I bet it's been a massive boost to their morale in Ukraine to have the country infested with nazis. People won't want to fight for bourgeois interests in horrifying wars. People will, however, sign up to kill nazis for free. That's especially true in Eastern Europe where the nazis did most of their dirt outside of Germany. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War are still alive and they have family who won't hesitate to follow in their footsteps.

[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 16 points 1 week ago

I bet it's been a massive boost to their morale in Ukraine to have the country infested with nazis.

I've seen reactions of both Russian troops and civilians over this and the reactions I've seen are a mix of betrayal that people who are supposed to be their brothers despise them and genuine horror at the level of Nazism in Ukraine. I don't think the Russians were unsure of how bad the Nazism was, I think instead they see Ukraine as a genuine threat even to the average civilian (in Kursk Ukrainian troops and foreign mercs were literally gunning down civilians) and it's still as unfathomable an evil as it was in WW2. I genuinely believe by the time the war started the level of Nazism in Ukraine was no mystery to the average Russian.