Ukraine's army issued an instruction video on Monday with a step-by-step guide for Russian soldiers on how to surrender to one of its drones:
The video comes as part of Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project, a hotline that encourages Russians who are reluctant to fight in Ukraine to surrender.
The video, which is narrated in Russian, shows three men in uniform and white armbands in a trench within a snowy landscape. From there, they are led to Ukrainian captivity by a small red quadcopter.
[...] Surrendering soldiers are instructed to contact the "I Want to Live" hotline to arrange the time and place of the meeting ahead of time. "Once verified, go to the place at the exact time indicated," the video says.
Link to video. Originally spotted on Schneier on Security.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23, @01:50AM (8 children)
Drone operator decided to kill me instead.
(Score: 2) by hopdevil on Friday December 23, @02:41AM
Drone operator wasn't a human
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Friday December 23, @04:39AM (6 children)
It's very old news, the original article [pravda.com.ua] is from September of this year, but it seems to imply that phone calls are being made. These days that means mobile / smart phone usage which adds several layers of insecurity to the communications which is already happening in the clear, unencrypted. However, no details are given, so who knows, maybe this is about something like Signal or Telegram.
Without encryption, the callers will be easily caught by the belligerent nation's forces, if they bother to monitor for such calls.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Friday December 23, @08:16AM (2 children)
Cellphone network there is still controlled by the UA government.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Friday December 23, @10:18AM (1 child)
It's not about control, unfortunately. Radio waves go in all directions, not just from the tower to the mobile phone or from the mobile phone to the tower. Thus mobile phones broadcast to everyone within range [businessinsider.com], and the same for the towers the mobile phones are in contact with.
Almost all that is needed to monitor that traffic is an antenna and a radio on the right frequencies. That's a bit of an oversimplification but there is no encryption to break. So they can call, but they will in most likelihood be alerting the aggressors as well. Therefore, it behooves Ukraine to have a smoothly functioning, safe protocol for the aggressors to surrender. It will increase the probability and frequency with which it happens. If, on the other hand, the method turns out to be high risk, then fewer will chance it.
Even if there were full bidirectional encryption, the signal from mobile phones would still be convenient for targeting artillery and air strikes.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday December 24, @02:59PM
G2 (GSM) has breakable and downgradable encryption. Not trivial, but doable for important targets. G3/G4/G5 encrypted for good.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 23, @02:23PM
Was going to say: this is why they didn't give WWI infantry cell phones on the Western front. 😉
Actually, there were "soft zones" of the Western Front where both sides implicitly agreed: "you don't shoot at me, and I won't shoot at you" sometimes for months at a time.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday December 23, @03:32PM
Checklist when planning a surrender.
1. Kill Politnik
2. Kill Officer(s)
3. Kill everyone who doesn't plan to surrender.
4. THEN proceed with the plan as laid out in the video.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 24, @05:32AM
Then they'll become a drain on the belligerent nation's resources instead of a military asset. It still works from the Ukrainian point of view. I don't know how exaggerated or not the claims of Russian morale issues and over-the-top punishments for desertion, but it is an opportunity to create more problems for the Russian side. If in addition this turns out to be an efficient way to lure and accept deserters, then they have another significant military advantage since Russia has had serious trouble [wikipedia.org] getting Ukrainians to surrender and desert.
It also might save lives despite the risks. A prisoner in Ukraine would have much better odds than a poorly equipped soldier on the front right now.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday December 23, @02:10AM
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZFvqDaFpXeM?start=90&end=150 [youtube.com]
TODO TBD
compiling...
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23, @04:56AM (3 children)
Leech their army until it can't function.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 23, @02:26PM (2 children)
I'd say the best way to win is to modify their leadership until the leaders no longer support aggressive incursions into sovereign states...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 24, @05:43AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday December 24, @04:44PM
Mod: +1 works for me
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end