Russian POW Maksim (born 2007): I joined the army and stayed. An order is an order. I only saw myself in the army. It is prestigious. It is beautiful. It is a source of pride to be a soldier.
Q: Your motivation was not material?
Maksim: No. 1/
Maksim: I was not interested in the war in Ukraine. I wanted to be a soldier for my country, for my state. But when the order came, I had taken an oath, like any citizen of my country. An order is an order. 2/
Maksim: People think, “It’s just a little war. It will end soon. I’ll sign a contract, make some money, and that’s it.” But in reality, you either come home in a body bag or end up in captivity. That’s all. 3/
Khodorkovsky [former Russian oligarch brought down by Putin]: Putin may decide NATO will not answer strike for strike.
In that case, he could hit logistics chains and transport hubs in Europe that feed supplies into Ukraine. As I remember, there are two major entry points.
1/
Khodorkovsky: I doubt the stories about camouflage nets and taking Kostiantynivka are for Trump. Trump does not care where Kostiantynivka is.
They are for Russians. Putin thinks Russians care about it. They don’t. They care that the war ends on Russia’s terms.
2/
Khodorkovsky: Trump may warn Putin that any strike beyond Ukraine will end badly. Poland would be hit first, and its diaspora matters in the U.S.
I think Trump will cover Poland. Putin won’t stop before spring, but by spring he may have to.
Khodorkovsky [former Russian oligarch brought down by Putin]: Putin now has to manage what he never learned: a real economic breakdown.
He knows recruiting and special operations. Now the system’s “pants” are tearing, and he does not know how to stitch them back. 1/
Khodorkovsky: Now a critical amount of refinery capacity is under threat.
If Ukraine keeps striking and Russian air defense keeps missing about 20% of incoming drones and missiles, plants across European Russia, the Urals, and western Siberia will stay at risk. The only fix is a sharp cut in private fuel use.
2/
Khodorkovsky: Russia may not raise fuel prices on paper.
In practice, people will pay more to skip lines and get gasoline delivered, as in St. Petersburg. In a poorly regulated economy, this is how shortages spread. We saw the same thing at the end of the Soviet Union.
Khodorkovsky [former Russian oligarch brought down by Putin]: Civilian cars burn over half of Russia’s gasoline.
To keep freight and emergency services running, Russia must cut civilian fuel use by half or two-thirds. Prices will do the cutting. Ukraine scored a political win.1/
Khodorkovsky: Fuel crisis may grow much worse if Ukrainian strikes continue at today’s scale.
Omsk refinery shows almost all major Russian refineries are within range. Putin seems absent, and Mishustin has vanished into the fog.
2/
Khodorkovsky: Putin does not understand the scale of the problem or how to fix it.
He gave a critical national crisis to Novyk, who lacks the power to fire Sechin, Miller, or the head of Russian Railways. Novyk cannot solve it. Putin looks absent.
Kostyantynivka made the Kremlin's ruby-red stars and the glass on Lenin's mausoleum. Now Putin is grinding it into rubble to seize it.
The real prize is leverage over Trump, to argue holding Donbas is futile and Kyiv should concede — Christopher Miller, Financial Times. 1/
Kostyantynivka held about 70,000 people before the war. Around 2,000 remain, living without gas, water, electricity or medical help as food supplies run out.
They shelter in ruined blocks, and Russian drones have cut their movement to almost nothing. 2/
The city sits inside the kill zone, the drone-dominated strip of front where anything that moves is spotted and hit within minutes.
Ukraine now resupplies and evacuates by ground robots and on foot, with soldiers walking several miles in and out. 3/