That's not unusual for lots of armies, tbh. That's what war is without fail: young people dying for the ambitions of old people.

Most of the “defensive” forces that Ukrainian soldiers are capturing are likely conscripts.

So yes, very likely these forces almost solely consist of teenagers that are highly under-geared, severely under-trained, and likely have been routinely mentally, physically and sexually assaulted.

Given the fact they can be conscripted at age 18, they probably are.

That’s what armies are, young men being sent to die.

These are the words I've been looking for. Going back to Russia after surrendering to Ukraine is going to be such a weird experience. These are people who have grown up their entire lives being tortured by their government. These are people who have tortured their POWs in an act of theater to make them fear being captured because they know how awful being tortured must be because they've seen it. And then they got captured and experienced... A brief reprieve. What will they experience when they go home? Will anyone listen to them? Or will the friends and relations they return to be too stuck in their ways of their thinking and think that these former POWs were brainwashed by the Ukrainian therapists who are helping them navigate the disorienting nature of not being tortured?

And the thing is... No matter what, these are still the seeds of something because a few people will listen, and suddenly the Siberian, Ukrainian, and Chechen separatists and anarchist terrorist cells will seem less like fringe groups bent on destruction, and will seem more like the only reasonable people around. I don't think it will all happen fast enough for Ukraine to be who dissolves the Russian Federation, but the people who will are fighting alongside them now. They're in their POW camps. They're people who aren't of fighting age yet, but whose fathers will come home and tell them what they saw in Ukraine

If there are two braincells left in their propaganda rotten brains, and they somehow managed to rub these two braincells together to create something like a reflection or genuine thought, they must realize that they are the bad guys. After a week or two as a POW, their grudge cant hold up. They must realise that they get treated better than in their own company.

I imagine it must also create terror for the russian soldier. How many years have russians been told how horrible, weak, and ineffective Ukrainians are? ALso, how the invasion of Ukraine to wipe out the "monsters" there. Now the "monsters" invade russia. It wasn't supposed to be that way! These Ukrainians are calm, collected, and move with purpose. These are not at all the animals that russia told the russian soldiers they were.

I'm very curious how the Russian military deals with returned POWs. Sending them to the ranks would be crushing for morale, but they can't afford to just ignore free "trained" soldiers.

Or are they so brainwashed that they all think they're the exception to the rule of brutal torture?

https://youtu.be/PfxabSYFs88?si=uoKrKBQ8x4oCAtTh

forced to subsist on a borshch made from four kinds of beets

They also know the importance of lightweight and comfortable clothing, unlike Ukrainians wearing thick heavy costumes, not adjusted to the hot summer weather at all

Yeah, throw a mtn dew in that Pic and it looks like some West Virginia militia group.

There are definitely videos from early on telling conscripts to write home for gear (including anti-gunshot tampons), and Russian soldiers in airsoft gear (including foam armor).

And these guys are the real dregs, just border guards not expecting to ever open fire.

So... Probably yes