Russian soldiers share accounts of inadequate equipment and staffing after their retreat in north-eastern Ukraine.
This recuitment advert, pinned to the door of a GP surgery in St Petersburg, says 'To serve Russia is the real job!'
While Russian officials and state media are trying to play down the Russian forces' retreat from Kharkiv, individual war reporters, veterans and influential military bloggers are acknowledging numerous challenges within closed messaging channels. There is no way of knowing where and when the image was shot, but what is significant is that it has been widely shared by both veterans and forces in the field, suggesting it reflects popular opinion among the country's rank and file.
One of them, called "The People's Front", says it has raised about 1.5bn roubles over the past three months, and has already spent it on uniforms, helmets and flak jackets, as well as first-aid kits, binoculars and thermal imagers. Drafting centres have also resorted to phoning soldiers who have left or retired to ask them to re-join, some of those contacted told the BBC. One soldier who fought in Chechnya in the 1990s says he and his friends were called three or four times. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, says he finally agreed but later refused to sign the contract, put off by what appeared to be poor conditions.
Two separate sources on the front line told the BBC that such units, comprised of short-term military contractors and fighters from the Wagner mercenary group - the head of which has been- constitute the bulk of Russia's current frontline force.
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