The Kremlin is offering a record signing bonus to recruit soldiers to fight in Ukraine, according to Hungarian news outlet Mandiner, which cited a CNN report. Earlier in the war, it was known that prisoners were being promised their freedom for fighting on the front. Now, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is giving 1.9 million rubles ($22,000) to residents who join up to fight. And that’s just the signing bonus.
Soldiers could earn up to 5.2 million rubles ($59,600) in the first year of service, the mayor’s statement read. Injured soldiers are eligible for cash payments of $5,690 to $11,390 depending on the injury suffered, while the families of soldiers killed could receive $34,150.
Clearly, Russian losses continue to mount, although no official numbers have ever been released. The U.K. indicated casualties were over 70,000 in just May and June, which would explain the urgency to get more boots on the ground. Just yesterday, Newsweek reported that a British admiral said Moscow would need five years to replenish its troops, after estimating it had lost 550,000 soldiers since the start of the war.
Back in February, Zelensky raised eyebrows when he claimed that Ukraine had suffered only 31,000 casualties since the conflict began.
There has been a slew of articles on women serving in the Ukrainian military and girls training to be soldiers, and early this month, it came out that Zelensky was also turning to prisons for fresh bodies, indicating losses have been more drastic than Kyiv cares to admit. In April, Russia was reportedly recruiting female convicts to fight.
