In the face of the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the general situation in the country, many Ukrainian soldiers are willing to surrender to Russian forces. However, due to the risk of friendly fire, Russian military has been using chatbots on the messaging app Telegram to provide guidance and coordinate the release of Ukrainian soldiers from the front lines. However, these chatbots are increasingly being used by the family members of Ukrainian soldiers to complain about their commanders. This information has been shared by military and security sources of the Russian news agency TASS, who state:
“The bot for surrender is also used for communication with the family members of Ukrainian soldiers. It has essentially turned into a center for psychological assistance: we hear how badly the commanders of the Ukrainian forces treat their soldiers and so on. Every day, we receive messages from up to 100 people.”
In response to these challenges, the chat administrators then take on the task of conducting psychological conversations with the family members of Ukrainian soldiers, according to the source.