1/ As Ukrainian forces advance in the Kursk region, law and order in frontline Russian-held areas is reported to have collapsed completely. "Rampant looting" is said have broken out – being done by the Russians themselves – while local residents say they feel abandoned. ⬇️
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that "in the border areas of the Kursk region, where fighting has been going on all week, there are no police, no firefighters, no doctors, no representatives of the administration.
3/ "According to official information, more than 76,000 people left the settlements (most of them left on their own, since there was no organized evacuation, despite the statements of the authorities), but there are still people there, mostly elderly."
4/ The channel says that "the desertion of villages and towns has become a catalyst for rampant looting". The disorder is being carried out by the Russians themselves, though it isn't clear if opportunistic civilians or indisciplined soldiers are responsible.
5/ A local resident says: "They are robbing stores, there is a collapse in Korenevo, the “Magnit” [supermarket, pictured below] was simply destroyed. There is no water, no gas, no electricity.
6/ "There was no organized evacuation, and if there was, then why didn’t we hear anything about it in Lobanovka [an outlying area of Korenevo]?"
According to VChK-OGPU, "a similar situation exists in other border municipalities."
7/ It reports that "Kursk residents are sure that representatives of the [regional] administration, having abandoned people to their fate, themselves provoked the collapse in the border areas.
8/ "Currently, it is impossible to get through to the administration of the Korenevsky district of the Kursk region. People are forced to self-organise in order to protect themselves and their property and essentially perform the functions of state and law enforcement agencies."
Addendum: The Ukrainians have now published a video which shows soldiers, possibly from the Rosgvardia, looting an abandoned Russian house in the Kursk region. New thread here:
1/ Russian sources complain that they face a "systemic and extremely acute" situation with the supply and capability of drones on the front lines in Ukraine. They say they are still using off-the-shelf Mavics, while the Ukrainians have rapidly advanced their own capabilities. ⬇️
2/ The 'Philologist in ambush' Telegram channel publishes "a signal from the ground from a comrade from an ordinary Russian people's (motorised) rifle regiment":
3/ "I have a few thoughts on our Pokrovsk direction. I don't know about other units, but it's as if we've stopped at the situation from a year ago, when we were mastering the [DJI] Mavics and the FPV [drones].
1/ The Russian naval infantry has introduced its own UAV units to fight in frontline border regions, but senior commanders are reluctant to expand them or pay salaries to the operators. A Russian warblogger complains that "indifferent and useless mediocrities are at the helm". ⬇️
2/ The 'EvilSailor2' Telegram channel is written by a Russian sailor who has become a "trench rat" (i.e. naval infantry) but is still in touch with comrades elsewhere in the fleet. He reports on the Russian Navy's faltering attempts to create land-based UAV units:
3/ "As it turned out, the leadership of the Coast Guard of the FSB Border Service drew conclusions and introduced UAV operators into the ship's staff of the radio-technical combat unit (BCh-7).
Moreover, these operators undergo combat testing on the border in the combat zone.
1/ A Russian warblogger has compiled a series of updates from the Russian perspective of the ongoing fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine. "We're just going like a herd to the slaughter," says one soldier. ⬇️
2/ The Russian blogger 'DONTSTOPWAR' has summarised the current situation at the front based on "information from our fighters on the ground":
3/ "Novopavlivske direction. Came east of Kotlyarivka. Thought we'd advance now. Fuck it. As soon as they started storming, we were met like dogs. Artillery, drones, fire from everywhere. We pressed ourselves to the outskirts and that's it, a meat grinder began.
1/ The air defence system that Russia inherited from the USSR is reported to be severely undermanned and under-equipped, despite the Kremlin's efforts to renovate it. Post-Soviet cutbacks have left it unable to counter Ukrainian drone attacks. ⬇️
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel (which is continuing to publish despite Telegram handing its original channel over to a Putin crony) reports on the parlous state of Russian air defences. Coincidentally, yesterday Russia celebrated Air Defence Day.
3/ The Soviet Union had more than 250 regiments of specialist Air Defence Radio-Technical Units guarding its airspace along the borders. Only a few now remain. As a source says: "there is no early warning for air defence systems, so all sorts of UAVs easily fly...
1/ Russian soldiers are reported to be causing chaos in military hospitals, threatening to blow themselves up with grenades, attacking and attempting to rape other patients, robbing patients, drinking, starting fights and calling prostitutes to their wards. ⬇️
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports on a series of cases in which hospitals have been seriously disrupted by misbehaving soldiers. The situation is reported to be deteriorating, as hospitals are overflowing with thousands of wounded men evacuated from Ukraine.
3/ In one of the most dramatic incidents, a military hospital near Solnechnogorsk near Moscow had to be stormed by security forces after a soldier threatened to detonate three grenades he had smuggled in. Hospitals across the region will now be searched for hidden weapons.
1/ Russian commanders are said to be using FPV drones to attack their own soldiers if they fall back from assaults on Ukrainian positions. It's a modern equivalent of the Stalin-era 'blocking detachments' which shot Soviet soldiers who attempted to retreat. ⬇️
2/ Pavel Abrosimov, an ex-convict from Volgograd who is now serving as a stormtrooper, has posted a video via his relatives in which he complains about the behaviour of the leadership of the 33rd Motorised Rifle Regiment (military unit 82717).
3/ He says that after suffering an injury in which his left arm was rendered useless, he was treated in hospital at the end of December 2024, was assigned to fitness category 'G' (temporarily unfit) and was ordered to take 30 days of sick leave.