1/ This morning's Ukrainian drone attack on the Vladimir Putin Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya is reported to have set the facility's main building on fire, potentially causing serious damage. ⬇️
2/ The Russian outlet Agency. News reports that despite Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's claim that an "empty building" had been struck, in reality the target was the main building. As Agency reports:
3/ "Kadyrov said that a drone had attacked an "empty building" on the university grounds at 6:30 a.m. As a result, the roof caught fire. According to him, there were no casualties and the fire was extinguished.
4/ "▪️ The Chechen opposition Telegram channel Niyso published a photo of the fire. It shows that the roof of the main university building caught fire, according to the Agency's analysis.
5/ "▪️This building, as TASS wrote, was built in 2016. However, in 2023, the university itself wrote about it as being under construction.
▪️ According to a message on the university’s VKontakte group, the building should house a multimedia complex,…
6/ "… a multifunctional two-level gym, swimming pools, classrooms, a conference hall, offices of federation representatives, a cafeteria, a tactical equipment store, and an administrative area."
7/ The site of the attack is about 850 km from Ukraine. Ukrainian sources have speculated that the drone might have been launched from within Russia, possibly from the neighbouring republics of Dagestan or Ingushetia.
8/ In response to the attack, Kadyrov says he has ordered his forces fighting in Ukraine not to take any Ukrainian prisoners. "In the near future, the enemy will be shown such retribution that they have never dreamed of," he says.
9/ "There will definitely be a countermeasure – a Chechen always brings his own back home. They bit us, we will destroy. In the near future, we will show such retribution that even they have never dreamed of. We will not allow anyone to joke around with us.
10/ "Today, I gave all the commanders who are on the front lines: do not take prisoners, destroy and intensify the fight by 100 percent. So that they understand how the Chechens can still supplement their military capabilities." /end
1/ Ukrainians conscripted into the Russian army are used "all for meat," denied leave, forced to rely on the black market for supplies and to buy vehicles with their own money, and are sent into "meat storms" where large numbers are killed, according to a Russian commentary. ⬇️
2/ The Russian 'Philologist in Ambush' Telegram channel, which is pro-war but often critical of the way it's being fought, has published a description from a source in the forces of the 'Luhansk People's Militia' – now part of the Russian Army – on the situation there:
3/ "Thank you for highlighting the issue of the wounded and the untreated. For the butchers, the 7th Luhansk brigade is generally giving the locals [i.e. men from the Luhansk region] a hard time, both commanders and soldiers.
1/ Four men who are accused of murdering 'Donbass Cowboy' Russell Bentley, by torturing him to death and then blowing up his body with a block of TNT, reportedly want to evade being tried for murder by volunteering to go back to fighting in Ukraine. ⬇️
3/ Three soldiers – Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, and Andrey Iordanov – are accused of the murder and of blowing the body up with a block of TNT inside a VAZ 2115 car, while a fourth, Vladimir Bazhin, is accused of having disposed of the remains on Vansyatsky's orders.
3/ Three soldiers – Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, and Andrey Iordanov – are accused of the murder and of blowing the body up with a block of TNT inside a VAZ 2115 car, while a fourth, Vladimir Bazhin, is accused of having disposed of the remains on Vansyatsky's orders.
1/ Despite saying earlier that there were no casualties in yesterday's attack on the Vladimir Putin Special Forces University in Chechnya, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov now says that Ukrainian POWs were killed there and are being held as human shields at every strategic site. ⬇️
2/ On his own Telegram channel, Kadyrov says:
"As I said earlier, there were no casualties on our side as a result of the attack. BUT! There are casualties among Ukrainian prisoners.
3/ "Up to 10 Ukrainian prisoners are being held at every strategic facility in the republic, including on the territory of the [Special Forces University]. Kyiv, trying to harm us, today killed its own soldiers.
1/ Camouflage nets made by volunteers for use on the front lines are reported to have appeared on construction sites across Russia, likely as a result of corrupt military personnel selling them to construction firms. There is said to be a shortage of nets on the front lines. ⬇️
2/ The 'Reporter Shturmovik' Telegram channel (Grigory Kubatyan) highlights a building in Magadan in Siberia: "It is currently being renovated, so the house is covered with a camouflage net. If you look closely, you can see that this net was made for military purposes."
3/ "Women all over the country weave these for free. They gather in schools, libraries, churches. And they weave, sparing no hands, sometimes young, but often old, with sore joints.
1/ Google has been fined 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 undecillion) rubles (equivalent to $204,871,202,000,00,000,371,569,396,369,326,080, or $204.8 octillion) by a Russian court for blocking the YouTube channels of 17 Russian state media companies. ⬇️
3/ Many of the blocked channels testified in court:
- Zvezda
- Channel One
- VGTRK (TV channels Russia 1, Russia 24, etc.)
- Parliamentary Television
- Moscow Media
- TV Center
- NTV
- GPM Entertainment Television
- Public Television of Russia
- Channel 360
- TRK Petersburg
3/ Many of the blocked channels testified in court:
- Zvezda
- Channel One
- VGTRK (TV channels Russia 1, Russia 24, etc.)
- Parliamentary Television
- Moscow Media
- TV Center
- NTV
- GPM Entertainment Television
- Public Television of Russia
- Channel 360
- TRK Petersburg
1/ A protest against the lack of bonus payments for Russian fighter-bomber pilots appears to have bombed. The pilot responsible is now reportedly being dropped by the Russian Air Force. ⬇️
2/ The Russian '13 Tactical' Telegram channel reports that "the pilot who wrote this (he said it was him when they started screwing the uninvolved) is being fired under a tough article [disciplinary charge].
You can lie, but you can't make mistakes."
3/ According to the well-connected 'Fighterbomber' channel, the protest led to a furious reaction from the air force's high command. An entire unit was stood down and subjected to a day-long "epic fucking" while commanders tried to find the perpetrator.