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/ Much worse is to come in Moscow, warns Russian warblogger 'Intelligence Diary'. An AI analysis shows that the city is full of strategic targets that Ukraine may try to hit as its drone offensive increases in scale and scope. ⬇️
"Drones have struck the Moscow oil refinery in Kapotnya for the third time since May. The question isn't whether the attacks will continue, but what will happen next."
3/ "Moscow and the surrounding region are the country's largest industrial region. High-tech production facilities are concentrated here, protected by air defences—things Russia can't afford to lose: energy, rocket science, and the defence industry.
1/ Ukraine's massive drone strike against Moscow – with a reported 555 drones and missiles fired, and 180 claimed to have been shot down over Moscow – has prompted anger, defiance, and resignation from Russian warbloggers. "Tehran is safer", one says. ⬇️
2/ In a since-deleted comment, 'Fighterbomber' writes:
"The strikes on Moscow are alarming and concerning, primarily because, over the past four years, an air defence system has been built around Moscow that is unrivaled anywhere in the world."
3/ "I don't think there's even one comparable in quality and effectiveness.
And it's letting through strikes. It's letting through strikes even on the same target.
1/ Everything's fine, there's nothing to worry about, says Russian political scientist Sergey Markov. Only minor damage has been inflicted by today's Ukrainian strike against Moscow and the most powerful air defence system in the world has been effective. ⬇️
2/ In a masterpiece of minimisation, Markov writes:
"Moscow Mayor Sobyanin stated that Moscow suffered another attempted air strike today, with 180 Ukrainian Armed Forces drones shot down as they approached Moscow."
3/ "Several drones reached the oil refinery in Kapotnya, a district of Moscow. The Sadovod complex also sustained minor damage."
Sadovod is a huge market, apparently the largest in Europe, located essentially in Moscow, just outside the Moscow Ring Road, not far from Kapotnya.
1/ Prominent Russian warblogger Maxim Kalashnikov has been arrested on suspicion of assisting Ukraine's drone strikes against the Moscow Oil Refinery. Other warbloggers are gloating. ⬇️
2/ 'Alex Parker Returns' is gleeful:
"The dick has played his violin too much. Political blogger and publicist, and dare I say it, war correspondent, Maxim Kalashnikov, was summoned to the police for publishing the aftermath of a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow."
3/ "Investigators believe he worked as a spotter for the crests and recorded the results of the incoming attacks, along with the locations of air defence systems. Those responsible for this morning's massive strike have been found."
1/ A Russian Army inspection of forces in eastern Ukraine is reported to have found evidence of "flagrant corruption", false reports, looting, drinking, embezzlement, theft of supplies, and fraud at all levels. A Russian warblogger calls for senior officers to be punished. ⬇️
2/ 'War Zone' writes:
"On 19 May 2026, an inspection was carried out in units of the ‘Vostok’ Army Group, led by Colonel-General Andrei Ivanayev: the commission uncovered evidence of the falsification of combat performance results and the submission of false reports by…
3/ …commanders of the ‘Vostok’ Army Group’s formations. Evidence of flagrant corruption has been uncovered amongst senior and middle-ranking commanders. The most serious violations were found in the 29th Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Alexei Zhuravlev.
1/ Summer vacations in Crimea are definitely off, in the face of constant Ukrainian drone attacks and worsening fuel shortages across the peninsula. The Crimean economy is said to be in deep trouble, with factories and amenities closing, and workers being laid off en masse. ⬇️
2/ 'Your News' laments:
"Comrades from Crimea report: the resort season on the peninsula has been almost completely cancelled.
Fuel is hard to come by, or not available at all."
3/ "Destroyed factories and oil depots are not resuming operations, but simply disappearing from the economic map along with their workers.
Hundreds of workers are being sent on unpaid leave or simply laid off due to a lack of jobs.