1/ People across Russia are freezing in their homes in temperatures as low as -38°C because essential utility workers have been mobilised – even after the supposed end of mobilisation – and sent to Ukraine, hindering repair and maintenance work at home. ⬇️
2/ The "We can explain" Telegram channel reports that several regions and cities in Russia, including Astrakhan, Krasnodar and Rostov, are suffering problems with their communal heating systems because the engineers responsible for maintaining them have been mobilised.
3/ A source in Astrakhan's municipal services says: "We have appealed to the military registration and enlistment offices and officials, explaining that the heating season is coming soon and we need people, but we never received a clear answer."
4/ Despite being engineers, most of the mobilised workers were used as infantry. They were "told to hold a difficult section of the front, although there were no professional soldiers among our men, some had just finished their military studies, others were already in their 40s."
5/ Some of the men, who were fighting near the village of Mirolyubivka, were forgotten about by their commanders during the retreat from Kherson. They were left behind, resulting in them being captured by the Ukrainians.
6/ Two of the municipal workers were sent to serve with engineering forces near Kherson, then subsequently sent for training in Belarus before they are due to return to Crimea to build defences there.
7/ The source notes that the men were given draft notices even after the partial mobilisation was claimed to have ended. Essential workers are supposed to be exempt from mobilisation, but military officials have widely ignored such exemptions.
8/ Problems with heating have been reported across Russia, exacerbated by a lack of engineering personnel. Residents of Novosibirsk were left without heating in mid-November in temperatures of -30°C due to a damaged pipeline.
9/ 270 apartment blocks housing 70,000 people in Abakan faced a similar problem around the same time. At Artemovsky, a heating breakdown lasted for several days in temperatures of -38°C. /end
1/ Thousands of Ukrainian civilians still live in destroyed villages under Russian occupation. Their situation is less visible than those in the cities, but a Russian soldier's account gives an idea of an environment where occupiers and civilians co-exist uneasily among ruins. ⬇️
2/ The Telegram channel 'Marmot of the burning steppes' writes of a Russian soldier's experiences in an occupied frontline Ukrainian village under the constant threat of drones:
3/ "Another interesting sensation is to walk through a village at night, but full of civilians.
Wrapped in a cloak and scarf over the armour, jingling the heels of our boots, holding our hands on our weapons, we walk in the uncertain light of the moon.
1/ A military doctor who has deserted from the Russian army says she was forced to be a commander's 'field wife', had to rate crippled men as fit, saw 'undesirable' soldiers being shot by their officers, and others being "sold for slaughter" for their commanders' profit. ⬇️
2/ A female military doctor serving in the 19th Tank Regiment (military unit 12322) recorded a video about what she saw and experienced since joining the unit in June 2023. There are around 40,000 women in the Russian armed forces, mostly in medical roles.
3/ After signing a contract, she says she ended up after training "in Totskoye, Orenburg region – under the regiment commander Evgeniy Borisovich Ladnov, to the very commander who is called the 'butcher commander', the 'killer commander'".
1/ A new survey shows that global trust in the United States has plummeted since Donald Trump returned to office. Trump himself is less popular internationally than Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Israel and Iran come out as the least popular countries in the world. ⬇️
2/ The Alliance of Democracies has published its annual Democracy Perception Index, the world's largest annual survey on democracy. 111,000 respondents across 100 countries were surveyed between 9-23 April 2025.
3/ The survey shows that the net perception rating of the United States fell from +22% last year to -5% this year, just ahead of Russia with -9%. The share of countries with a positive image of the US dropped from 76% last year to 45% this year. China went up from +5% to +14%.
1/ The screech of drones (sound on) has become the defining sound of the Russia-Ukraine war. Two Russian commentaries describe what it's like in an environment where, according to Russian sources, Ukrainian drones outnumber Russian by seven to one. ⬇️
2/ 'Den Surca', written by a frontline Russian soldier, gives an insight into the psychological impact of 24/7 drone warfare:
3/ "There is absolutely nothing to write about. Every day is full of events and tension - but even so, nothing inside wants to even try to cling to some moment.
Several of our dugouts were burned. I passed by – I saw these pits filled with ash and burnt metal.
1/ A frustrated Russian warblogger complains at the "hopeless" nature of coordination between units of the Russian army, which he says is characterised by "arrogant disregard". It's a situation, he says, where "one branch of the military spins on the dick of another." ⬇️
2/ '13 Tactical' shows off a patch which he says is popular in the Russian army:
"Where did the INTERACTION patch come from and why is it so popular among the military?"
3/ "In addition to the number 13 and text, it depicts opossums [sic] from the Ice Age [movies], one holding a colander, the other holding a radio with a torn wire, both in armour.
1/ An ongoing crisis at Russian Railways is deepening, with a 50% cut on payments to employees and such a severe shortage of personnel that some divisions of the company are down to 40% of their intended staff numbers. Despite this, it has imposed a ban on hiring. ⬇️
2/ The state-owned railway monopoly has been facing a worsening staffing and financial crisis, brought on by a combination of a lack of spare parts caused by sanctions, economic problems and staff leaving for much better-paid jobs in the army or factories.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the company is trying to fix the hole in its finances by drastically cutting expenses on employee costs and banning hiring new people. Bonuses have been cancelled, leading to a large reduction in salaries.