A russian serviceman explains to his wife the nuances of the system of cash payments for injuries: "Here, even the army commander is lying to his superiors that everything is fine and according to plan. (…) For example, when 26 people go for an offensive mission, they report it was 126 people. And for that offensive, the infantry gets paid. It’s (RUB - ed.) 8,000 per day for an offensive mission. So it’s 100 people from thin air. No one knows who they are – perhaps from the rear or something. In general, it’s unclear who ultimately gets this money. (…) Yesterday, our 3rd battalion was on an offensive job – they had a total of 150 men there or even fewer. I think there were 120 people there. Of them, 23 were wounded and seven were killed. So it’s minus 30. Now you can do the count. They will stick around there for a little while, while getting hit by mortars. Half of them will flee, half will become WIAs and evacuate.

Our commanders protect large-caliber artillery. They don’t shoot from that. I just can’t understand. It seems that people's lives are cheaper than rockets. And now they stopped paying. Earlier they used to pay RUB 3 million to all the wounded, then by some date in June, this whole thing had been gone.

Putin realized that this was a large outflow of funds because people started to set themselves up, on purpose. They would either shoot themselves in their arms or legs or stick their hands out of the trenches when they’re getting mortared to just go home with that 3 million. That was all, they’d say they were veterans, receive three million, and that they would go on living a happy and healthy life and never go back there again. Then they started dividing injuries into light and heavy ones. For example, you may get shot in the leg. As long as your bone isn’t affected, it’s a light one. But if your arms, legs, or fingers were torn off, bones were hurt, or internal organs were damaged, then this is a serious one. For this, you’re owed compensation in the amount of three million. That is, if you get shot in the leg or shrapnel hits you somewhere, then these are all trifles. It’s RUB 60,000 max for you. That’s all you get, and then you are sent back in to fight".