cesmonkey

I was wondering about this... from the Politico article:

This seems to be unconfirmed at the moment:

These two updates from ISW are pretty interesting: The Kremlin is reportedly no longer offering pardons to convict recruits and is significantly changing the terms of their service, likely in response to the reduction of the pool of convicts suitable for recruitment into Russian force generation efforts. Bloomberg reported on January 24 that labor shortages in Russia have increased wages in civilian sectors enough to compete with relatively lucrative military salaries, likely making military service even less appealing to Russian citizens.

Pretty good interview: Critical U.S. aid to Ukraine is still being held up in ongoing negotiations between Congress and the White House over funding for border security. Amna Nawaz spoke with former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen about what this means as Russia's war in Ukraine enters its third year.

Thoughtful conversation about last year's Taiwan invasion scenario war game:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-macron-travel-ukraine-february-finalise-bilateral-security-deal-2024-01-16/

A few days old, but somewhat interesting:

Saw this linked on defence-blog.com