The next time you’re invading a country, take a few minutes to enjoy the countryside you’re pillaging. You know, maybe look for a place to settle down. At least, that’s the most recent recruiting message coming from Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Plans to “Recapture” Kyiv
According to Business Insider, the chilling new ad opens with a group of Russian soldiers talking about their plans to “recapture” Kyiv.
As they’re going about their business, loading weapons onto trucks and slogging their way through trenches, one soldier turns to another.
“Do you know where Pechersk Hills are, in Kyiv?” he asks.
With the sounds of the war all around them, another soldier answers over the gunfire and bombs.
“My Aunt Lives There”
“It’s downtown. My aunt lives there. It’s a cool area,” the second young man says.
That seems to make the first soldier happy, even as he takes aim at some unseen target. Heck, maybe that answer even encourages him to take aim.
“I have a dream. I want to buy an apartment there. When the war is over, and we recapture Kyiv, I will move my family there.”
“Choose the City of Your Dreams”
The ad ends with patriotic music and a text-over that encourages prospective soldiers to “choose the city of your dreams.”
The unwritten subtext of that thought is, “as long as that dream city is in Ukraine, not Mother Russia.”
Recruitment Trouble
The ad comes at a time when Russia is having plenty of trouble finding recruits to join in their fight against Ukraine.
According to some reports, Putin has even doubled the amount of money he is offering to prospective troops since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Increase in Money Offered to Recruits
Apparently, the promise of cold, hard cash is not enough to entice young men and women to risk life and limb for a war that still has ill-defined goals.
So maybe the promise of being able to live in conquered cities left burned out and decimated by their own hands can lure more soldiers to the fray?
Calls Into Question the Dictator’s Motives
That seems to be the new tact Putin’s military is taking. And the idea of Russians settling into Ukraine cities once the fighting is over calls into question the dictator’s motivations in the first place.
Putin has long said that he wants to reunite Russia, which includes pulling Ukraine back into the fold.
But Putin has also said he needs to take control of Ukraine because he feels threatened by NATO countries. Russia needs the Ukrainian buffer, he says.
Conquering Ukraine for Pleasure?
These recent recruitment tactics seem to hint at something else, though: like Russians taking over Ukraine cities for their own pleasure.
Voice of America News’ Pentagon correspondent Ostap Yarysh made a simple request for clarification from the Russian president that just begs for a Gene Wilder meme.
“Please tell me more that Russia started this war because it felt threatened by NATO,” Yarysh said in response to the latest ad.
He’ll probably be waiting a while for that answer from Moscow.
The post “My Aunt Lives There” – A Chilling New Russian Ad Attempts to Lure Recruits With Neighborhood Shopping in Captured Cities first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
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