1/ Citizens of the puppet 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DNR) are complaining en masse that they are not being paid their promised compensation for deaths and injuries caused to local residents by the war. The DNR itself admits that it owes more than 38 billion rubles ($467m). ⬇️
2/ Relatives and soldiers of the DNR's armed forces – which have been decimated due to being used as so-called 'meat waves' against Ukrainian positions – have been posting numerous videos complaining about the lack of compensation payments and appealing to Putin for help.
3/ In one video, a wife says: "Starting from September 2022, funding for lump-sum compensation for wounded and killed DNR servicemen for 2022 was terminated. We submitted documents to the commission of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of the DNR.
4/ "There are a lot of us. We applied to all authorities. From the presidential administration to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.
5/ "All our appeals are forwarded to the government of the DNR, which redirects them to the Ministry of Labour, and the answers come from there that there is no funding. We write to the deputies and there are no results."
6/ According to the wife of one wounded soldier, his unit "collected all the necessary documents promptly, the medical examiner issued a conclusion of a severe injury.
7/ "In November we submitted all the documents for payment, and for seven months there have been no payments, the allowance during treatment is 30,000 rubles ($371). The answer is the same, there is no funding."
8/ People seeking compensation have complained to the DNR state prosecutor's office, which admitted that an audit had "established the fact of lack of funding for this type of payment, which requires an amount of more than 38 billion rubles."
9/ It's very unlikely that the DNR will be able to pay the sums it owes, as its finances are precarious, its economy is a mess and it's kept afloat only by Russian government funding.
10/ The Russian government has shown little concern previously for the welfare of DNR soldiers and their families, so there seems to be little likelihood that the relatives' video appeals will achieve much. /end
1/ Russia's shrunken Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9th May has been a TV ratings flop, reflecting a lack of public interest and its exceptionally short duration. Russian broadcasters report 25% fewer people tuning in this year. ⬇️
2/ The Russian news outlet 'We can explain' reports that the combined rating for the Victory Day Parade broadcast across the three main broadcasters (Channel One, Rossiya 1, and NTV) this year was only 16%. This is a near-25% drop from the 20.5% rating recorded in 2025.
3/ The parade was overtaken in the ratings by the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 'We can explain' suggests that this "may be due to the show's shortening and watering down."
1/ Russian warbloggers are mystified and angry at a recruitment advert for the Russian army posted on the Facebook-like social network VK. Unlike the usual ads, which show Russian soldiers as muscular supermen, it's attracting attention for being a lot more realistic. ⬇️
2/ Sergei Moskalkov, who spotted the advert, declares angrily:
"This isn't a fake, not a disinformation-like collage, but a genuine advertisement for contract service in the Russian Armed Forces.
This is a VK ad.
#fifthcolumn
#lawlessness"
3/ Lev Vershinin suggests a return to the classics:
"Since Sergei Moskalkov never lies and isn't particularly prone to jokes, I'll take it on faith."
1/ Russian propagandists see their anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories about secret bioweapons being vindicated by the news that the Trump Administration is to probe previous US Administrations' funding of biological research laboratories worldwide. ⬇️
2/ Since 2022, the Russians have promoted claims that the US was operating dozens of secret laboratories in Ukraine to research bioweapons, including novel diseases and so-called "combat mosquitos". Propagandists claimed that Ukraine was under US "military biological occupation".
3/ These claims build on older Russian/Soviet-era disinformation patterns, extending back decades, about US bioweapons programmes. As long ago as the 1950s, the Soviets falsely claimed US germ warfare in Korea, and more recently claimed that the US created AIDS.
1/ Ukraine is reportedly using large 'drone carrier' unmanned surface vessels (USVs), each carrying between six to eight FPV drones as well as themobaric rockets, to attack multiple targets on the strategic Kinburn Peninsula in Crimea. ⬇️
2/ The Russian Telegram channel 'Archangel of Special Forces' posts footage apparently taken by a Russian UAV of what it says is a Ukrainian USV off Kinburn. According to the channel, the Ukrainians have been launching an increasing number of attacks against Russian positions:
3/ "The footage shows one of two unmanned Ukrainian Armed Forces boats launched today from the Southern Bug River basin. The port of Mykolaiv was likely the launch site, given the size of the USV. The waters of the Southern Bug have not been used for a long time.
1/ The stress of Russia's worsening economic problems, Internet shutdowns, and the war in Ukraine is reportedly causing a huge decrease in Russian citizens' happiness, and a corresponding surge in antidepressant prescriptions and morbidity. ⬇️
2/ The Russian 'Political Report' Telegram channel reports that antidepressant sales in Russia are setting new all-time records year-on-year, alongside opinion polls suggesting substantially worsening levels of unhappiness:
3/ "Russians are sinking en masse into apathy, depression, and persistent pessimism. Faith not only in a bright future, but even in the remote possibility that reality won't at least slide into a worse-case scenario, is rapidly fading.
1/ The notorious Russian colonel Igor 'Evil' Puzik is once again making news for the wrong reasons. His regiment's political officer is reported to have confessed to the FSB that he and the colonel were imprisoning and torturing their own men to extract money from them. ⬇️
2/ Colonel Puzik, the commander of the 87th Motorised Rifle Regiment, is widely detested by Russian warbloggers, his own men, and their relatives, for his alleged corruption, brutality, and willingness to send men to their deaths or shoot them himself to shut them up.
3/ He became notorious over his alleged involvement in drug dealing which prompted him to send two UAV operators, who had spoken out about it, to die in an assault. No action was taken against him despite an outcry. However, it seems he may now be the target of an investigation.