It is a battlefield. Do you think our soldiers would not pick up whatever they needed as they were traveling? My guess is from the new pack they went in a store and took them. If it was Russian area which just voted to go with Russia, and the store was open, he may even have paid, or they might have given them to him.
Even Bald and Bankrupt, who supported Ukraine, said in those Russian regions, they resented Ukraine and supported Russia, and I am sure Russia is doing a hearts and minds thing trying to not piss off the locals, given the area does not look like Grozny.
To be clear, I didn’t think the pencils were a bad thing. That is how war works. He isn’t going to lose a war (ie him and his men die) because he saw pencils and didn’t take them.
I was mainly curious if this was part of some bigger montage for propaganda.
Ho Hum.