The ISW has some great observations about such Telegram channels in their reports. It seems like the Kremlin balances them on a knife’s edge: they “allow” the independent Telegram war influencers to exist. But if any get too critical of Putin’s government, they get reigned in. Too militant at the other extreme, which is a thing, believe it or not, and they get reigned in too.

It all paints the picture of Putin balancing not only internal anti-war dissent, but also voices and actors even more militant than him.

There are a lot of parallels with Trump’s government too, such as how influencers will criticize Putin’s subordinates, but almost never attack Putin directly, even when something is obviously his fault.

…Anyway, where I’m going with this is:

Russian Telegram channels with millions of users are sad about not killing more Ukrainians.

This is no accident, and the Kremlin is not unaware.