MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/Sputnik/AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (C) meet soldiers during a visit at a military training center of the Western Military District for mobilised reservists, outside the town of Ryazan on October 20, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing dissent from both pro-war activists and anti-war protesters, as Russia's war against Ukraine drags on.

More than eight months into the war against neighboring Ukraine, anger is growing across the country.

Staunch Putin allies are criticizing the military's handling of the conflict, Russian state TV hosts are shifting their tone on the war, attacks on military registration and enlistment offices and Russian railway infrastructure are increasing, and some officials are even calling for Putin's resignation.

The British Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update on the war that the Russian anti-war group "Stop the Wagons" (STW) claimed responsibility for an October 24 explosion that damaged the railway near the village of Novozybkovo, located near the Russia-Belarus border.

It marked at least the sixth incident of sabotage against Russian railway infrastructure claimed by STW since June.

The ministry said that Russia's military primarily relies on rail transport for transporting forces to Ukraine and that Monday's attack is part of a wider trend of attacks against railways in both Russia and Belarus.

The railway that was targeted this week is the main rail link between Russia and southern Belarus.

"The Russian leadership will be increasingly concerned that even a small group of citizens has been sufficiently opposed to the conflict to resort to physical sabotage," the latest British intelligence update said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, separately said on Wednesday that prominent members of Putin's inner circle are equally voicing their dissatisfaction with war efforts in Ukraine.

It said this indicates that Putin will "continue to struggle to appease the pro-war constituency in the long term."

The ISW pointed to remarks made by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia's Chechen Republic, as he once again criticized the military's handling of the war on Tuesday.

In an audio message on his Telegram channel, Kadyrov, a longtime ally of Putin, said Moscow is "responding weakly" to Kyiv's counteroffensive to retake the southern Kherson region, and shelling in other areas that Putin has proclaimed to have annexed.

"In my opinion, we are responding weakly. If a shell flew in our direction, in our region, we must wipe out the cities," Kadyrov said.

Kadyrov last month also publicly ridiculed Putin's military, and lashed out at the Defense Ministry's leadership, saying that the Russian military "gave away several cities and villages."

The ISW said Kadyrov's statement indirectly criticizes the scale of the Russian missile campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure and that it lines up with other critiques that came after the first campaign began on October 10.

Criticism within the Kremlin elite will likely intensify as Russia loses more territories it had previously occupied, the ISW said, amid an anticipated Ukrainian victory in the Kherson region.

Putin hasn't directly addressed criticism from his inner circle, but last month, his spokesman issued a stern warning to Russians angry at the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels must be "very careful" when criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a news briefing on September 13.

"As for other points of view, critical points of view, as long as they remain within the framework of the current legislation, this is pluralism," Peskov said. "But the line is very, very thin, you have to be very careful here."

Newsweek has reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.

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Vladimir Putin Faces Dissent From Both Sides as Russian Mood Sours