Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine took several more hits Wednesday as new data showed Russians’ trust in TV news plunging over the course of the war, troops in Donetsk were caught shit-talking their Russian commanders, and a pro-Kremlin youth group linked to Putin himself disavowed his “catastrophe.”
“The fact that my country is involved in a military conflict makes me very sad. But even more upsetting is that there are many examples of an enthusiastic position [on the war],” St. Petersburg activist Rinat Yevstigneyev—who took part in Putin’s 2018 election campaign for the youth group “Generation Z”—told Rotonda Media on Wednesday.
“I honestly don’t know what there is to be happy about. Because people are dying [in Ukraine]? It’s mourning, not celebration. And everyone should do their best to save the lives of people on both sides in order to end this catastrophe as soon as possible,” he said.
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The group, which has been linked to the Putin administration, has now changed its name to “Generation Global” to avoid any association with Putin’s war, during which the “Z” symbol has frequently been used as a rallying cry to justify aggression against Ukraine.
Even troops in Ukraine’s occupied territories of Donetsk were caught espousing a similar sentiment. One of them, identified by Ukrainian intelligence as a soldier based in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, confessed that Russian soldiers there were so fed up they’ve started ignoring orders from commanders.
Comparing his military service to time in “prison” in what Ukraine’s Security Service said was an intercepted phone call, the man complains of “such bullshit” that he says “we don’t rush to follow orders now.”
“We’re worried that they’ll keep us here for a half year. If only they would just say a specific date. Even when a person is in prison, they at least know their term,” he says, adding that “everyone is in a degrading mood” there.
His comments come as a newly released survey suggested the Kremlin’s delusional narrative about its war in Ukraine might finally be coming apart at the seams for ordinary Russians who’ve been seeing an alternative reality broadcast on state television.
GroupM, an international media investment company, found that Russians’ overall trust in television news dropped by a third over the months of March and April, while trust in information provided on Telegram and social media grew, according to Kommersant.
