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 soldiers in Ukraine are unhappy that army health and safety inspectors have ordered them to tear down their camouflage nets because they are too flammable. They've been told to put up bright red fire safety equipment instead. ⬇️
2/ 'Unofficial Bezsonov' complains:
"A commission from Moscow visited some of our units' temporary deployment locations. They ordered us to remove camouflage nets, as they violate fire safety regulations, and to hang up red signs like these."
3/ "Friends, these are frontline zones where our soldiers are trying to deploy secretly.
The war is five years old, but the number of differently-talented people serving on these commissions hasn't decreased.
1/ A fuel shortage is expanding across Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine due to Ukraine's drone strikes. The Russian warblogger 'Two Majors' reports that it is degrading Russian combat capabilities across the Donbas front lines, as well as in the south. ⬇️
"The problem is broader than just the land corridor to Crimea.
The destruction of our logistics to an operational depth of up to 200 km creates problems not only with the fuel supply to Crimea, as esteemed Comrade Rybar writes."
3/ "The operations of Ukrainian drones over the roads of the long-suffering Donbas are no less serious, although less publicised. This is understandable, as people don't go to Donetsk for summer vacations.
1/ The Russian occupation in Ukraine faces a "catastrophic" situation, according to alarmed Russian warbloggers. "Total drone terror" is now taking place across the entire occupied region, with no place being safe any more. ⬇️
2/ 'Donetsk MartynoVa' warns that all of Russia's gains in Ukraine are now at risk due to a "summer of bloody terror" being wrought by Ukraine's seeming air supremacy:
3/ "The saddest thing is that it's not just the facts that are frightening, but the incredible dynamics that threaten to easily wipe out all the achievements, sacrifices, and plans of a war that has been going on for 12 years.
1/ Ukraine has effectively done to Crimea what Iran has done to the Strait of Hormuz: it has reportedly scared Russian insurers into blocking all civilian-hauled oil supplies to the peninsula and occupied southern Ukraine for fear of drone strikes.
"So, to summarise the explanatory team's responses regarding the fuel shortage in Crimea, I'll sum up:
3/ "- Fuel transport by rail is permitted across the bridge in exceptional cases following a terrorist attack. Plus, owners of railway tanker cars are reluctant to provide them, as no one insures them.
1/ The Russian army's use of dazzle camouflage in an attempt to confuse Ukrainian drones is unlikely to succeed, according to sceptical Russian warbloggers. They point out that it's not the First World War, and trucks on roads aren't ships at sea. ⬇️
"Ukrainian channels published a photograph of a Russian Kamaz truck repainted in zebra camouflage. This was done to confuse American Hornet UAVs, which have AI-assisted final-track lock-on.
3/ "However, if the drone is controlled manually, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a Hornet, repainting it won't help. In that case, it could serve as a temporary solution. Long-term, road protection and an interceptor system are needed."
1/ A notorious Russian serial killer and multiple rapist known as the 'Sosnovsky Maniac' is reported to have died in a drone strike in Ukraine. The news has emerged after an apparently mistaken report that he had escaped from hospital. The army had decorated him for valour. ⬇️
2/ 41-year-old Andrei Kiyko murdered three young women, raped eight, and tried to murder twelve in St Petersburg's Sosnovska Park. He was convicted in 2008 and was sentenced to 22 years, extended to 25 years in 2023 after being convicted of the third murder.
3/ Only a year later, he was released after signing a military contract to fight in Ukraine. He was wounded several times and was awarded the Medal for Valor by the army.