Really important question below: why would you even design a T-72 so that the crew literally has to sit on top of hundreds of kilos of highly explosive ammunition and propellant? /1
@clmazin answered this by analogy in his brilliant script for #Chernobyl. In the (fictional) courtroom scene in the final episode, Soviet nuclear scientist Valeriy Legasov explains why Chernobyl was effectively rigged to explode: /2
"It's cheaper". That's the answer to the T-72's design flaws. It's much smaller and lighter than the US M1A1 Abrams or similar British and German tanks. But it costs a fraction of their price, at the cost of crew safety. /3
I think we often forget how much poorer Russia (and the USSR before it) is than the West. Millions of Russians still live in abject poverty, without clean water, indoor sanitation or paved roads - much as their great-grandparents did 100 years ago./4
Russia and the USSR have sought to compete with the West by making cheaper and less safe weapons because they didn't have the means to compete on quality. Unfortunately for thousands of Russian soldiers, that philosophy is now costing them their lives. /end
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1/ Russia's economic crisis is deepening, with mass layoffs at public sector organisations and heavily indebted state corporations. It's a further sign of the severe strain on the Russian government's finances caused by the Ukraine war, and is a major political risk for Putin. ⬇️
2/ The 'Political Report' Telegram channel highlights the growing scale of the crisis in Russia's state-run bodies. It also notes the political risks that this is creating for the Russian government, which faces growing public hostility towards its policies:
3/ "Russia is plunging into a massive wave of layoffs and reductions, which is hitting public sector employees and state corporations particularly hard.
1/ Average gasoline prices in the US could rise to an all-time record of $5.50, and much higher in some states, if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen by the end of June. Citigroup warns that the world's oil inventories risk falling to record low levels. ⬇️
2/ A new report published by Citi sets out scenarios for the current impasse in the Strait of Hormuz, while other analysts say it could take nine months for things to return to normal even if a peace agreement is signed. Citi's analysts predict three possible outcomes:
3/ 1️⃣ A ceasefire extension is signed this week, oil tanker traffic resumes, flows recover through May, and pre-war levels resume by the end of June. A total of 900 million barrels of oil production is lost since the start of the Iran war.
1/ Russia's premier drone unit, Rubikon, has published statistics on the Ukrainian targets it has hit to date. To the concern of some Russian warbloggers, they reveal a strikingly different targeting strategy from that used by Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Boris Rozhin reports on his 'Colonelcassad' Telegram channel:
"The Rubikon Center's official channel has published over 24,000 episodes of enemy target destruction.
Structure and dynamics of hit targets by type:
3/ "36.7% (+0.3%) - Unmanned systems (multicopter and aircraft UAVs, ground robots)
16.7% (-0.2%) - Communication and surveillance equipment
15.8% (+0.3%) - Ground hardened targets (airborne, field fortifications)
1/ Russian companies are blocking foreign IP addresses in a bid to block VPNs, stranding thousands of Russians abroad without access to money, flight details, or taxes. Major Russian apps are also being repurposed to scan users' phones for VPNs and secretly obtain user data. ⬇️
2/ While apps such as Telegram, Instagram, and WhatsApp have been blocked in Russia, millions of Russians still access them daily using VPNs. However, the Russian government is working hard to choke off this access by deterring VPN use (while not yet banning them).
3/ Russian online service providers have been ordered by the government to block access from VPN IP addresses. They are taking a very crude approach of blocking all foreign IP addresses, causing great inconvenience to travellers, as Russian blogger 'Abu' complains:
1/ Russia is entering a full-scale debt crisis, according to newly published official figures. Non-payments have reached an all-time high equivalent to nearly 4% of GDP or a fifth of the entire federal budget. It's a fresh sign of a deepening economic crisis worsened by war. ⬇️
2/ Russian media is reporting today that data from Rosstat, the official statistics agency, says that as of the end of January 2026 unpaid business debt has reached a record 8.2 trillion rubles ($109.3 billion). Non-payments have nearly tripled since 2022.
3/ This is equivalent to about 20% of the annual federal budget, 150% of Moscow's budget, and 1500% of the budget of large and wealthy regions such as the Sverdlovsk Region and the Krasnodar Krai.
1/ Russia's Ministry of Defence has hailed its first "airborne religious procession" – a fly-by of an icon of the Archangel Michael in a Mi-8 transport helicopter over Russian units in eastern Ukraine. However, it has received a sour response from those on the ground. ⬇️
2/ According to the Russian MOD, "an Mi-8 helicopter carrying an icon of the Archangel Michael flew along the operational zone of the 27th Motorised Rifle Brigade and the 68th Motorised Rifle Division of the "West" group of forces.
A Ka-52 helicopter provided escort."
3/ One of those on the ground, the warblogger 'Vault No. 8' – a serving Russian soldier – points out that the 27th Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 61899) has a dire reputation for sending its men to their deaths en masse and otherwise abusing its soldiers.