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Feb 10 29 tweets 7 min read Read on X
1/ Life after Starlink is proving to be difficult and frustrating for the Russian army. Russian warbloggers appear to be going through the stages of grief, expressing anger and alarm at the crisis and concern that Ukraine will exploit it. One anticipates "24/7 fucking". ⬇️ Image
2/ Further instances of price-gouging are being reported, with the cost of US-made Ubiquiti WiFi bridges – illegally imported into Russia – doubling overnight. 'Strong Word' complains: Image
3/ "Elon is certainly a real jerk. But we have some real assholes in the rear who decided to ride the wave and make money off their own soldiers. Wi-Fi bridges instantly doubled in price. It's maddening, some are spilling blood, and others are making a living off of it."
4/ Scammers are targeting soldiers with false promises that for a modest fee, they can get Starlink working again. 'Callsign OSETIN' warns:

"I'll write this again, comrades. Remember this. Don't trust anyone who offers to restore your Starlinks by any means necessary."
5/ "Starlinks are definitely out of stock for us now; it's impossible to reactivate them."

'Two Majors' extols the Russian army's signallers, who are working overtime trying to plug the gap left by Starlink:
6/ "To the signalmen, guys, we're sending you words of overwhelming support from our entire two-major family.

Now that the enemy has shut down "the internet for everyone" (Elon Musk is a fascist and a bastard), we know how much you're working in the cold.
7/ Pulling wholesale, fixing bridges, producing tapiks [field telephones] and Soviet-style switches. And all of this is urgent, just yesterday, because it's necessary.

Because the "just was/will be soon" communications situation is unacceptable.
8/ "Unit command and combat command signals depend on you.

We bow deeply to you, my dears. Everyone is counting on you, even if they curse you constantly."
9/ 'TopaZ Speaking' anticipates Ukraine exploiting the shutdown:

"Now, of course, the enemy will, at great expense, attempt to attack the stations and equipment connected to the backup communications systems that replace the vanished American satellite internet."
10/ "If these facilities aren't protected to the utmost, those responsible for their defence will be even greater geniuses than those who allowed the fighting army to become dependent on enemy communications.
11/ "Even greater geniuses than those who failed to take advantage of the time we had while we were relying on that American network to develop our own working equivalent."
12/ 'Kiba's Signalman's Diary' warns Russian Starlink users that the Ukrainians are obtaining locational data from the shut-down systems, which could in principle assist with artillery targeting:
13/ "Attention, EVERYONE, urgently!!!! Immediately disconnect all Starlink satellite stations from power and remove them from open skies. Positioning data from inactive devices is being collected."
14/ 'NGP raZVedka' confirms this:

"There are technical reasons to believe that Starlink has begun collecting information on the locations of inactive stations and systematizing this data.

To avoid this, we recommend disabling this useless piece of furniture."
15/ 'VORON FPV' adds:

"This also applies to active "trophies" and "bypass" dishes! [i.e. ones captured from the Ukrainians]"
16/ "According to unconfirmed reports, all data from the dishes is now integrated with [Ukrainian data systems] Delta and Nettle. In other words, the enemy is verifying data by position."
17/ The blogger doesn't rate highly the Russian MOD's chances of closing the gap, now that it is being forced to resurrect previously deprecated communications solutions:
18/ "The 24/7 fucking is about to begin, the accelerated process of restoring something that never existed.😁

May Vaseline help them."

'Veterans' Notes' anticipates problems on the front line due to the shutdown:
19/ "Information is coming in from various sources that the enemy could take advantage of the shutdown of unregistered Starlink terminals to launch counterattacks on several front lines.

We must be as prepared as possible for such a scenario."
20/ Maxim Kalashnikov says that frontline soldiers are already reporting adverse operational impacts:

"From the front, they write: “…There are already major problems in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The front isn’t exactly crumbling, but it is destabilising.”
21/ “We took measures in advance…, but many didn’t…

And once again, I’m shocked by the “intelligence” of our higher-ups. Who couldn’t launch at least a couple hundred satellites for more or less stable communication.
22/ “Not like Musk’s, but at least decent for voice, images, and text. 30 MB/sec. That would be enough. But…”

And the Ukrainian Armed Forces will soon have Starlinks working. And then we’ll be covered in blood.
23/ "We’re facing another spectacular failure. Do we have a State Defence Committee that concentrates all power in the country during a war? And one headed by the president, not just another “bad boyar”? No.
24/ "There is no interdepartmental coordination, rapid feedback, or flexible response to the situation. And it turns out that in the Russian Federation, they were developing TWO alternatives to Musk's Starlink! Both Sphere and Rassvet.
25/ "Ultimately, neither was built during the war. A spectacular management failure. One of [many] during that ill-fated war. So, what happened?"

