1/ Was the infamous Russian milblogger Semyon 'Wargonzo' Pegov accidentally shot in the foot by his own side? @ian_matveev argues that this may have been the case.
2/ Video emerged yesterday of Pegov being evacuated with a foot injury after supposedly stepping on a (presumably Ukrainian) PFM-1 'butterfly mine' in the Donetsk region.
3/ PFM-1s are very nasty weapons – cluster munitions dropped over a wide area to create an instant minefield. They became notorious in Afghanistan in the 1980s for blowing up children. Despite being small, they cause horrendous injuries to feet and legs.
4/ There's a new video out on Russian channels showing Pegov getting medical treatment immediately after being injured. And as Ian points out, the injuries aren't consistent with a mine.
5/ "The injury in the video seems to be quite light, although in theory, a PFM-1 'petal' mine should almost tear off a leg or at least seriously damage it.
6/ The same propagandists wrote that civilians in Donetsk were blown up by these mines and the wounds in the photos were terrible.
Semyon Pegov is a propagandist and has been caught in staged videos (example in this video).
7/ Pegov's fate does not interest me at all. Maybe he really blew himself up on a mine, that's his business. But it is interesting to know if the damage from the "petal" mine is real. If there are those who really faced such cases, please write."
8/ Shortly before he was injured, Pegov was photographed with Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin, who seems to have a problem with trigger discipline and a habit of pointing his weapon at his feet. Coincidence... or not?
Today is St Crispin's Day – an occasion commemorated by Shakespeare with one of the greatest martial speeches ever written in the English language.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day’ ...
1/ Two more videos of unhappy mobilised Russian soldiers in the field in Ukraine (this is becoming quite a genre now) highlight issues that have been seen several times before: they're being deployed without ammunition, food, water, clear orders or even tents to sleep in. ⬇️
2/ Men of the 423rd Guards Yampolsky Motor Rifle Regiment, who appear to have been deployed to eastern Ukraine (possibly somewhere around Lyman, judging from the terrain), complain:
3/ "We are standing on the front line, we have no ammo, no grenades, no food, no water... Here is the front line, we were sent here without training, without everything."
1/ Untrained mobilised Russian soldiers are being held prisoner in a basement in Luhansk oblast after refusing to go back to the front line. Following a bloody defeat near Lyman, they found that their own side had stolen all their personal equipment. Thread follows. ⬇️
2/ The independent Russia media collective ASTRA reports that mobilised men from the Lipetsk and Bryansk regions in Russia are being held in captivity by their own commanders after they were forced to retreat from near Lyman with "many dead and wounded".
3/ To make matters worse, relatives say that some men were mobilised illegally, without signing or even seeing their contracts. Some had deferments exempting them from mobilisation, but these were ignored. As one said, "I'm going there like a pig to be killed, I won't go".
1/ The exiled Turkmen opposition politician Murad Kurbanov says that Russian private military companies (PMCs) are recruiting illegally prisoners and poor people from Turkmenistan, with Turkmen officials falsely attributing their subsequent deaths to coronavirus. Thread ⬇️
2/ Kurbanov writes: "I have received information from activists in Turkmenistan indicating that there is an illegal mobilisation among the prison contingent for the war in Ukraine, with the assistance of the national security agencies and authorities.
3/ It is well known that at least 500 Russian-speaking "contract servicemen" have been rounded up in prisons in Turkmenistan and sent to Moscow.
1/ The Cheka-OGPU Telegram channel has provided more details of the reported forcible mobilisation of non-Russian immigrants into the Russian army, which is likely to have been implicated in the 15 October mass shooting at the Soloti training range. Translation below. ⬇️
2/ A Cheka-OGPU source described how migrants are recruited for the war at the Sakharovo migration centre [near Moscow. pictured above].
3/ There is a separate office on the premises, on which a sort of advertisement asks directly: "Do you want Russian citizenship in a short time?" Detained migrants who are illegally in Russia or do not have work permits are sent to this office.
1/ Did these railway workers save the Kerch railway bridge to Crimea? An interesting account published by the Russian-controlled Crimea Railway company suggests that the damage to the bridge from the attack on 8 October could have been much worse. Translation follows. ⬇️
2/ Early in the morning, on 8 October, engine driver Yuri Kvashnin and assistant driver Viktor Proshin started their usual route. At 5:40 they set off with a freight train from Taman-Passenger station [on the east side of the Kerch Strait]. An explosion occurred 25 minutes later.
3/ Yuri Kvashnin recalls what happened: "When we approached the arches of the Crimean bridge, we heard a bang with an explosion, at first we did not understand what happened - our locomotive "jumped" and the light on the bridge went out immediately!