Here’s Why Putin Is Calling Up Veterans to Fight in His Ukraine War

Russian lawmakers appeared to recognize a growing problem with troop morale, desertions and surrender on Tuesday when they passed new harsher punishments for deployed Russian forces who desert their posts and flee from the Ukrainians, The Associated Press reported. The measures were expected to be signed into law by Putin.

"I think knowing that they're [Ukrainians] fighting for the liberation of their national territory, that's going to inherently be a much bigger motivator than the many, many Russian soldiers who don't really even understand why they're in Ukraine," said Nicholas Lokker, a research assistant for the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

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