1/ An exchange of fire in the occupied Ukrainian village of Urzuf, in which several Russian soldiers and bystanders were reportedly killed, is said to have been started by drunken Chechen soldiers fighting drunken convict soldiers.
2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which quotes an apparently leaked report, "drunken criminals of the Ministry of Defence, assigned to a military unit based in Chechnya, and an equally drunken military policeman confronted each other with weapons."
3/ It reports that the incident took place in the morning of 12 August at the Miami Club in Urzuf, near Mariupol.
4/ "Soldiers from unit 71718 [70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment from Shali, Chechnya] were resting there, mostly former prisoners who had signed liberation contracts with the Ministry of Defence ...
5/ "Two companies sat next to each other. The first, natives of the southern regions. The second, fellow soldiers from the company attached to [the Chechen battalion] Akhmat. According to testimony, the latter drank a bottle of whiskey for three.
6/ "At the establishment's closing time (around 4 a.m.), a conflict broke out between the guests in uniform – Sergei Alikhanov, 25, a resident of the Kaliningrad region, who had been convicted of theft, and Sadrutdin Akayev, 30, a native of Dagestan, ...
7/ ... a military policeman (formerly of Buynaksk, military unit 63354 [136th Motorized Rifle Brigade]). In the fight the convicts were more convincing. But this was not the end of the conflict.
8/ "The denouement was a street scene during which Akayev opened fire with an AK-74. Alikhanov was killed on the spot. A fellow soldier from his company, fellow countryman and also convicted for theft, 26-year-old Vladimir Yevseenko (pictured), tried to stand up for Sergei.
9/ "He tried to kick the automatic rifle with his foot, but was wounded in the thigh, shin and arm. Akayev continued firing indiscriminately at everything he saw.
10/ "At the sound of the automatic rifle fire, the emergency response team of unit 71718 came running, and Akayev opened fire on the team as well. As a result, the shooter was killed.
11/ "Two medical teams travelled to the scene and found two men dead and one wounded man was taken to a local hospital in a state of alcoholic intoxication." /end
1/ General Vladimir Alexseyev, who was shot yesterday in a Moscow apartment building, may have been secretly visiting his mistress before the attack. Despite a reputation as an uncorrupt officer, he is said to have enjoyed the same luxurious lifestyle as many of his peers. ⬇️
2/ The building where Alekseyev was shot is a fairly ordinary apartment building in Moscow's Shchukino District. Completed in 2022, it has 10 apartments on each floor. Alekseyev was using an apartment on the 24th floor.
3/ According to neighbours, the apartment is occupied by a younger woman with a young child. They say she was seen often with the child, but Alekseyev was only seen rarely. His 'official' wife is in her 60s (he is 64) and their children are in their 30s.
1/ Why has Russia failed so abysmally at providing secure battlefield communications to its troops in Ukraine? The answer, concludes Russian warblogger Oleg Tsarev, is that the military communications budget has been looted for years by corrupt generals and contractors. ⬇️
2/ Tsarev relates the dismal history of Russia's military communications programmes:
"I remember how, at the beginning of the Special Military Operation, all units were buying Motorola radios. There was no other communications."
3/ "Now, Elon Musk has shut down the Starlink terminals our military used in the Special Military Operation, and our communications at the front have been disrupted. I'm talking to military personnel: many say we still have virtually no communications of our own.
1/ The attempted assassination of Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev in Moscow this morning has outraged Russian warbloggers, who regard him as a hero of Russia. They have highlighted his key role and contributions to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Vladimir Romanov writes:
"An assassination attempt was made on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev [who is known as 'Stepanich'], First Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defence."
3/ "An unknown assailant fired several shots into his back in the elevator lobby of a building on Volokolamsk Highway at 7:00 a.m. The assassin fled the scene. Alekseyev was hospitalised.
1/ Russia's battlefield communications are reportedly "in chaos" following the Starlink shutdown. Communications specialists are said to be scrambling to find alternative solutions, while warbloggers advocate torturing Ukrainian PoWs to get their Starlink passwords. ⬇️
2/ Yuri Podolyak writes:
"So, what everyone had long feared, but secretly hoped wouldn't happen until the end of the Special Military Operation has happened. Elon Musk flipped the switch, and 80% of Starlink terminals on the front line went down."
3/ "Moreover, it's highly likely that on our side, this will soon reach 100%, and only Russian ingenuity can attempt to circumvent it. And they will probably circumvent it somehow. But not with a return to 100% functionality as of yesterday morning.
1/ A Russian warblogger explains what the Russian army in Ukraine saw when they were disconnected en masse from Starlink yesterday. ⬇️
2/ "Starlink went down across the theatre of military operations in a rather strange way.
At around 22:00 Moscow time, it was like this:
3/ "– All terminals in the Ukraine theatre of operations are blocked. Both ours and those of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Even from their "white list". All of them.
1/ Russian retailers are cashing in on Elon Musk's mass disabling of the Russian army's Starlink terminals by massively increasing the price of Russian alternatives. One such system has quadrupled in price overnight to over $2,600, but is said to be far inferior to Starlink. ⬇️
2/ 'Combat Reserve' complains that there has been a huge overnight increase in the price being asked for the Yamal 601 system, which uses Gazprom's Yamal satellite constellation. Units are now selling for 200,000 rubles ($2,612) apiece.
3/ Listings on Avito (Russia's answer to eBay) show that until yesterday, Yamal 601 units were being priced at between 45-60,000 rubles. They are however far less capable than Starlink, and Russian soldiers have avoided them in favour of the smaller and faster US-made system.