[A Russian general, shaking with fear, telephones the Czar(?) who is also being annoyed by the Czarina(?)]

This satirical war print depicts a Russian general transmitting bad news to the Czar by telephone, with both figures visibly distressed and the Czarina adding a note of domestic disruption to what should be a scene of military authority. The telephone — a technology associated with Meiji-era modernity — functions as a prop that underscores Russia's failed modernization: a country possessing the apparatus of modern communication but incapable of producing favorable reports to transmit through it. Kiyochika's figure work renders the general's fear through exaggerated posture and expression, while the domestic triangle of Czar, Czarina, and military crisis reduces Russian imperial dignity to household comedy. This compositional strategy — placing military defeat within a familial or domestic setting — recurs across the Russo-Japanese War satire series, using private space to amplify the public humiliation of the enemy. The print reflects Kiyochika's familiarity with French and English satirical illustration reaching Japan through Meiji-era periodicals.