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1 Russia is bleeding. The country’s casualty rate has reached unprecedented levels, with tens of thousands of soldiers being sent home either wrapped in bandages or cooped up in caskets. In the past, those numbers wouldn’t have fazed President Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin commanders. They could always find more men to replace those who had fallen. Now, it’s a major problem, because just as Russia’s losses are rising, its recruitment levels are falling. For several months in a row, the number of dead and wounded has surpassed the number

2 of people willing to join the Russian ranks, forcing the Kremlin to resort to increasingly desperate measures in order to control this spiraling crisis. This has been a long time coming. Russian commanders have adopted reckless and wasteful tactics since day one of this war, sending their soldiers into battle without proper preparation, training, or equipment. For many, the so-called “special military operation” was little more than a suicide mission, and as Ukraine put up much stronger resistance than Moscow had expected, it didn’t take long for

3 the first Russian soldiers to fall in battle. As the war progressed, it only got worse. In order to reduce the number of tanks and armored vehicles that were being destroyed, the Kremlin changed tack, ordering troops to charge on Ukrainian positions without any armor to back them up. Countless squads of men have since been sent to their deaths. Brothers, fathers, and sons treated like little more than pieces of meat, thrown into the firing lines by clueless commanders who continue to believe that their “brute force” tactics will, eventually, bear fruit, despite

4 literally years of evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, Ukraine grew steadily stronger with each passing year. It was no longer merely digging in and withstanding Russia’s attacks; it was actively seeking out and destroying its enemies, mastering the art of drone warfare while developing bigger, better, and more explosive weapons to use against the Kremlin’s war machine. Even casual observers could see the writing on the wall: Russia’s foolish strategy was utterly unsustainable in the long term, and it was only a matter of time until the country’s catastrophic

5 casualty rate proved too much to bear. Indeed, as far back as February 2025, the Institute for the Study of War noted that the country was reaching the stage where its recruitment would no longer be enough to counteract its casualties: “Russia’s current force generation apparatus appears unable to recruit the manpower that the Russian military needs to sustain Russia’s current rate of offensive operations.” The signs were all there. It wasn’t just that Russia was losing troops in enormous numbers, but there was also ample evidence to suggest that the country was

6 starting to have a tougher time adding members to its military ranks. Russia’s regional authorities, for example, had started running more intensive months-long promotional campaigns to attract new recruits, while increasing the one-off payments made to them and their families if they chose to sign up. Those payments even began to dramatically exceed the average Russian salary, with the Kremlin clearly hoping that more cash would be enough of an incentive to bring more people on board. The Russian Minister of Defense also took steps to amend legislation in order to

7 allow people with certain diseases and disorders into the army. The country even asked one of its few remaining allies – North Korea – to send some troops to help liberate Russian territory that Ukraine had managed to seize in the country’s Kursk region. Seeing all this evidence piled up, a rational country would have adjusted its tactics on the ground in order to reduce its casualty numbers. Its commanders might have stopped ordering quite as many fruitless, suicidal assault missions along the front lines, for example, which could have allowed more Russian

8 troops to stay alive, intact, and ready to fight another day. But Russia has rarely been perceived like a rational country in recent years. Even when its casualty numbers were climbing far beyond what anyone would classify as sustainable, it stubbornly persisted with its foolish and reckless tactics. New recruits continued to arrive on the front lines, only to be quickly dispatched into dangerous kill zones. Many were killed within their first weeks of service. Indeed, as far back as late 2024, leading analysts revealed that the average life expectancy

9 of a Russian recruit was between two weeks and a month. As time went by, it became even shorter. It was only a matter of time until Russia failed to recruit enough soldiers to replace its frontline losses—and that moment appears to have arrived in late 2025, almost four years into the fighting. Reports in early 2026 revealed that Russia had begun losing several thousand more troops than it was able to recruit. It was a major moment in the war, but Ukraine had to wait and see if it was just a one-off incident, or the start of a dramatic new trend. It was the latter.

10 The same pattern continued in the following months, and again: for multiple consecutive months spanning late 2025 into early 2026, Russia lost more soldiers than it recruited. While the exact numbers are impossible to obtain and estimates vary from source to source, the “I Want to Live” initiative – a state hotline set up in Ukraine to help Russian soldiers surrender safely – claims that Russia recruited just over 80,000 people in the first three months of 2026. Meanwhile, data from the Ukrainian General Staff and repeated by the Institute for the Study of War said that,

11 during that same period of time, the Kremlin suffered losses of over 85,000. This was backed up by data collated by the German researcher, Janis Kluge, who looked at how Russia’s recruitment levels have changed since 2024. Kluge found that, while 2024 was a relatively stable year and Russia was consistently able to hit or even exceed its recruitment targets, rates began to decline throughout 2025. Some months saw a 20% or higher decline in new recruits compared to the prior months. And by 2026, the difference was clear to see: in the first few months of this year,

