I don’t trust any casualty tallies I’ve seen for either side, really—including the 1.7 million for Ukraine that was claimed by those hackers.

The real numbers are likely closely guarded. We’ll have to wait for the historians to sort it out 10-20 years from now.

However, we do have clues as to which country (if any) is facing a recruitment crisis and demographic collapse: One side has resorted to stalking men on the streets and press-ganging them.

Many include family members or friends fighting desperately to prevent their loved one being taken against his will.

the widespread and rising desertion rates from Ukraine’s armed forces only seem to provoke more violent recruitment practices and then civilian protests.

It’s beyond dispute, because we have many hundreds of videos documenting the practice. I’ll never forget this mother trying to save her son, nor this man’s scream.

Many Ukrainians are afraid to leave their homes. Several have died during their encounters with the “recruiters”, some of them choosing to take their own lives with grenades rather than be taken to the front, and some succumbing to injuries sustained while trying to resist. Ibid:

On October 23, Ukrainian Roman Sopin died from heavy blunt trauma to the head after he had been forcibly recruited

In August, a conscripted man, 36, died suddenly at a recruitment center in Rivne

In June, 45-year-old Ukrainian-Hungarian Jozsef Sebestyen died after he was beaten with iron bars following his forced conscription

In August, a conscript died from injuries sustained after he jumped out of a moving vehicle that was transporting him to the recruitment center