SteveShannon

It says simply "Wagner orchestra".
See, Richard Wagner was a favorite composer of Hitler, and the founder of Wagner Group colonel Utkin (of spetznaz) is a big fan of 3rd Reich. "Wagner" was his nick name during Crimea annexation and later in Donbass, and the private military group he leaded (may be leading to this day) inherited the name.

Tones can be useful for simplex operations if you are on a "noisy" channel, to block out the unwanted stuff... Granted, you will have to monitor the "busy" LED (or press the MONItor button to check the channel status) as someone else could be transmitting that you don't hear -- you would transmit only when the channel goes clear.
As for frequency step -- that mostly applies to any operations done in VFO mode; it might be useful if you are trying to add receive-only (public service/non-GMRS) frequencies to a system for scanning purposes... presuming the radio offers slots for extra channels to be programmed.

Yes, many people remove their stock antenna and attach a cable leading to an external antenna. That would make more difference than having a higher powered transmitter. Comet, like @MichaelLAX mentioned would be nice. 
There are also longer antennas for handheld use. Probably the most well known is the Nagoya 771G (tuned to GMRS frequencies), but there are others also. Just make sure you match the gender of the integral connector. 

You asked a question. It was answered succinctly by @marcspaz and exhaustively why by @Lscott.
You don’t need to worry about the extra thickness of the rubber.
What additional help would you like?

Radio in video also could be R-187-N1 (or -P1), another russian encrypted FHSS radio with analog FM, AM and TETRA. They are compatible with earlier mentioned R-168-UM, but are newer. https://reibert.info/lots/radiostancija-azart-r-187-p1.946513/ Radio in this ad is with extended battery, the short batteries do exists. This ukrainian review mentions good sensitivity and great selectivity "much better than Baofeng": https://armyinform.com.ua/2022/11/20/trofejna-radiostancziya-azart/ Great tear-down pics, don't miss. Ukrainians also managed to crack or steal master password that works on any R-187-N1, apparently.
The quality of the video is poor, so hard to tell. But I don't think it makes sense to pick up a Baofeng or Motorola. On the other hand, encrypted FHSS radio with actual programming from the enemy will allow better tactical awareness for the ukranian units in the area.

Wagner Group now recruits convicts from prisons, and sends them into the fire as a literal cannon fodder, promising the full pardon after 6 months of service. However, life expectancy of a random convict there is between one week and two. They (Wagner) burn them like dry hay. No sense to waste expensive radios, Baofeng is the right tool here. According to British Institute for the Study of War, by now Wagner lost about 40000 (forty thousand) as dead, wounded, deserted and POW.

That’s right. You are required to transmit on the channels established in the regulations. Tune step is meaningless for a compliant GMRS radio. 

In theory consensus is great, but takes a long time and frequently results in frustration.  Having someone simply say out-loud something that makes sense to a lot of people is just fine.
Personally, I would have preferred channel 20.  It’s next in order, denoting an incremental progression over CB’s channel 19; it’s unaffected by Line A (some of us do travel along the high line, where that’s a concern); and it reflects the notion the GMRS is CB 2.0.
But the simple fact is that a lot of people already think of channel 19 as “The Travel Channel”.  It just works.
Sometimes it just takes one person to make a decision instead of a bunch of people milling around expecting someone else to do something. I can live with it.

Newer MXT275 units with the USB-C port now come with wide band for the repeater channels, although some leftovers are still coming with narrow band.  If a USB-C 275 has narrow band, you can mail it in and have them convert it to wide band.  I did so and it works fine.  If it's an older 275 without the USB-C port then it'll be narrow band only.
(And I wish companies would change model numbers when they change major features.)
The 50-watt 575 may be of some use if you have to push the transmission through a lot of trees or buildings, but you still cannot receive any better than the 275 with the same antenna.  My 15-watt 275 hits a repeater 30 miles away through suburbia using a 6" quarter wave on the hood.  The 575 may have a few more features such as wide/narrow selection.
A 15-watt radio with a good antenna is much better than a 50-watt radio with a lousy antenna.

You asked a question. It was answered succinctly by @marcspaz and exhaustively why by @Lscott.
You don’t need to worry about the extra thickness of the rubber.
What additional help would you like?

