Thread by @ArturRehi

For the second day in a row, there is a lot of good news. Although, any news related to the war can hardly be considered "good". The second prisoner exchange took place. Another 103 people returned to Ukraine. Among those released are defenders of the 36th Marine Brigade,
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the National Guard, in particular the 12th Special Purpose Brigade "Azov", border guards, representatives of the special forces unit "Kraken". There are also representatives of the National Police and territorial defense, the State Emergency Service, units of the Armed
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Forces of Ukraine. Most of those released were held in Russian captivity from the first days of the war. Details of the exchange are reported by Dmytro Karpenko. The day before, 49 defenders returned from captivity. These are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the
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National Guard, the National Police, the State Border Service, as well as civilians. In particular, Leniye Umerova - a girl whom the Russians took hostage when she came to take care of her sick father. They also managed to free some more defenders of "Azovstal".
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Hero of Ukraine, military medic Viktor Ivchuk is also at home. The increased prisoner exchanges, which Russia has not conducted for almost a year in 2023, are good for two reasons. Firstly, and this is the main thing, the defenders of Ukraine and other people are returning
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home. Secondly, this indicates a shortage of manpower in Russia, which, after a long pause, has resumed exchanges and is conducting them more and more often. Unlike the Ukrainians, who require long months of rehabilitation after Russian captivity, Russian prisoners return
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home cured and in good shape. The usual path of Russian soldiers after release goes through the FSB office, where they tell on camera under threats how they were tortured in Ukrainian captivity, then most often to the hospital for several weeks, and then back to the front.
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Now this path is increasingly shorter and bypasses the hospital stage. Many Z-channels in Telegram also talk about the developing crisis with manpower in the army. There was a loud story where pilots of long-range reconnaissance drones were sent into a meat assault.
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Before the assault, they recorded a farewell video where they talked about the real state of affairs, about the commander protecting drug trafficking, taking valuable equipment and money from the military, and constantly lying in denunciations to the leadership. Their entire
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UAV detachment was specially sent to the assault so that it would be destroyed. They transmitted truthful information about the situation at the front to the top, bypassing the commander. And this is happening along the entire front line. This does not mean that things are
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getting easier for Ukraine. Things are still very difficult in the Pokrovsk direction. Ukraine also suffers losses every day. Russia continues to attack. It is just a vicious circle for Russia. It does not have enough reserves to break through and take a large city in the
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Pokrovsk direction or liberate the Kursk region, but it still has enough reserves to make constant attacks in small groups, trying to identify weak points and wait for reinforcements in order to concentrate the attack there. This leads to losses of these insufficient
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forces and requires even more reserves. The fact is that those people who make decisions in Russia at the top of the chain have no real idea of ​​the actual number of their troops. The lies in the reports start from the very bottom. The commander, like the one who sent the
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UAV pilots to die, reports to the top that the city has been taken. He does not have the resources to actually take it, but he will try to do so by constantly sending small groups to storm, in an attempt to capture what he has already reported.
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Things are also not going well for Russia in the Kursk region. Ukraine has broken through the border in another place in the Glushkovsky district and is moving into the rear of Russia's counterattacking forces. Russian conscripts is in danger of being surrounded.
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It is clear that Ukraine's operation was well prepared and is unlikely to be driven out of the Kursk region in the near future.
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