1/ Russian warbloggers are very upset at the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine that leaves the objectives of the 'Special Military Operation' unfulfilled. One asks, "does the death of my boys mean nothing [but] a dog's dick and a hole after the assault?" ⬇️
2/ The prominent Russian war correspondent and propagandist Alexander Sladkov has aroused controversy by arguing that Russia is not fighting for territory but "for Russia’s status in the new global world order that is currently being formed."
3/ "The SMO is part of Moscow's global plan to return to the status ranks. We are breaking in by force, pushing the EU, taking what is rightfully ours – a fair position in the international economy and politics.
4/ "The military is at the center of the main processes, they loudly remind who we are, and that other countries should reckon with us. Not only because we are rich, but because we are rich and strong."
5/ Other Russian warbloggers surmise, probably correctly, that Sladkov is reflecting a new official propaganda line that it doesn't matter if Russia takes all the territory it claims in Ukraine, as long as Trump gives it the "status in the new global world order" that it craves.
6/ This is anathema for ultranationalist warbloggers. "It's too early to slam on the brakes or does the death of my boys mean nothing and I've been here in the militia for so many years for a dog's dick and for a hole after the assault?," asks 'Management Speaks'.
7/ 'Callsign Osetin' writes: "What status can we acquire if we are not fighting at full strength and we are considered weaklings, and our army is not taken seriously in the confrontation with the NATO army (a direct army, and not the [Ukrainians] with all NATO standards),…
8/ …where did you get the idea that Kherson and Zaporizhia will be Russian cities if we have not yet agreed on anything, and territorially they are now with the [Ukrainians]? And we still have a long way to go to Zaporizhia... Some kind of double standards are emerging...
9/ "What is going according to our plan? The fact that the Ukrainian is still sitting in the Kursk region, is it also part of our plan?"
10/ Yaroslav Belousov complains: "The liberated lands of the former Ukraine – our Russian people live in them, groaning under the yoke of the blue-yellow Bolsheviks.
11/ "Russia without Kharkiv, Odesa and Yekaterinoslav [former Russian imperial province covering the modern Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions] is like a person without a leg or an arm: you can live, but still somehow not right...
12/ "Our "return to the status ranks" without the liberated lands of Novorossiya and Malorossiya is a regular soap bubble that will burst so quickly that you won't even have time to blink.
13/ "Only the recovery of the lost inheritance will give others grounds to communicate with us as equals."
'Colonel Kvachkov and his comrades' argues: "It is not about territories. It is about destroying the Russophobic virus that was launched into our people."
14/ "Its consequence was the destruction of the united Russian state and its fragmentation into three warring parts [i.e. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine]. The goal is to reunite these three parts into one whole. This goal is in the interests of Russia.
15/ "This is not the whim of this or that patriot. This goal is objective."
'Roy TV - Maxim Kalashnikov' says sarcastically: "Apparently, we don't need the fertile territories of the Black Sea region with Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa, Transnistria."
16/ "This is not tundra blown by cold winds, really. It turns out that it is cheaper to develop it, permafrost is cooler than rich black soil!
17/ "And in general, it turns out that we fought not for the reunification of Russians and not for the creation of a Great Russia from the Dniester to Sakhalin, not for the destruction of Bandera, but for the status of the Russian Federation in the world...
18/ "And the Kiev Banderas will still have access to the Black Sea. To export bread and raw materials through ports, to import weapons...
19/ "You know those students from Donetsk who were mobilized and thrown into battle in the summer of 2022 without even entrenching tools (they dug trenches with their old helmets).
20/ "Were they fighting for aluminium supplies to the USA? For the Yankees' ability to mine rare earths?" /end
1/ No previous US president has ever created criminal offences by executive order, as that's exclusively reserved to Congress. However, it *is* literally a hallmark of fascism, and it always starts with criminalising dissent. ⬇️
2/ After consolidating power in 1925–26, Mussolini issued 'decreti-legge' (decree-laws) through the Fascist Grand Council and his own authority as Duce (Leader), bypassing the Italian Parliament.
3/ The Special Laws for the Defence of the State (1926) established offences like "anti-national activities," which included criticising the regime, organising opposition, or spreading "defeatist" propaganda.
1/ Russian soldiers face ever more draconian rules in occupied Ukraine, apparently imposed to crack down on desertions and misconduct by soldiers. Violations now effectively attract a death penalty. The soldiers, not surprisingly, aren't happy about this. ⬇️
2/ The author of the 'Vault No. 8' Telegram channel writes:
"In general, so that you understand the depth of our depths. Our rear zones in the far rear have been declared "territory living by the rules of the permanent point of deployment."
3/ "With all that this entails – nothing is allowed, two checks a day, documents and army order above all.
Well, this is the news from the north of the Luhansk People's Republic in one line.
1/ If history had gone differently, the notorious Wagner Group might have been known instead as the slightly less intimidating "Battle Moth". Russian warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova relates an account from former Wagnerites on how it got its name. ⬇️
2/ "When we first started, we didn't have a name, it came by chance. We opened a base in St. Petersburg [region], 300 kilometers from [the city of] St. Petersburg, in the swamps. We had to cut down the forest and put up tents. We were so tired, our backs were strained.
3/ "But we had to start, we built a camp, started training. We had to remember everything, everyone hadn't trained for a long time, everyone was no longer young. Asses, legs, backs – everything hurt.
1/ The second anniversary of the death of Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin in a highly suspicious plane crash has been marked by retrospectives from many Russian warbloggers. Anastasia Kashevarova, who was close to the Wagnerites, explains what happened after the crash. ⬇️
2/ Kashevarova was on a flight from Moscow to Minsk to meet Wagner members at their base in Belarus. While en route, she learned that a plane carrying the entire core leadership of Wagner had crashed in Russia:
3/ "Upon arrival, 'Granit' met me with an escort from the special services. Because the musicians [Wagnerites] were not allowed to move freely around Belarus.
1/ The US government has for months been blocking Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian targets using US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, under a previously undisclosed review procedure created by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby. ⬇️
2/ The Wall Street Journal reports that the mechanism, which was put in place in the late spring of 2025, gives US Defense Secretary and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth the final say over the use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow, which uses US targeting data.
3/ The paper says that Ukraine has been refused permission at least once. While many of the ATACMS missiles provided by the Biden Administration have been used, a small number are reportedly still in Ukrainian inventories.
1/ Water supplies have been cut off in parts of the Rostov region as firefighters struggle to deal with the ongoing fire at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery. Residents are incredulous at claims by the authorities that there's no problem with air quality. ⬇️
2/ Novoshakhtinsk is the location of the Rostov region's only oil refinery. It specialises in the production of fuel and heating oil, as well as marine and diesel fuel. The refinery is a key supplier to the Russian military, making it a very attractive target for Ukraine.
3/ Following the drone attack on 21 August, the water pressure to residents has been reduced in Novoshakhtinsk and cut off entirely in nearby Krasny Sulin to ensure that firefighters have enough water. Residents also report severe air pollution.