Throughout its month-long invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army has faced logistical challenges. There have been numerous reports of Russian troops running dangerously low on food and other supplies as they face fierce Ukrainian resistance. Now, it appears that Russia’s leader has ordered schoolchildren as young as eight to assist in feeding the country’s struggling army.

Children from a Rostov-on-Don school were given written instructions to assemble food parcels for soldiers in the 22nd Special Forces Brigade.

One kilogramme of sweets, two to three pieces of chocolate, one can of sweetened condensed milk, three packets of dried fruit, and coffee and tea were all on the shopping list.

Furthermore, the kids were asked to send two pairs of socks and razor blades for shaving.

The children were required to write on their packages, “A sweet gift to our Russian-hero soldiers.”

They were also instructed to include a letter thanking the soldiers for their efforts with their parcel.

Lyubov Sobol, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner and Alexey Navalny’s colleague, shared a photo of the form on Twitter.

She was perplexed as to why the Kremlin couldn’t afford to feed its troops, despite spending 3.5 trillion rubles (GBP 26 billion at today’s exchange rate) on defence in 2022.

According to the activist: “Eight-year-old children (!) collect essential items for Russian soldiers at Rostov-on-School Don’s No. 61.

“The government announced last year that it planned to spend 3.5 trillion rubles from the federal budget on defence in 2022.

“Where does the money go? Spending money on Putin’s yacht?”

Reports of Russian soldiers desperately looking for food continue to circulate.

В школе №61 Ростова-на-Дону с восьмилетних детей (!) собирают предметы первой необходимости для российских солдат

В прошлом году правительство запланировало потратить на оборону в 2022 году 3,5 трлн рублей из федерального бюджета. Куда деньги дели-то? Потратили на яхту Путина? pic.twitter.com/ozO4r7YcPQ

— Соболь Любовь (@SobolLubov) March 21, 2022

A taxi driver told investigative journalist John Sweeney that hungry Russian troops had approached villagers near Kyiv.

He stated: “The villagers claim to be begging for food.

“They’re so hungry that they approach the villagers and request food.

“The villagers claim to be non-aggressive. Their commanders expect them to fight and to be harsh.

“But they’re too preoccupied with begging for scraps to eat.”

It comes as US Defense officials report that the Ukrainian army has launched a counterattack to retake the vital port city of Kherson, which is located near the Crimean border in Ukraine’s south.

AS74, a Twitter user, claimed victory over the Russians was close at hand.

“Kherson,” they wrote. According to our information, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are already very close.