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/ Female Russian convict soldiers are complaining that the Russian military has reneged on their contracts. Instead of being pardoned after completing their military service, they say, they will now be sent back to jail.
2/ 39-year-old Lyudmila Leonidovna Poltarakova was recruited from a Russian prison along with more than 80 other women. She is part of the 370th Separate Medical Battalion (military unit 57062) of the 2nd Guards Taman Motor Rifle Division.
3/ The women work as medics for an evacuation group, removing the wounded and dead from the battlefield. This is highly dangerous work, carried out under constant threat of drone and artillery attack.
1/ Enormous numbers of casualties have reduced some Russian assault units to as little as 32% of their authorised strength. Leaked data shows widespread undermanning, with dozens of UAV specialists reported to have been sent to stormtrooper units to replace casualties. ⬇️
2/ An officer of the 752nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (military unit 34670), part of the 3rd Motor Rifle Division of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army, has reportedly leaked manpower data from the regiment. It shows very low levels of staffing among assault units.
3/ According to the roster, the assault units of the 752nd Regiment should have 2,078 personnel, but in reality, only 1,014 are listed. This represents 48% of the overall authorised strength. Figures for some assault units are as low as a third of their authorised strength.
1/ Ukraine's attacks on Russia's space communications complexes appear intended to systematically degrade the Russian military's ability to access satellite imagery and communications. Analysts say they'll have a serious impact on military capabilities. ⬇️
2/ Ukraine has so far carried out three attacks on Russia's space communication centers (SCCs) in the Moscow and Vladimir regions. The Dubna SCC was hit twice, on 22 and 30 June, and the Vladimir SCC in Gus-Khrustalny was hit on 24 June.
3/ At Vladimir, the main complex's 25-metre parabolic antenna and the antenna on the roof of the Main Hardware and Software Complex were both damaged. The central part of the latter complex also suffered significant damage, along with the Hardware and Technical Building No. 1.
1/ Despite fuel supposedly being reserved for the emergency services, a Russian medic says that the current fuel shortage is causing a crisis for ambulances, which are now standing idle. It's not our fault, she adds, and anyway, most ambulance users are useless time-wasters. ⬇️
2/ The 'Closed Agenda' Telegram channel publishes a video from Bryansk, which has been badly hit by the fuel shortage caused by Ukraine's drone strikes against Russian refineries. The channel is bitterly critical of the Russian authorities:
3/ "To the vast array of systemic difficulties doctors face daily, a reality unthinkable for a civilised country has now been added: emergency services don't have the gas to go and save lives.
1/ The Russian authorities are trying to address the current fuel crisis by persuading the population, improbably, that having a full tank of gas is dangerous. Russian bloggers are gleefully trashing what they see as a stunningly inept 'anti-crisis' campaign. ⬇️
2/ 'Alex Parker Returns' commends the government's mouthpieces for highlighting a hitherto unrecognised danger:
"It turns out that filling the tank to the brim is harmful to the car's health and can lead to its breakdown. A useful tip for car enthusiasts. Good advice."
3/ Sasha Kon recommends that the government should lean into old-fashioned homophobia to discourage drivers from buying excessive amounts of fuel:
1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin warns that Ukraine's drone offensive is setting the conditions for a direct attack on Crimea, by chopping Russian forces in the south of Ukraine into isolated fragments with limited manoeuvrability caused by a lack of fuel. ⬇️
2/ In a new message on his Telegram channel, the imprisoned Girkin writes:
3/ "In principle, the situation is STILL developing STRICTLY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ENEMY'S STRATEGIC PLAN: our troops continue to exhaust themselves with any attacks in secondary (for the enemy) directions (especially since the Donetsk fortified region – or rather,…