I agree with this, but also want to point out that gas stations are a poor substitute for a corner grocer or bodega. They are simply too large and require too much land for the function they are serving. Zoning rightfully mandates that they can’t be on the bottom floor of a larger building due to the dangers posed by gasoline and they require lots of space for cars to park.
Essentially, we have forfeited a lot of valuable space to dispensing gasoline and significantly diminished the best features of corner stores by making them serve both functions. I would be curious to see what would happen if gas stations were forbidden from serving anything other than gas in high density areas. I would assume there would be much fewer of them, and each one would be optimized for efficiency to take up as little space as possible. We would also likely see the reemergence of neighborhood bodegas and corner grocers to fill the gap.
I’m only guessing, but it’s possible they’re fed lies about surrender. If he’s convinced that being captured will result in death by torture or starvation (something I’m pretty sure the Russians have been doing to their POW’s), pulling a grenade on your captors might actually seem like a reasonable decision.
I feel bad for the Russian men who men - victims of their own government’s propaganda. Enlisting in a bullshit war only to become fertilizer and coyote food in Ukrainian fields. I still enjoy watching them get their asses kicked though.