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/ Russia's fuel crisis has spread to its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. Fuel prices have soared, rationing has been introduced, gas stations have kilometre-long queues, but most have no fuel to offer. Extreme heat is also causing pumps to break down en masse. ⬇️
2/ Russians are posting videos of long queues at Kaliningrad gas stations, the vast majority of which reportedly have no fuel available. According to one reader of the ASTRA news outlet:
3/ “My parents visited 8 gas stations, and everywhere was empty. They were told that there was fuel at some station outside the city, at 100 rubles per litre, and there was a kilometre-long queue there."
1/ Russia needs better propaganda, argues a prominent warblogger known for pro-Kremlin propaganda. He and other warbloggers say that the Kremlin's current PR approach to the war in Ukraine is causing the population to be complacent and disbelieving about the real situation. ⬇️
2/ 'Rybar' writes:
"When does morale plummet? It often occurs against a backdrop of cognitive dissonance when reality collides with a poorly correlated media image. This applies to major Russian media outlets as well—take the news on federal television channels, for example."
3/ "No, they don't formally try to hide anything: reports talk about high-profile air strikes on cities, fatalities, and fuel shortages. But more often, they're treated as if in passing, not making them the centre of the story or the agenda at all.
1/ Five years into the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Russian army appears to be exhausted and in low morale. An account from a serving Russian soldier at the front line highlights the current mood of dejection and frustration with incompetent commanders. ⬇️
2/ 'Combat Reserve' writes:
"We'll all be going home, it's just not entirely clear in what condition.
The Vostok group's officer ranks are depleted, a leg was blown off—he went home. If he's lucky, he'll get a mortgage or a certificate."
3/ "Everything's awesome, but the general fatigue is taking a toll on the morale and willpower of the personnel. Everyone’s so fed up with it all that the thought of going on leave—even if it means stepping on a felt-tip pen—constantly pops into the soldiers’ heads.
1/ In possibly the most predictable outcome ever, a Russian former soldier who made a video appealing to Vladimir Putin to meet with him to avert an army rebellion over abuses on the front line has been jailed for "propagating extremist symbols". ⬇️
2/ As reported in the thread below, 39-year-old Alexander Lunin recorded an instantly viral video appeal to Putin last week in which he denounced the abusive behaviour of frontline commanders and asked for a meeting with Putin in Moscow.
3/ On 26 June, he set off for Moscow by car after recording a new video claiming that a pro-Putin lawyer had invited him to the capital for discussions. He has not been seen or heard from publicly since.
1/ Vladimir Putin's speech to the United Russia Party Congress on 28 June has received a frosty reception online from Russian Telegram commentators and users. The most commonly used reaction emoji used by readers of related posts is a clown 🤡, while bloggers are sceptical. ⬇️
2/ While many warbloggers have reported the speech neutrally, some are openly hostile – a sign of increasing antagonism towards the regime from parts of the warblogger community, who feel that it isn't doing enough to win the war.
3/ 'Novorossiya Militia Reports' notes the party's adoption of "a controversial campaign poster [shown above] at the congress titled 'Being For Putin is a basic minimum', which is already being used in election campaigns in the regions".
1/ In another sign of worsening economic problems in Russia, a fifth of the fleets of the country's largest airlines have been taken out of operation. The idling of the aircraft has been blamed on equipment failures and extended maintenance incurred by the effect of sanctions. ⬇️
2/ The Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that almost a third of the fleet – 93 out of 322 aircraft – is now idle at the eight largest carriers. This breaks down as follows for the top five airlines:
3/✈️ Aeroflot – 37 out of 349 aircraft are out of service
✈️ S7 Airlines – 33 out of 104 (about a third of the fleet)
✈️ Ural Airlines – 10 out of 51
✈️ Nordwind Airlines – 12 out of 27 (44%)
✈️ Azur Air – 17 out of 23 aircraft (74%)