Desperate Putin offers soldiers huge salaries as he runs short of troops, weapons and ammo

Nick Reynolds, a research fellow in Russian warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), told i: “It might seem as though they are bailing water out of a sinking ship. At least in the short term, things are not looking good for them. Manpower is definitely a significant issue, but they’re also struggling with rotation. Soldiers cannot spend forever on the front line – they become exhausted. This is a contributing factor to poor morale. I also don’t think that Russia has a huge amount of support for this war among its own people despite the huge media apparatus."