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/ Russia is throwing scarce specialist troops into bloody 'meat assaults' made necessary by commanders' false claims to have captured areas that are still held by Ukrainian forces, according to a Russian officer. ⬇️
2/ According to ex-Wagner commander and milblogger Andrey Medvedev, an officer serving with the Russian Army's Central Military district has written to him to say:
3/ "Our division command decided to take extreme measures that defy common sense. Namely, to form assault groups and reserves from among specialists from other units that do not belong to motorised rifle and assault units.
1/ The commander of the Russian 13th Guards Tank Regiment is reported to have been arrested with several of his subordinates for extorting tens of millions of rubles, tooth veneers, and other material goods from soldiers under his command in the 'Luhansk People's Republic'. ⬇️
2/ The regiment has had a chequered history during the war in Ukraine. Only a month into the war in March 2022, its then commander reportedly shot himself after it was discovered that many of its tanks had been looted for parts and were unusable.
3/ Since then, the regiment has gained a reputation for treating its men brutally. Soldiers from the regiment were filmed being stripped naked, beaten and made to trim grass with their fingers in August 2023.
1/ Incompetence by Russian commanders is reported to have led to the deaths of Russian special forces operators, likely including UAV pilots, in areas of north-west Syria that have been overrun by rebels. ⬇️
2/ According to a source quoted by the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel:
"The events in Syria have once again demonstrated the failure of the leadership of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
3/ "Despite having advance information about the plans of militant groups in the Aleppo region, the SOF command did not take any adequate actions to preserve personnel, thereby allowing the death of specialists who were simply caught off guard by the militants.
1/ Russian arms exports have collapsed by 92% between 2021 and 2024, according to a Russian defence policy expert. While the drop has enabled Russia to focus production on its own needs, Russia's arms industry needs the war to end so that it can resume earning hard currency. ⬇️
2/ Defence policy expert Pavel Luzin, speaking at the "Country and World: Russian Realities 2024" conference in Berlin, says that Russian arms exports will have fallen 14-fold between 2021, the last pre-war year, and the end of 2024.
3/ He calculates that revenue from the sale of Russian weapons by the end of 2024 will amount to less than $1 billion. It has fallen precipitously from $14.6 billion in 2021, $8 billion in 2022, and $3 billion in 2023.
1/ Russian military transportation in Ukraine is reported to have ground to a halt, due to an initiative to confiscate privately-owned vehicles after a spate of drunken accidents. As many as 96% of light vehicles used by soldiers are said to be personally owned or donated. ⬇️
2/ As previously reported, the Russian army's Southern District has issued orders mandating severe punishments for soldiers who do not hand over personally-owned vehicles, as well as for their commanders.
3/ Soldiers have contacted Russian milbloggers to complain about the chaos being caused by the crackdown. Now, says Anastasia Kashevarova, "the front has come to a standstill in a number of places."
1/ The equivalent of an entire regiment – more than 1,000 soldiers, including two lieutenant-colonels – has deserted from a single Russian division. The huge numbers highlight the normally well-hidden scale of desertions from the Russian army. ⬇️
2/ 'Important Stories' reports that the division has sent other commands a list of 1,010 people with a request to help find them. They include 858 contract soldiers, 150 mobilized soldiers and two conscripts, with 26 junior officers, one major and two lieutenant colonels.
3/ The Volgograd-based 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division is said to have the reputation of being one of the worst in Russia's army. Its men were sent into Ukraine in February 2022 on the pretext of Ukrainian forces massing on the border, which it soon became clear was a lie.