1/ Russian troops have repeatedly been seen advancing into assaults on crutches or canes or even in wheelchairs, being used as 'meat probes' against Ukrainian defences. This thread compiles filmed instances of Russian 'cripple battalions' being used in Ukraine. ⬇️
1/ A young Russian soldier who has fled to France has spoken of life as a stormtrooper. He says that supplies are routinely stolen, almost everyone on combat missions ends up wounded or dead, and those who return uninjured are shot by their own side as suspected deserters. ⬇️
2/ Kamil M., who used the call sign 'Virus' while doing his compulsory service in the 15th Motorised Rifle Regiment (military unit 31134), described his military service in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europa.
3/ Kamil found his compulsory conscript service to be a desultory experience. He was put to work painting the grass green in the spring and removing water with a shovel. He says that "everywhere around there was laziness" and he ended up doing his commander's work for him.
1/ Wounded Russian soldiers are being ordered to crawl into battle if they cannot walk. "You’re still meat, no one gives a shit about you," they have been told by their commander, according to relatives. The men are now missing, and their relatives want Vladimir Putin to help. ⬇️
2/ A number of female relatives of missing men have posted an 'appeal to the Tsar' video on social media. They are complaining about what has happened to their loved ones and appeal personally to Putin to intervene on their behalf against the Russian bureaucracy.
3/ Their account helps to explain why so many crippled Russian soldiers have recently been filmed on the battlefield. It appears to be the result of chronic shortages of manpower and casual brutality, with men being used as "meat probes" in minefields.
1/ The conviction of former General Ivan Popov has produced a vehement reaction from Russian warbloggers, who denounce it as unjustified. Although he has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and loss of rank, Popov may yet go back to fight again in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Popov has been in detention since May 2024 on charges of fraudulently appropriating and selling 1,700 tons of rolled metal structures intended for use in building defensive structures on the front line. He argued that it was scrap metal which he sold to aid his troops.
3/ He was also charged with falsification of official documents relating to the metal parts. His former deputy, the late Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, was also implicated. A businessman, Sergei Moiseyev, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 400,000 rubles ($4,800).
1/ A catastrophic explosion at a Russian arsenal may have taken place while an ammunition train was being loaded or unloaded. Images from the depot show ammunition stacked in the open, while its bunkers seem to have been poorly protected.
2/ Triangulation of videos showing the initial explosion suggests that it took place at the very centre of the arsenal near Kirzhach (coordinates 56.101466125876044, 38.74729263195981), where satellite images show a rail loading/unloading facility.
3/ New satellite images released today show that the most heavily impacted area of the arsenal is centred on the rail loading/unloading facility, which may support the hypothesis of an accident with an ammunition train.
1/ Ukrainians are scamming millions of rubles a day from Russians and directing the proceeds to fund the Ukrainian armed forces, according to Russian investigators. They accuse the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of being behind the scam operations. ⬇️
2/ Russian journalist and warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova has posted on her Telegram channel the results of an investigation by SNOS Call Centre, a group which is dedicated to countering Ukrainian scam operations against Russian citizens.
3/ The scams are said to be organised like regular businesses, complete with offices, employees, HR managers and corporate policies. Kashevarova cites the example of a concern called Strongcall, which operates in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities.
1/ Two Russian policemen who were sent to Ukraine after being found guilty of killing two teenage girls with an axe have both died there, according to Russian sources. ⬇️
2/ The two men, Dmitry Istomin and Yevgeny Inkin, committed the double murder in the Selenginsky District of Buryatia in 2002, but were not caught until 2019.
3/ 17-year-old Evgenia Shekunova and 18-year-old Ekaterina Pateyuk were found stripped to their underwear and chopped up with an axe at an area called Klyukvennaya Pad, two weeks after going missing.