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/ Today's British newspaper headlines show a unified wall of outrage against Donald Trump, across the political spectrum. It's a sign of how a reported plan to punish the UK by 'reassessing the status of the Falkland Islands' has crossed a line that's redder than red. ⬇️
2/ Reuters reported yesterday that an internal Pentagon memo, said to have been written by Under Secretary of War [sic] for Policy Elbridge Colby, suggests reviewing US support for Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands.
3/ The Falkland Islands were invaded in 1982 by Argentina, which claims the islands for itself, and recovered by the UK in a ten-week war which cost about 900 lives. The islanders are a British Overseas Territory whose inhabitants have voted overwhelmingly to stay with the UK.
1/ With the quality of life in Russia steadily deteriorating, Russian warblogger Alex Kartavykh is keen to raise morale. He has asked his followers on Telegram: "What's good in our country?" The answers have an element of clutching at straws. ⬇️
2/ – They allow you to put square number plates on the front of your car. Since about three years ago.
– There’s loads of snow in winter; it crunches poetically underfoot.
3/ – They transcribed the voice messages on Max [the state-sponsored messenger app]! I only noticed that today
– I finished Pragmata today. It’s properly positive, not just a [video] game.
1/ The news that Ukrainian drones are now reaching the Urals – as far away from Ukraine as England – has been met with dismay by Russian warbloggers. They say that Russia's air defence system is chronically disunited and coordinated action is difficult. ⬇️
2/ 'Fighterbomber' appears to have realised that the strike shows, in spite of claims to the contrary from many Russian propagandists, that the Ukrainians don't need to use the Baltic States' airspace to attack Russia's Baltic ports:
3/ "Early this morning, the Ukrainians launched yet another strike using aircraft-type drones against a target deep behind enemy lines, deep within Russia.
Or rather, they attempted to launch one. Or attacked, to be precise. Plus or minus 1,800 km. An 8–10-hour flight."
1/ A new Russian anti-drug law is leading to drug warnings being added to classic works of Russian literature by Gogol, Pushkin, Bulgakov and other classic authors, due to mentions of drug use. It's a sign of how censorship is reaching increasingly deeply into Russian life. ⬇️
2/ Verstka reports that Russian online bookshops are adding warnings to both the text and audiobook versions of classic works such as Gogol's stories "The Nose" and "Viy," children's stories by Tolstoy, and works by Bulgakov such as "The Master and Margarita".
3/ It comes after the introduction into effect on 1 March 2026 of a new law banning "drug propaganda" in literature, film, media, and the Internet.
1/ Growing discontent about Russian government policies is reflected in an increasing willingness by Russian commentators to directly attack Vladimir Putin – still a very risky move. Warblogger Egor Guzenko calls Putin a liar over Internet shutdowns. ⬇️
2/ Writing on his channel 'Thirteenth', Guzenko – a veteran Russian nationalist who has been fighting in Ukraine from 2014 onwards – ignores the ever-present threat of the FSB and gives Putin both barrels:
3/ "You'll have to forgive me, but you know, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, what you're saying now is a blatant lie."
1/ The developers of the Russian heavy bomber drone 'Kukushka' have been sent to their deaths en masse, according to the father of one of the men. He says they were deliberately killed as they were regarded as 'inconveniences' by their commanders. ⬇️
2/ Alexander Igorevich Anorin has recorded a video accusing commanders in the 102nd Motorised Rifle Regiment (military unit 91706) of sending a group of UAV developers to their deaths in assaults against Ukrainian positions.
3/ He says the commander of the regiment's 2nd Batallion, Boris Borisovich Kravchenko, call sign "Azak," and the regiment's deputy political officer, Samvel Karapetyan, sent the drone developers to die in an assault near Poltavka in the Zaporizhzhia region in July 2025.