Those guys look warmly dressed”
The article addressed your concerns:
“There is no information, no command. We sit like on [tenterhooks], because we do not know where are our own [and] where are the enemy. No radio, no cartridges, no s***,” one says.”
Their families even had to pay for their military uniforms
Their families even had to pay for their military uniforms.
That’s Russia. Not the U.S. where you get free trans surgery, and male troops walking in spiked heels as “training”.
One would reasonably conclude you are wrong. There could not be that many guys in one place with every one of them from a family that could afford that clothing.
They do not look confused about anything. Their hands are not dirty from digging those holes.
You do realize that country has its own central bank? Just like the Federal Reserve, but unlike the Fed they have not had to monetize bonds. There is no reason to believe those uniforms were not bought by the service.