12 Russia was recruiting just 800 soldiers per day, on average, but in the first quarter of 2025, it was bringing in anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 a day. As a result, I Want To Live and other organizations have predicted that Russia will most likely fall short of its stated goal to recruit 409,000 contract soldiers in 2026. And it’s hardly surprising. There are numerous reasons why the country is finding it increasingly difficult to find people who are willing to sign a contract that will most likely result in their death just a couple of weeks later. Back at the start of the

13 war, it wasn’t as difficult. Back then, Russia could still rely on its propaganda machine to make people believe that the “special military operation” was going smoothly, that Ukraine’s people were just waiting to be liberated by brave Russian heroes, and that the entire operation would be over in no time. Plenty of naïve and gullible able-bodied men believed the stories. They thought they could sign up for the military, cash a hefty check to help themselves or their families, do their time on the front lines, and then head back home once the conquest of Kyiv was

14 complete. But weeks turned into months and months turned into years, and the Kremlin’s lies became easier and easier to see straight through. While plenty of people were still willing to fight, many began to realize the truth. They knew that agreeing to go to the front lines of Ukraine was, in effect, a death sentence. They could see that Russia wasn’t winning this war, and that it would most likely continue for years to come, and an increasing number of people wanted to have no part in that. As time has gone by, it has become much harder for Russia’s recruiters to sell people

15 on the idea that they should go and fight. So, they got desperate. They didn’t just increase the financial incentives on offer, they also resorted to more underhanded tactics to meet their quotas. They went into jails, for example, and offered convicts the chance to leave their cells and have their sentences wiped out if they’d agree to do a six or 12-month stint as soldiers. They started to recruit people with serious or terminal illnesses, like HIV, tuberculosis, or hepatitis C, who would usually be exempt from military service. They coerced people with alcohol addictions and

16 drug problems into signing military contracts, many of whom reportedly had no idea what they were agreeing to at the time. They threatened ethnic minorities and immigrants with deportation unless they joined the army, and piled pressure on the poorest communities across the country. They even tricked and trafficked thousands of men from Africa to join the war, using false pretenses, outright lies, or false promises of big salaries to lure them away from their homelands. But none of it has been enough to counterbalance the casualties. Russia is still losing more men

17 than it can find. So, now, it’s getting even more desperate. Before we go deeper into that, you’re watching The Military Show — and if you haven’t subscribed yet, now’s the time. Russia’s recruiters have tried targeting poor people, minorities, the ill, and the infirm. Now, they’re focusing on a new demographic: youth. An astonishing CNN report, published in April 2026, has uncovered an enormous recruitment campaign aimed exclusively at university students and graduates across Russian regions. And, like other recruitment campaigns before, this one is also

18 riddled with lies. For example, after analyzing numerous Russian university websites, social media pages, and local media reports, as well as speaking directly with the students themselves, CNN found that Russia’s recruiters have promised students one-year, fixed-term contracts, as well as the ability to learn high-tech skills without having to serve anywhere near the front lines. In reality, much of this is likely to be completely untrue, with experts warning that any students who sign up could be at risk of being dispatched to front-line kill zones at any moment, without

19 warning or recourse. The campaign seemingly started in January, just a couple of months after Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced the formation of a new military branch: the Unmanned Systems Forces – a unit dedicated entirely to drone warfare. Soon after, universities all over Russia started sharing military recruitment videos, images, and posters on their social media channels, encouraging or even advising graduates to sign up. Some went further, hosting Russian soldiers and veterans, who gave motivational, propaganda-laden speeches to students about

20 the so-called “special military operation.” An independent Russian news outlet that specializes in student matters dug into the story further, finding that at least 269 universities and colleges across Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories are actively involved in this recruitment campaign. This includes some of the most prestigious institutions in the land, like the St. Petersburg State University, where Putin himself studied, and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, which actually held its own “Unmanned Systems Festival” in February.

21 Looking at the images, videos, and social posts, it’s clear to see that this marketing campaign is aimed at the younger generation. One video, for example, shows a young Russian man playing video games in his bedroom, while a voiceover states “You were told you were wasting time on video games.” The gamer is then transformed into a drone operator as the narration continues: “But there is a place where your experience is especially valuable.” It’s a simple but potentially effective marketing trick, and the video game theming is almost omnipresent in other marketing

22 materials. One video from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Volgograd, for example, shows a split-screen display, with a gamer on one side and a drone operator on the other, with the caption “Choose the right skin.” Some recruitment posts even clearly state that “gamers” will be given priority in the application process. It’s a huge amount of pressure to pile onto young people, many of whom may be wondering about their next steps in life and lacking guidance, direction, or role models to help them choose the right path. For some, this entire campaign also feels like a

