my life, and having read numerous stories of conscription, this is not only the smartest but the most humane thing Ukraine could do right now.
You are what you do when it counts.
You are what you do when it counts.
I agree, it's "positive propaganda". Along with videos of deceased soldiers and blown up machinery, showing the borderline brainwashed and naive the consequences of their actions may put a stop to this before it gets...more out-of-hand.
I don't think this meets the definition. It's 100% wartime messaging with a political purpose in mind, but I think it is a poor example of propaganda.
Such messaging is often misleading, which has led to common negative connotations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/propaganda#English
The only information you are getting from either side right now is just psyops and disinformation. As expected, it is an actual war, after all.
Russia claimed they had zero losses after the first day. then Ukraine comes out and claims they killed 2000 russian soldiers on the very first day, with like 100 tanks and 500 APCs. All in one day, lol.
All sorts of other wild claims from both sides, and I'd expect this one is too.
One of them is now claimed to be fake by the other side. Alikhan Dasaev is supposedly a long time resident of Kiev and a Ukrainian citizen of 20 years. Allegedly, the video was made soon after Chechens allegedly dispatched 10,000 spec op troops to Ukraine in order to storm Kiev. Chechens are renowned to be fearless fighters, but what an incredibly overstated number, why not one billion gazillion of navy seals?
source: https://novayagazeta-livejournal-com.translate.goog/16360931...
Current Ukrainian claims of Russian losses may be inflated, but it’s hard to tell from outside: 27 Planes, 26 Helicopters, 146 Tanks, 706 Armoured vehicles, 49 Cannons, 1 Buk missile launcher, 4 Grad missile launchers, 30 Cars, 60 Cysterns, 2 UAVs, 2 Ships/boats, 4300 Personnel. Source: https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1497882874053341185
I would assume the number without publicly available video to be 5–10x higher.
They are more likely to surrender. At the end you are just helping save the life of your own.