1/ A military doctor who has deserted from the Russian army says she was forced to be a commander's 'field wife', had to rate crippled men as fit, saw 'undesirable' soldiers being shot by their officers, and others being "sold for slaughter" for their commanders' profit. ⬇️
2/ A female military doctor serving in the 19th Tank Regiment (military unit 12322) recorded a video about what she saw and experienced since joining the unit in June 2023. There are around 40,000 women in the Russian armed forces, mostly in medical roles.
3/ After signing a contract, she says she ended up after training "in Totskoye, Orenburg region – under the regiment commander Evgeniy Borisovich Ladnov, to the very commander who is called the 'butcher commander', the 'killer commander'".
4/ To become an officer, she was told she had to become the 'field wife' of the commander. Field wives are a World War 2 Russian army custom that has been revived in the Ukraine war, often as a form of sexual abuse of female soldiers.
5/ The woman served with the 19th Tank Regiment's medical unit. She was told that she had to rate as fit injured soldiers who could no longer fight due to health reasons:
6/ "I had to sit in the medical unit and write ‘fit’ to those who couldn’t fight ... because he simply does not have an arm, leg, prosthetic eye, and so on. That is, I had to send my guys to the slaughter, just give them a one-way ticket."
7/ Conscripts serving with the unit "were forced to sign a contract [to become professional soldiers] by force. And they were sent on board. And they took away their phones. In my presence, three guys were sent like that. Unfortunately, no one else saw them."
8/ Soldiers who had been drinking were punished by being sent on assault missions. Being assigned to stormtrooper units is a common punishment for disciplinary infractions and frequently leads to death or serious injury, as their life expectancy is not high.
9/ She says that those punished this way included women, one of whom worked with the doctor. Female stormtroopers have occasionally been seen trying to assault Ukrainian positions. It's possible they were sent there as a punishment.
10/ The doctor says that her commanders were running money-making scams with the dead and wounded, leaving the latter to die on the battlefield.
"I saw documents in the office of [callsign] “Tobol”, the chief of staff, about, God forgive me, how much each serviceman costs."
11/ "That is, the guys were simply sold, like football players were sold, simply for slaughter...
They were live goods for good fat money for the command.
12/ "The guys who were listed as killed, were transferred to the list of missing in action, so as not to pay money to their relatives. The money [from their salaries?] was distributed among [the commander's] henchmen.
13/ "In addition to this, they did not take the wounded from the battlefield. They rotted and died there, in order not to pay [compensation] for the wounds. Again, for the wounded guys, they listed them as missing in action.
14/ "And the money was distributed between the commander, between Ladnov and, again, his henchmen."
15/ She says that the commander "simply disposed of ... unwanted servicemen. They filmed accounts, threw grenades in the dugout. The regiment commander shot them with his own hands. His henchmen shot them."
16/ Ladnov was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian drone in November 2024. The doctor says that it is "good that he is in hell, the devils are probably roasting him well." However, she says that his successor is just as bad, explaining why she felt she had to desert.
17/ She is currently on the wanted list due to her desertion, but says she won't go back. "[If] they will return me to the unit, I will find a Kalashnikov and a neighbour and put a bullet between my eyes." /end
1/ A new survey shows that global trust in the United States has plummeted since Donald Trump returned to office. Trump himself is less popular internationally than Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Israel and Iran come out as the least popular countries in the world. ⬇️
2/ The Alliance of Democracies has published its annual Democracy Perception Index, the world's largest annual survey on democracy. 111,000 respondents across 100 countries were surveyed between 9-23 April 2025.
3/ The survey shows that the net perception rating of the United States fell from +22% last year to -5% this year, just ahead of Russia with -9%. The share of countries with a positive image of the US dropped from 76% last year to 45% this year. China went up from +5% to +14%.
1/ The screech of drones (sound on) has become the defining sound of the Russia-Ukraine war. Two Russian commentaries describe what it's like in an environment where, according to Russian sources, Ukrainian drones outnumber Russian by seven to one. ⬇️
2/ 'Den Surca', written by a frontline Russian soldier, gives an insight into the psychological impact of 24/7 drone warfare:
3/ "There is absolutely nothing to write about. Every day is full of events and tension - but even so, nothing inside wants to even try to cling to some moment.
Several of our dugouts were burned. I passed by – I saw these pits filled with ash and burnt metal.
1/ A frustrated Russian warblogger complains at the "hopeless" nature of coordination between units of the Russian army, which he says is characterised by "arrogant disregard". It's a situation, he says, where "one branch of the military spins on the dick of another." ⬇️
2/ '13 Tactical' shows off a patch which he says is popular in the Russian army:
"Where did the INTERACTION patch come from and why is it so popular among the military?"
3/ "In addition to the number 13 and text, it depicts opossums [sic] from the Ice Age [movies], one holding a colander, the other holding a radio with a torn wire, both in armour.
1/ An ongoing crisis at Russian Railways is deepening, with a 50% cut on payments to employees and such a severe shortage of personnel that some divisions of the company are down to 40% of their intended staff numbers. Despite this, it has imposed a ban on hiring. ⬇️
2/ The state-owned railway monopoly has been facing a worsening staffing and financial crisis, brought on by a combination of a lack of spare parts caused by sanctions, economic problems and staff leaving for much better-paid jobs in the army or factories.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the company is trying to fix the hole in its finances by drastically cutting expenses on employee costs and banning hiring new people. Bonuses have been cancelled, leading to a large reduction in salaries.
1/ Vladimir Putin was sheltered under a bomb-proof roof during today's Victory Day parade in Moscow. This appears to be the first time this has happened, highlighting the Russian government's nervousness about the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. ⬇️
2/ In previous years, the Russian president and other VIPs have been seated in an open-air stand adjacent to the Kremlin's outer wall, overlooking Red Square. This has been the case in 2020, 2021 and 2023 (pictured here).
3/ This year, for the first time, Putin and his guests have been sheltered under a giant extended roof. This is said to be "in case a UAV appears", and may be intended to block any munitions being dropped on the dignitaries. /end
1/ The Russian army has created a badge specially for stormtroopers (if they survive long enough to claim it). While Russian warbloggers have welcomed it, the design seems to have one problem: it appears to depict an American M9 bayonet. ⬇️
2/ The badge "For Assault" ('Za Shturm') was reportedly created by order of Defence Minister Andrei Belousov earlier this year, and has already been awarded to an unnamed recipient in the Moscow region.
3/ According to the 'Dolg_Z' Telegram channel: "The badge is awarded to a serviceman for personal participation in offensive actions."