23 betrayal, as the very institutions that were supposed to be forming and teaching them are now advocating for them to sign away their lives. One student summed up their feelings on the matter to CNN: “Students are under immense pressure. Of course, constantly hearing calls to join the SMO is very unpleasant. Realizing that the university is doing everything it can to send you to war is even worse.” Another student revealed that students who attended campus recruitment events were promised “mountains of gold” in the form of “student debt relief, other perks, and, of course,

24 just one year of service in the rear, far from the front lines.” This is, without doubt, one of the most carefully planned recruitment campaigns of the war so far. And it was one of the highest authorities in the country – the Russian Ministry of Defense – that decided exactly how it should work. According to Russian military lawyer Artem Klyga, the MOD issued very precise instructions to universities, telling them who to target and how to attract their attention. The Ministry’s instructions state that both male and female students should be targeted and that universities

25 should emphasize that any willing recruits will gain “unique knowledge and skills” while having a “lower risk of coming under enemy fire” compared to a typical soldier. It also orders for significant financial incentives to be offered, with a minimum of 400,000 rubles (nearly $5,000). Some universities are going much further than that, though, like St. Petersburg State, which is offering one-off payments of around $56,000 just to sign up, followed by a base annual salary of nearly $70,000. Klyga notes that the money is probably the only part of this entire campaign

26 with any truth to it: “Everything [else] is a lie. This is [a] simple contract with the Russian army, without deadline, without special term[s].” Because all these ads fail to mention one very important fact: Putin has never formally canceled the decree on partial mobilization he signed back in September 2022. That decree completely changed the state of play for Russian military recruits, ruling that all new military contracts “continue to be in force until the period of partial mobilization is over.” That period is not yet over. So anyone who signs a contract

27 now is still subject to this decree. In other words, there’s no such thing as a fixed-term, one-year contract. The young men and women who fall into this trap won’t be simply spending a year on the sidelines of the line, playing with drones as though they’re real-life video games, before being sent safely home to their families. They’ll be stuck out there, potentially until they either die or are too badly wounded to keep fighting. And it gets worse. The promise of student recruits being stationed far from the front lines is also not based on

28 any real law or legislation. As Grigory Sverdlin, operator of the anti-war charity “Get Lost” notes: “As soon as the person signs the contracts, he is literally a slave of the Ministry of Defense. He can be sent to whatever unit the Ministry of Defense will need. There is no way to be able to choose.” The good news is that a lot of students know all this, or are at least aware enough to understand that signing up for this war is not a smart idea. All of the students that CNN spoke to, for example, shared a common distrust of the Kremlin’s propaganda. One claimed that none of his

29 classmates or friends were considering signing a contract, even if they were in difficult financial situations. Another added he didn’t “find this nonsense convincing” and urged his classmates to “also understand that this is all a scam.” But that doesn’t mean that the campaign is doomed to fail. It might not bring in new recruits in sufficient numbers to fully replenish the flailing Russian ranks, but it could still be enough to convince some of the more gullible, confused, or struggling students to sign on the dotted line. Indeed, it appears that some universities

30 are actively focusing their recruitment efforts towards students who are most at risk of failing their courses. One student revealed that he was called to a special group meeting, just for those who were falling behind in their studies, where he and his classmates were encouraged to join the military. Another told an even more concerning story, in which their university “almost expelled a third of our group and forced them to sign a contract on the spot to keep their place.” And some universities are deploying increasingly insidious tactics to hit their own recruitment

31 quotas. There have been reports of some, for example, shortening deadlines for students to complete and submit their coursework, effectively making it harder for them to pass their classes with the grades they need. The logic is clear to follow: make it harder for students to pass so more students fail, and those same struggling, stressed out students will be easier to pressure into recruitment. One student added that staff at her university were seeking out first-year students with mental health troubles, or those who were having a hard time fitting in, and targeting

32 them specifically. Such students are being invited to “personal discussions” in which they’re offered jobs in the military to ensure they pass their degrees and avoid crippling financial debt. These are quite stunning stories of clear emotional abuse. Universities – places where people go to be nurtured, to learn, to gain the knowledge and skills they need to go out and achieve their dreams or become productive members of society – are actively turning on their own students, cruelly exploiting their fears and stresses, all to feed the insatiable Kremlin war machine. As

33 one student concludes: “I never imagined that my beloved university would become something I’d be protecting my friends from.” But that is what Putin’s Russia is today. A place where people are treated like cattle, where soldiers are seen as little more than pieces of meat, and where even teenagers, with all their lives ahead of them, are being ruthlessly targeted in the places they’re supposed to feel the safest. And it’s all because the Russian Army is in its weakest position yet, which you can learn all about in this video, which looks at how the Kremlin’s stubborn tactics have

34 brought its military to its knees. Alternatively, check out this video for the extraordinary story of how Kremlin troops are being made to surrender not to soldiers, but to drones and robots, as Ukraine brings the next generation of warfare right to Russia’s doorstep. For more insightful breakdowns just like this, be sure to subscribe to the Military Show today.