It only ever gets worse for Ukrainians - and Russians - under Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Wednesday introducing martial law in four Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claims to have annexed, in violation of international law, along with a separate order imposing restrictions on movement in and out of eight Russian regions adjoining Ukraine.

The regions are Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia does not control the entirety of those regions and is in a hasty retreat in Kherson after Ukrainian forces regained territory there. Ukraine’s foreign ministry has condemned the decree as a “new state of terror” aimed to “to suppress the resistance” of those regions’ residents.

Russian-installed leaders in Kherson region earlier Wednesday began massively ramping up the relocation of up to 60,000 people amid warnings over Russia’s ability to withstand a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

[...]

Wednesday’s order appears to leave scope for the introduction of additional restrictions throughout Russia. Paragraph three of the martial law order states, “If necessary, other measures provided for by the Federal Constitutional Law of January 30, 2002 No. 1-FKZ ‘on martial law’ may be applied in the Russian Federation during the period of martial law.”

  

Something tells me it will become "necessary".

In the annexed region of Crimea and Crimea and in Krasnodar Territory, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Rostov regions, authorities will introduce a “medium alert level” that will restrict movement and transportation and makes provision for the “temporary resettlement of residents to safe areas,” without providing further specifics about the populations that might need to move.

This comes as Russians are trying to flee the country to avoid Putin's recent draft.

A half-dozen Russian soldiers talk about being shipped to an area of intense fighting in eastern Ukraine just 11 days after their mobilization. Asked about his shooting practice, a bearded conscript says, “Once. Three magazines.”

In a town near Yekaterinburg, in central Russia, newly mobilized men march in place in their street clothes. “No machine guns, nothing, no clothes, no shoes,” says an unidentified observer. “Half of them are hungover, old, at risk — the ambulance should be on duty.”

Elsewhere, scores of relatives of freshly drafted Russian soldiers crowd outside a training center, passing items through its fence to the recruits — boots, berets, bulletproof vests, backpacks, sleeping bags, camping mats, medicine, bandages and food.

[...]

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed at a news conference that 16,000 recruits had already been deployed to combat units, some with as few as five to 10 days of training.

[...]

Evidence of the lack of training is anecdotal, but the sheer number of videos from across Russia, along with scattered threats from draftees to strike over the conditions, other news reports and commentaries, underscores the depth of the problems.

In a widely circulated video, a recruit from Moscow assigned to the 1st Tank Regiment — a storied unit hit hard early in the invasion — said the regimental commander had announced there would be no shooting practice or even theoretical training before the men deployed.

Another video showed a group of about 500 disheveled men, most of their faces covered by balaclavas, standing by a train in the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. The narrator said they had not been assigned to specific units, had lived in “inhuman conditions” for a week, had to buy their own food and lacked ammunition.

The Belgorod governorate announced that most of the men would be returned to central Russia for additional training.

[...]

Thus far, the Kremlin has tolerated criticism of the conduct of the war, while jailing or fining those who questioned any need for the invasion. But there were rumblings this past week that it should crack down on military critics, too.

  Yahoo

Expect it.

UPDATE:

Train those pilots.