This is what passes for a hero in Russia... Russia’s Latest War ‘Hero’ Is Convict Who Beat Mom to Death https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-honors-dead-wagner-fighter-114306459.html A middle-aged Russian man sent to prison for beating his elderly mother to death has been honored as a hero in Russia’s increasingly deranged war dystopia. Sergei Molodtsov, 46, was killed while waging war against Ukraine as one of the notorious Wagner Group’s newly recruited prison mercenaries. He was buried in Russia’s Sverdlov region with military honors—and received a bizarre tribute from the local administration that described him as a gentle, “creative” soul and made no mention of his crime. (More at above url)
Looks like Putin's mouthpieces really want to be in a war with NATO rather than just pretending Russia is fighting NATO.
An overview of the huge salt mines in Soledar. This underlines that the Russian offense is simply about stealing more natural resources from Ukraine. Salt Of The Earth: Deep Inside Eastern Ukraine's Massive Soledar Mines https://www.rferl.org/a/inside-ukraines-artyomsalt-salt-mine/29993212.html (Original article from 2019 with many pictures.)