A Russian military court ruled behind closed doors this week that 115 National Guard service members were rightfully terminated for refusing to participate in the invasion. The decision can be appealed, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

On Friday, a local Communist Party lawmaker in the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok demanded that the Kremlin cease fighting in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, the Associated Press reported. “We understand that if our country doesn’t stop the military operation, we’ll have more orphans in our country,” Leonid Vasyukevich told a legislative meeting…

Last week, a group of Russian veterans released a statement laden with far-right sentiment, in which they appealed to Putin and his military leaders to dispatch more troops to Ukraine and called for more advanced weaponry to be used.

They also criticized the Kremlin for withdrawing troops from key battlefields such as Kyiv and Chernihiv in April. Moscow sought to paint the pullback as a good-faith gesture ahead of peace talks with Ukraine, but the veterans characterized it as humiliating.