Not on WWII levels, no. Also, not without serious blowback inhouse.

And fighting Ukraine has made Russia vulnerable in all other proxy wars and fronts, such as Syria recently.

I worry they don’t need wwii levels.

China takes Siberia. Soon. And maybe Taiwan.

Colonize it while it remains nominally Russian, would be a pretty good move. "Sick Man of Europe"-style. "Oh we British are just, just, like, helping the Ottomans administer Egypt, we're good chaps like that"

No need... if things continue the way they are, they'll soon be offered the opportunity to buy Siberia

Russia is paying $40000 for people to get enrolled. It can't afford mass casualties at this cost.

Source for $40000?

Not exactly to get enrolled, but in Moscow websites officially advertize 2300000 rub to sign, which is about $25000. Then monthly payment is 190000 rub so for first year it'll be about $50000 which is 5 to 10 times more than average salary (depending on the region). Initial bonus for enrollment is city-dependent but as far as I understand anyone can just travel to Moscow and sign in there.

I heard that volonteer numbers right now are pretty high so army became more selective - people expect that war will end soon and hope to get sign in bonus without spending much time on the battlefield, if any.

Samara region had a sign-up bonus of 4 million rubles ($40000) until the last week: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/23024353

Other regions are comparable, 2-3 million rubles ($20000-$30000) are available in several more regions. Then there's a federal one-time payment of 500000 rubles ($5000) and a monthly salary of $2000.

Most informed analysts say Russia has the opposite problem. They don't have any more meat for the grinder without tapping the middle and upper class of Russian citizens, which will have repercussions, potentially serious ones, for Putin.

They're throwing North Koreans at the fight, which shows how desperate they are for bodies.

Well, North Korea benefits from getting experience and field-testing radios and winter underwear. The drone environment is very good advertising for their goal of becoming a major arms dealer.

Yes, North Korea gains immediate benefit (money or material aid) and a theoretical delayed benefit (demonstration of mercenary abilities, and real world experience for their troops if they survive). Russia gains bodies to throw against bullets. If every North Korean soldier died but took several bullets for Russian soldiers, it's a win for Russia. They do not care about the North Korean soldiers or North Korea.