Russian Universities Draft Students for Putin's Army

0:00It's April 1st. Welcome in. This is U.S. News Today, where America meets AI. I'm Korya with the story. Russian universities are now on the front lines of Putin's Army recruitment drive. Facing troop shortages in Ukraine, the Education Minister orders schools to sign up 2% of their students. That adds up to about 44,000 new soldiers, according to reports from ex-ozjournalists citing insiders. It started with technical colleges targeting at-risk kids facing expulsion, but now every campus has quotas. Schools dangle cash bonuses, special scholarships, and even threats like blocking exam retakes to push enlistment. Students at places like St. Petersburg State University got letters in mid-February offering a one-time 50,000-rubel payout, about $650. In Sochi, they sweetened the deal with land plots, while Moscow's elite higher school of economics lets failing students dodge the boot by signing. One-year contracts and taking academic leave.

1:02The Ukraine war drags into its fourth year, with peace talk stuck. Putin demands Kiev abandon 4 annexed regions, Moscow never fully took, and he's waived the nuclear car to scare off Western aid. This campus push reveals Russia's growing scramble for bodies on the battlefield, even as negotiations limp along.