1/ Russian warbloggers are advocating various ways of taking revenge on Ukraine, but Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist and propagandist Dmitry Steshin has proposed an option which even the warbloggers aren't sure about: nuking Chornobyl. ⬇️
2/ Responding to another channel's complaint that the West isn't taking Russia's nuclear threats seriously, Steshin suggests:
3/ "Why not use tactical nuclear weapons in the 30-kilometer Chernobyl "exclusion zone" to demonstrate Russian restraint? Seriously, use it as much as you want!"
4/ 'Dirty Harry. Igor Gomelsky' retorts that this is the level of understanding that you get when "you studied the history of the Chernobyl disaster from the film by Dani Kozlovsky. Dear Mother!" (The 2021 movie Chernobyl: Abyss is a 'patriotic' take on the disaster.)
5/ 'Voyenkor Astrakhan' bluntly remarks: "the authors of posts about how it would be good to fire nuclear weapons are consistently inadequate: first they overslept in the Civil Defence school, then they overslept in military training, then they took a nap...
6/ ...at work/in the military department and, without waking up, got to the point of being able to write posts.
7/ "The proposals to fire nuclear weapons at Ukrainian nuclear power plants are especially good, considering that the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus falls within the contamination zone." /end
1/ Russian soldiers face being sent to their deaths if they appeal publicly for volunteer aid, according to Russian warbloggers. Commanders regard it as reflecting badly on the Russian army, forcing aid appeals to be made anonymously. Even so, much of the aid is still stolen. ⬇️
2/ Both sides in the Ukraine war rely heavily on 'humanitarian aid' provided by volunteers and fundraisers, for everything from clothes and medicines to drones and trench equipment. However, whereas it's done openly in Ukraine, Russians have to do it secretly.
3/ 'Romanov Light' writes: "Most of the volunteers I know - delivering aid specifically to fighters (and not to high-ranking commanders "for sale") - are forced to hide which specific unit the aid is being transferred to."
1/ A Russian deserter has described how Russian evacuation teams loot bodies for items to trade for alcohol and leave the wounded to die. He had most of his teeth pulled out to force him to join a stormtrooper squad, after which he deserted and fled to Germany. ⬇️
2/ 34-year-old Anton Shirshin says he was forced by the Russian police to sign a military contract after he crashed his car and ended up with a 200,000 ruble ($2,500) debt which he couldn't pay off. Despite being rated unfit for service, he was told if he could walk he was fit.
3/ Shirshin was sent for a week of 'training', consisting of firing two clips from an automatic rifle, before he was sent to the front. His commander decided he would be more of a danger with a weapon to his own side than to the enemy and assigned him to evacuation duty instead.
1/ Foreign-made components in Russian Kilo-class submarines in the Black Sea Fleet have reportedly been systematically stripped out and replaced with Russian or Chinese components. However, this is said to have resulted in corruption and significant problems with reliability. ⬇️
2/ In the mid-2010s, Russia undertook a major project to upgrade the design of its Kilo-class submarines with new systems. 11 new Project 636.3 ("Improved Kilo II") boats were launched between 2013 and 2024, with another 5 currently either on order or under construction.
3/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, the new systems incorporated foreign components, presumably imported from Western countries. This practice ceased in 2022 when technology sanctions were imposed following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
1/ Russia's use of frontline 'combat donkeys' is backfiring, according to Russian warbloggers. They say that the animals' large thermal signature is allowing the Ukrainians to track them easily and expose hidden Russian positions. ⬇️
2/ The Russian army has been using donkeys to replace vehicles in frontline logistics since at least the start of 2025. The thread below is a compilation of reports of donkey use on the front in Ukraine.
3/ A recent appearance by General Andrey Kartapolov on the 'Solovyov Live' show on the Russia 1 TV channel has attracted ridicule from warbloggers due to the general's claim that the donkeys don't get noticed because Ukrainian operators mistake them for roe deer.
1/ The Russian Air Force's inability to protect its aircraft against Ukrainian drones is symptomatic of its neglected status within the Russian armed forces, according to a prominent milblogger linked to the air force. He says it is afflicted by "desperation and poverty". ⬇️
2/ The Fighterbomber Telegram channel, which is believed to be run by a former Russian Air Force captain, comments that "the [Aerospace Forces] Commander-in-Chief could not do anything in the current situation" because of a chronic lack of resources.
3/ "The Aerospace Forces Commander-in-Chief cannot even get themselves normal "Pantsirs" [anti-aircraft missile systems] in the required quantity to protect combat airfields. Which are subordinate to them.
1/ A Russian military journalist says that Russian manufacturers won't produce electronic warfare drones because "the more UAVs shot down at the front, the more orders they have". It's said to illustrate how they treat the war as a get-rich-quick scheme. ⬇️
2/ Alexey Sukonkin quotes a correspondent on how the developers of a flying electronic warfare system, created in 2023, have found a complete lack of interest from Russian drone manufacturers despite the increasing threat from Ukrainian drones:
3/ "Our subscriber saw full-scale exhibits and heard a speech by the authors of the development at the Army-2023 exhibition – an unmanned aerial system for electronic suppression of FPV drones.