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/ A military doctor who has deserted from the Russian army says she was forced to be a commander's 'field wife', had to rate crippled men as fit, saw 'undesirable' soldiers being shot by their officers, and others being "sold for slaughter" for their commanders' profit. ⬇️
2/ A female military doctor serving in the 19th Tank Regiment (military unit 12322) recorded a video about what she saw and experienced since joining the unit in June 2023. There are around 40,000 women in the Russian armed forces, mostly in medical roles.
3/ After signing a contract, she says she ended up after training "in Totskoye, Orenburg region – under the regiment commander Evgeniy Borisovich Ladnov, to the very commander who is called the 'butcher commander', the 'killer commander'".
1/ A new survey shows that global trust in the United States has plummeted since Donald Trump returned to office. Trump himself is less popular internationally than Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Israel and Iran come out as the least popular countries in the world. ⬇️
2/ The Alliance of Democracies has published its annual Democracy Perception Index, the world's largest annual survey on democracy. 111,000 respondents across 100 countries were surveyed between 9-23 April 2025.
3/ The survey shows that the net perception rating of the United States fell from +22% last year to -5% this year, just ahead of Russia with -9%. The share of countries with a positive image of the US dropped from 76% last year to 45% this year. China went up from +5% to +14%.
1/ The screech of drones (sound on) has become the defining sound of the Russia-Ukraine war. Two Russian commentaries describe what it's like in an environment where, according to Russian sources, Ukrainian drones outnumber Russian by seven to one. ⬇️
2/ 'Den Surca', written by a frontline Russian soldier, gives an insight into the psychological impact of 24/7 drone warfare:
3/ "There is absolutely nothing to write about. Every day is full of events and tension - but even so, nothing inside wants to even try to cling to some moment.
Several of our dugouts were burned. I passed by – I saw these pits filled with ash and burnt metal.
1/ A frustrated Russian warblogger complains at the "hopeless" nature of coordination between units of the Russian army, which he says is characterised by "arrogant disregard". It's a situation, he says, where "one branch of the military spins on the dick of another." ⬇️
2/ '13 Tactical' shows off a patch which he says is popular in the Russian army:
"Where did the INTERACTION patch come from and why is it so popular among the military?"
3/ "In addition to the number 13 and text, it depicts opossums [sic] from the Ice Age [movies], one holding a colander, the other holding a radio with a torn wire, both in armour.
1/ An ongoing crisis at Russian Railways is deepening, with a 50% cut on payments to employees and such a severe shortage of personnel that some divisions of the company are down to 40% of their intended staff numbers. Despite this, it has imposed a ban on hiring. ⬇️
2/ The state-owned railway monopoly has been facing a worsening staffing and financial crisis, brought on by a combination of a lack of spare parts caused by sanctions, economic problems and staff leaving for much better-paid jobs in the army or factories.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the company is trying to fix the hole in its finances by drastically cutting expenses on employee costs and banning hiring new people. Bonuses have been cancelled, leading to a large reduction in salaries.
1/ Vladimir Putin was sheltered under a bomb-proof roof during today's Victory Day parade in Moscow. This appears to be the first time this has happened, highlighting the Russian government's nervousness about the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. ⬇️
2/ In previous years, the Russian president and other VIPs have been seated in an open-air stand adjacent to the Kremlin's outer wall, overlooking Red Square. This has been the case in 2020, 2021 and 2023 (pictured here).
3/ This year, for the first time, Putin and his guests have been sheltered under a giant extended roof. This is said to be "in case a UAV appears", and may be intended to block any munitions being dropped on the dignitaries. /end