‘Happy people don’t go to the front lines’ Meduza’s Russian readers share stories of relatives and friends who volunteered to fight in Ukraine — and their motives for enlisting
We recently asked our Russian readers to share stories about relatives and acquaintances who volunteered to fight with the Russian army in Ukraine — and the reasons behind their decisions. Dozens replied. Here, we’re sharing some of the most notable responses, translated into English.
Mikhail
Leningrad region, Russia
Three people from the somewhat close circles of my social bubble went to the war.
The first was my neighbor’s son, a 20-year-old guy. He finished high school but didn’t go to college. A normal kid, though he always seemed a little timid. In the summer of 2022, he went for mandatory military service, and while there, his commanding officers convinced him to sign a contract. In 2023, he came back — missing his left leg below the knee. He says he stepped on a mine at night and woke up without the leg. He’s optimistic about life, doesn’t talk about politics or the war, and isn’t employed. He says he’s studying programming and lives with his mom. His mother, however, has become a bit unhinged — she’s fiercely patriotic, rants about the West, Ukrainians, Nazis, fascists, Americans, liberals, gays, and traitors. She and her friends weave [camouflage] nets and sing songs together.
The second is a distant cousin, 40 years old. A cheerful guy with three kids from different women, he graduated from [a defense technology institute]. He worked as a builder, sold auto parts, and traded berries and fish from locals. He’s always been patriotic and militant — [he worships] the USSR, Stalin, and [Soviet secret police founder Felix] Dzerzhinsky. In 2023, through some connections, he joined the missile forces. He’s stationed in Moscow, but I don’t know what he does there — we’re not in touch. In 2024, he started supporting his children and is paying for his son’s tuition at a polytechnic institute.
The third was a neighbor in the village, a man in his 50s. A slightly older, lonely guy who loved history, archaeology, glorifying Soviet soldiers, and instilling “proper” values in the youth. He used to be one of the leaders of the local search squad. Religious, divorced, not much of a drinker — a regular guy overall. In March 2024, he volunteered to go. By September, he came back in a coffin. There was an official funeral, and they planted a small fir tree with a plaque next to the church.
So, that’s the way it is. Why did they all go to war? I don’t know. I think it’s a mix of money, some hope for a special life, and a feeling of dullness, routine, and hopelessness in their regular lives. Happy people don’t go to the front lines; the fuel of this war is unhappy, unsettled people. Sadly, there’s no shortage of that in our country.
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Olga
Khabarovsk, Russia
His name was Dmitry. We worked together at the same company. He started drinking heavily, got fired, and lost his driver’s license after being caught drunk while working as a taxi driver. He went to war to earn some money. Two months later, he burned to death in a tank. He was a little over 50.
Pavel
Germany
A former university classmate of mine went to war. […] He always held liberal views, supported [Russian opposition politician] Alexey Navalny, and criticized corruption and the chaos [in the country]. When the war started, he said it was all wrong. But when the Ukrainian Armed Forces entered [Russia’s] Kursk region, he immediately signed a contract. [I don’t know] what made him change his mind so radically, [but now] he says we need to defeat the external enemy first, and then we can sort things out at home.
Denis
In the village where my mom goes on vacation, there’s a woman who used to badger her son into going to war. Her main argument was money — someone has to support the family, and this seemed like a “great” opportunity.
Later, my mom saw him when he came home on leave after six months: a vacant stare, distant behavior, and clear signs of PTSD.
After his leave, he ended up back at the front. I don’t know if he went willingly or if his mom pressured him again. The story ended when his parents were summoned to Rostov-on-Don to identify his remains. What they found there wasn’t even a body — it was essentially just a pile of meat.
Naturally, his mother was horrified, crying and devastated. But I still can’t understand how she could brainwash her own son into going to war — and then be surprised when he didn’t come back in one piece.
Alexandra
Moscow, Russia
I know three women who sent their sons to war.
The first has two children and believes it’s their duty to “defend the country.” Her sons have been fighting for nearly three years now rarely visit her. You can’t say anything critical about Putin or the war around her — she doesn’t want to hear it.
The second also has two children, neither of whom were drafted due to health issues. Still, she insisted on sending one of them to war on a contract, saying, “You can make good money there.”
The third’s brother went to war on a contract and was sent straight to the front lines with almost no training. Now he’s disabled and paralyzed, and she takes care of him.
Kristina
Moscow
My father’s former partner from his time in the police went to war as a volunteer. He’s always been a hothead — loved getting into fights and took pride in having power. He has three children with different women, none of whom he really raised. He’s around fifty and worked regular civilian jobs after leaving the force but he said “it’s not the same, it’s boring.”
He said he went [to war] to buy his son a nice pair of sneakers, which sounds more like an excuse — it’s not hard to earn money for sneakers in the Moscow region. He also claimed he wanted to secure a college tuition benefit for his youngest. I’d feel terrible if his son, who doesn’t care about anything and barely graduated high school, ended up taking a scholarship spot at a college that someone else deserves.
He was sent to Melitopol [in occupied Ukraine], where he started as something like a local commander but quickly got bored. He requested a position on the front lines and now participates in assaults. Recently, he had a heart attack. Despite his heart issues, he doesn’t plan to leave the war — he’s determined to receive compensation for his injuries. So far, he hasn’t been able to prove his case.
Tatyana
Kazakhstan
My half-brother volunteered during mobilization. The main reason was money, but he was also going through a midlife crisis at 50. His kids had grown up, he hadn’t achieved financial or career success, and he’d been drinking heavily. So, he decided to go to war to “heal his soul and find meaning in life.”
In a way, you could say he got lucky: after a few months on the front lines, he lost a foot in an explosion and was discharged. They managed to reattach his foot, he received compensation for his injury, and now he has all the benefits of a veteran. He bought cars for his kids and himself. He feels great [about himself] and can’t even begin to think he did anything wrong.
Alexey
I have a friend […] who’s incredibly well-read, intelligent, and deep. His only real quirk might be his interest in mysticism. After the [full-scale] war began, he spent some time unemployed and tried to make a living reading Tarot cards.
When I saw a post on his Facebook page (yes, Facebook!) announcing that he’d signed a contract with the Defense Ministry, I wasn’t even shocked. At first, I thought it was a joke — an odd, eccentric joke — or maybe his account had been hacked. […]
I decided to call him to find out what was really going on. And when I realized it was true, that’s when I was genuinely shocked. In his usual intellectual way, he explained that this was his personal contribution to the fight against the metamodern world. That he was glad he hadn’t gone to Serbia, where his company’s owner had relocated most of the office. […]
When we spoke, he was still in Russia and hadn’t seen combat yet; he was working in a military personnel office. We didn’t talk about money directly, but from his comments about how “in the thick of it” they’d pay more — and how he was looking forward to that — it was clear that money wasn’t the least of his motivations either.
What’s strange is that I’ve cut ties with other friends and acquaintances over their “it’s not so black and white” stance on the war. But with him, I couldn’t feel hatred or even disappointment. Somehow, I just couldn’t reconcile my image of my friend with this horrific war. It’s surreal.
I told him I couldn’t support or approve of his decision but sincerely hoped that he’d stay alive.
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