You asked a question. It was answered succinctly by @marcspaz and exhaustively why by @Lscott.
You don’t need to worry about the extra thickness of the rubber.
What additional help would you like?

You asked a question. It was answered succinctly by @marcspaz and exhaustively why by @Lscott.
You don’t need to worry about the extra thickness of the rubber.
What additional help would you like?

Are you guys done?

I went ahead and joined at the $50 level because it’s the only way to support right now, but I still think that if there were additional, lower priced levels of support, even if they don’t receive anything for it, people would join them, just to provide some financial support.  Having 200 people pay $20 is better than 20 people paying $50.  
$50 might not seem like much, but it’s more than twice what I spend to belong to other hobby forums.  I’m not a professional.  I don’t have a repeater and I don’t care about most of the features that come with premium membership.  I just enjoy the forums.  Although I just use GMRS radios for very simple communications, apparently forums are my hobby.

I’m writing to suggest creating lower cost ways to support this site.  I would gladly pay $20 per year.  I think you might get more subscribers at that level, even without the benefits that a $50 subscriber receives.  To me, $50 is just too much, a psychological hurdle, but I would like to help.

The answer is still no. 

I went back to look at the photos on the site he linked. Sort of weird the radio has a Kenwood belt clip on it.
https://reibert.info/lots/radiostancija-r-168-0-5um-akveduk-spec-svjaz.956129/

Yes, many people remove their stock antenna and attach a cable leading to an external antenna. That would make more difference than having a higher powered transmitter. Comet, like @MichaelLAX mentioned would be nice. 
There are also longer antennas for handheld use. Probably the most well known is the Nagoya 771G (tuned to GMRS frequencies), but there are others also. Just make sure you match the gender of the integral connector. 

It's been said before on this Forum, but it bares repeating:
If you are looking for "hobbyist" communication with strangers, it is worth the effort to gain a Technician Class Ham Radio license and use similar HTs to chat over their Repeaters, which are generally more prevalent. And with Digital modes available to you there, chat all over the world with your Digital HT.
If you are trying to expand your family's range on GMRS, then yes, you need to find a repeater.
Having just reread your OP:
Maybe a modest contribution among family and friends and you could establish your own repeater.
Have you tried hours of scanning your local 8 GMRS Repeater channels and see if there is any activity?

Any more theories about the radio?
Is there a list of what radios are known to be used by all sides in the conflict there?
I've looked at the spec's for the radios used in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. When I watch some old war movies I try to see what kind/model of radio they used. It's shocking how little power output the manpack radios had during those times. Anywhere from a few hundred milliwatts to a watt or so. The radios were really the size of a backpack.  Now you get more power and performance out of something that fits in a shirt pocket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-300
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PRC-77_Portable_Transceiver

Are you guys done?

You cannot make any modifications that violate Part 95(e) rules.
What does your "pre-made channel configuration" consist of?

I am a bit confused by your message, but let's move on...
CHIRP uploads .IMG files to your UV-5R; not .CSV files.
A generic file is never good to start with; it will only lead to problems.
Start with an .IMG file that you know works with your UV-5R; such as one you saved earlier, or a fresh download.
Then feel free to add additional channels and resave to your radio.
.CSV is an "interchange" format that allows you to save data to be manipulated by another program.  Most people like to use Excel.
If you have more than one of the SAME radio, exporting as CSV is not as helpful.
But if you have different radios, using CSV as an intermediary step can help you bring one radio's channels to the other radio.
REMEMBER even if you move CSV data over, the new code plug must have the radio's other settings as well, which is why you want to work on the proper .IMG file for that brand of radio.
CSV is also helpful to bring over pre-set frequencies from a standardized group of frequencies, like public service frequencies, especially for scanning purposes.

Crude and rude? Slow? It seems to work good for me. Your own version? And where would the data come from? Certainly not here.  As @Borage257 points out have you used the map portion here? It is like Google maps. How about a little appreciation for the site you’re on… or am I missing something?

Have you used the map portion of this site? It does load slow on some machines, but it is pretty much google maps with an overlay
If you switch to “colored streets” or “out doors” the map will respond faster.
I have yet to find a better repository of GMRS repeaters online.