A video circulating on social media shows a group of women whose husbands died fighting for Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine expressing gratitude for receiving fur coats.
The clip was shared by the CHTD Telegram news channel which said the women were in Makiivka, in the Russian-occupied Donetsk oblast. “Widows were given 21 fur coats as compensation for the breadwinner who died in Ukraine,” the post said.
Holding up the garments and smiling, one woman addresses the camera. “We received some unexpected help today,” she said, adding that the widows of the dead soldiers gathered were “very grateful” for the coats.
“Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for taking care of us,” she said, mentioning that they had been given “such an opportunity. The group of women then said “thank you” in unison.
This screen grab shows a group of Russian women who reportedly received fur coats after their husbands died fighting in the war in Ukraine. The women were reportedly in the town of Makiivka, in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Via Telegram
A man holding the device filming the women was named by media outlets as Yevgeny Skripnik, who is an associate of Igor Girkin, the prominent military blogger and former Russian intelligence officer who spearheaded Russia’s war effort in the Donbas region in 2014.
Skripnik said the coats had been given by Russian activists in Moscow, adding, “at such moments you feel that we are one family.”
The story was reported by Ukrainian media outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine which compared the gift of the garments to what was allegedly given as compensation to other family members of those killed in Ukraine.
The outlet said that in Sakhalin, in Russia’s far east, frozen fish was given to widows, while in the Siberian republic of Tuva, sheep carcasses and wood were given as compensation.
It comes amid reports of Russia suffering high troop losses. Ukraine’s armed forces reported on Tuesday the biggest daily death toll of Russian troops, claiming that 1,030 Russian troops had been killed the previous day.
Although the figure could not be independently verified, it comes amid accounts from both Kyiv and Moscow that the deadliest combat of the war is underway.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has predicted that Russia is set to implement another major mobilization to replenish troops killed in the war. Vadym Skibitsky, who is deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said that up to 500,000 Russians will be drafted.
This would be in addition to the hundreds of thousands of conscripts who were called up in September after a partial mobilization was announced by Vladimir Putin, who has not formally rescinded the draft.
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