Russian POWs admit they fight for money, not belief - HUR

He stressed that the Russian army has lost this special type of fighters “who were ready to endure losses and make sacrifices.”

“In Bakhmut, in Soledar, Russians sat surrounded for months," he said.

"They drank puddle water, ate worms, but refused to surrender for months. These were experienced people. Some were Wagner fighters, some just convicts, but they were ideologically driven.”

Later, Nemichev explained, Russian occupiers began surrendering due to food shortages.

“With those who surrendered during the Kharkiv counteroffensive, we asked: ‘Why did you surrender?’ And they said: ‘They didn’t bring us food supplies. How could we hold our position? We were starving. That’s why we gave up.’ In 2023, they would’ve stood their ground to the death — but these guys just never got any rations,” Nemichev noted.

He added that when they now talk to Russian prisoners of war, they mostly hear complaints about money.

“They say: ‘What else can I do? I work in a factory. I need money. They give you $30,000 just for signing up and the salary is good. Of course I went.’ But money isn’t the same as ideology. That’s not the kind of motivation they used to have,” the Kraken Commander added.

In June, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that the Russian army increases its manpower by 8,000–9,000 soldiers per month on average, and has a strategic reserve.

According to him, in 2024 alone, Russia managed to recruit 440,000 contract soldiers. Now about 695,000 Russian troops are stationed in Ukraine, including operational reserves.

“They’re preparing for a prolonged war, a war of attrition," Syrskyi said.

"That’s their main strategy. They want to wear us down with their sheer numbers.”