President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa confirmed that the government has successfully facilitated the return of citizens who were deceived into participating in combat for Russia, as reported by Bloomberg on February 24.

According to a statement from the president's office, four individuals returned to South Africa last week, with another 11 expected to return soon. One individual is currently hospitalized, and another is preparing to travel.

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[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

So many Russian military "conscripts", foreign and domestic don't want to fight. Russian morale has to be at an all time low, even among hardened ideologues.

South Africans who surrender can go home out of reach of Russian retribution for desertion. How can the surrender of Russians be boosted by giving them a permanent path out of Russia's reach?

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

How can the surrender of Russians be boosted by giving them a permanent path out of Russia reach?

I think this is going to increasingly become a huge issue, or to put it another way if you can answer that question decisively you have figured out how to win the war.

The russian offensive is quickly devolving into a rolling human rights crisis full of armed desperate people trying to shoot at you. Putin already sees these people as worthless, I think it is only natural for him to try to make that Ukraine's problem if they want to be saved in any capacity from brutal, pointless deaths.

The inhumanity it takes to cast all your unwanted into the steel maw of Ukraine's frontlines with the inefficient doctrine russia adheres to of discarding their soldiers by the bucketfull in masswave assaults or endless lone penetration missions practically necessitates that they could not feel empathy for those same soldiers once the fighting stops and they are left cast out wide into a logistically starved, partially obliterated web of desperate starving soldiers.

Putin will say "your problem Ukraine!", which makes the strategic question of how best to deal with large amounts of russian POWs front and center to winning the war. Maybe I am misreading this, but this is what the simplest turn of events seems like it will be to me.