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/ Russian warbloggers are angry and frustrated that Ukraine has continued to attack 'shadow fleet' tankers in the Black Sea. They admit that Ukraine has not been deterred, and that the Russian Navy lacks the capability to prevent such attacks.
2/ Video of the latest attack, on the Gambian-flagged tanker Dashan, has been widely shared on Telegram. 'Military Informant' comments:
3/ "Like the previous tankers Kairos and Virat, which carried oil under the Gambian flag, Dashan is also included in the European register of vessels belonging to Russia's "shadow fleet."
1/ The Russian army's fetish for bureaucracy has reached new levels this year, according to a Russian soldier and warblogger. The quantity has tripled over the past year, but the system is geared towards generating false information, or "fantasy stories about armed conflict". ⬇️
2/ 'Vault No. 8' has previously written about the extreme quantities of paperwork that the Russian army requires its personnel to generate and process. As well as taking up huge amounts of officers' time, the output often does not reflect reality.
3/ A further problem is that the Russian army is still, in the year 2025, entirely paper-based, and does not make use of electronic data collection and processing; it all has to be dealt with manually. 'Vault No. 8' writes:
1/ Russian soldiers who fall out with their commanders – due to personality clashes, disagreements, or a refusal to pay bribes – are routinely sent to their deaths in stormtrooper squads. Few survive for long; the following account vividly describes the life of a stormtrooper. ⬇️
2/ 'Occupant's Life', written by a frontline Russian soldier, tells the story:
3/ "Before a soulless bot deletes me from the Telegram universe; before the last spark of life in local mobile networks fades; before my phone buried under a birch tree is flooded to death, I'll tell you about the amusing adventures of a fellow soldier with whom I'd developed…
1/ Injured Russian stormtroopers say they have to lie in their own blood, pus and feces while under armed guard in hospitals that are more like prisons. They get expensive, inedible food which they have to pay for themselves, and are sent back to fight before they are healed. ⬇️
2/ A Russian stormtrooper who has been seriously injured twice describes the grim conditions in the hospital where he has been sent. His account is consistent with accounts from other men of overcrowded, insanitary facilities for the war wounded.
3/ Such reports indicate a medical system which is under severe strain from the sheer number of wounded – likely hundreds a day – who need treatment. Many soldiers have taken advantage of hospitalisation to desert, which likely explains the armed guards.
1/ Russia's decision to block Roblox and other popular apps will backfire on the government, a Russian warblogger warns. He asks why the state is willing to "antagonise HUGE swathes of a warring nation" by taking away its "last bit of joy". ⬇️
2/ 'SHAKESPEARE' writes:
"Our tight-knit "good state" blocked Roblox. I have no idea what that is. But it has over 18 million unique users in Russia .
Again: 18,000,000 of our people."
3/ And at the same time, the same "good state" started blocking VPNs. Currently, it's the three most popular protocols. People mainly use them to watch YouTube and torrent.
1/ So-called 'black commanders' are confiscating Russian soldiers' salary cards, then sending them to their deaths, failing to report them missing or killed, and stealing their salaries. This scam is reportedly widespread and has prompted many complaints from soldiers. ⬇️
2/ The 'Brothers in Arms' Telegram channel describes how the scam works:
"'Black commanders' are those who do not report soldiers as missing when communication is lost or a soldier is killed."
3/ "On paper, the person is still listed, and money continues to be deposited into their account. But who has the card? Take a guess. Modern-day “dead souls,” damn it.