Rybar and others report that overnight Ukrainian advances in the Zaporizhzhia region are directly linked to the Starlink shutdown:
26/ "Although the enemy has managed to penetrate relatively deep into the Russian Armed Forces' control zone in some areas, there are no critical issues yet. The difficulties are primarily related to problems with the Starlink terminals and adverse weather conditions."
27/ 'Archangel Spetsnaz' says that the Russian army's communications have been set back three or four years: "Communication issues are a further challenge, as work is being carried out as if it were 2022-2023—station-by-station." /end

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More from @ChrisO_wiki

Jul 27
1/ Russia isn't winning in Ukraine and it's all the fault of Russian society, says an angry Russian warblogger. Seeking an explanation for why (in the eyes of warbloggers) Russia has not yet started "fighting for real", he blames ordinary Russians for apathy and cowardice. ⬇️ Image
2/ Russian society has been massively atomised under the rule of Vladimir Putin, with the near-destruction of most civil society organisations (apart from a limited number approved of or tolerated by the state). Passive subservience is welcomed; collective action is discouraged.
3/ This nuance seems to have passed by the author of the 'It's Time To Go Home ZOV' Telegram channel, who thinks that his fellow citizens, rather than the oppressive regime they live under, are to blame for the current situation:
Read 18 tweets
Jul 27
1/ Wildberries sellers are generally blaming the Russian government, rather than Ukraine, for their losses. It's an interesting and striking dynamic, which Russian warbloggers say the Russian government itself has created through its suppression of bad news. ⬇️ Image
2/ Over the last couple of weeks, Russian social media has been flooded with videos of distraught Wildberries sellers weeping over their huge losses as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes against warehouses across Russia.
3/ Tens to hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses have lost much if not all of their stock, with total financial losses just from inventory alone already reckoned to be in the billions of dollars. Ukraine, however, has received surprisingly little blame.
Read 21 tweets
Jul 27
1/ A rare Russian armoured assault on 22 June ended in disaster, with the loss of numerous vehicles and the reported deaths of scores of Russians. Russian warbloggers are scathing about the losses, seeing the attack as incompetent. ⬇️
2/ FT military correspondent Andrey Filatov is highly critical, using a standard euphemism for the Russian army to evade censorship:
3/ "The enemy's video report is all standard fare: analog FPV, fiber optics, Mavics. The new thing is a strike wing approaching a stationary "shed" [turtle tank] All these threats can be worked on, but they're not for the brilliant commanders of the Laotian army...
Read 15 tweets
Jul 26
1/ Vladimir Putin has strongly hinted that Russia should claim the entire eastern half of Ukraine, going far beyond the existing annexation of the Donbas and southern Ukraine. He foresees a future in which western Ukraine is also annexed by its neighbours. ⬇️
2/ In a meeting with sailors in St Petersburg to mark Navy Day today, Putin extensively discussed Russia's historical rights over Ukraine, highlighting in the process his obsession with Russian and Ukrainian history and his dubious reading of it.
3/ He told them that "Ukraine has always been divided into Left-Bank and Right-Bank. Left-Bank Ukraine has always been considered not just Russia-oriented, but part of Russia." Image
Read 11 tweets
Jul 26
1/ Vladimir Putin is today celebrating the 330th anniversary of the Russian Navy. However, it's a muted, shrunken event held under the shadow of Ukrainian drone strikes and with the Black Sea Fleet blockaded in Novorossiysk. Russian commentators fear for the Navy's future. ⬇️
2/ Putin has today been at the Main Admiralty of the Russian Navy in St. Petersburg for Navy Day to mark the Navy's 330th anniversary since its foundation under Peter the Great. He spoke of the Navy and Marines' "important role in the Special Military Operation."
3/ "Shipborne complexes are delivering devastating strikes against the enemy with high-precision weapons. Marines are advancing, fighting bravely, skillfully, and fearlessly. The entire country supports them and awaits their return home with victory."
Read 32 tweets
Jul 26
1/ A Russian commander has reportedly come up with a novel form of 'flag-sticking', the practice of planting flags in Ukrainian-held territory to falsely report advances. He was reportedly caught using AI to fake flag-sticking events to conceal his territorial losses. ⬇️ Image
2/ 'Donetsk Infantry' has posted an insight into the problems that the Russian command is continuing to have. with false reports from the ground. These have led to the war being fought on the basis of grossly inaccurate control of terrain maps.
3/ He writes: "On the role of AI in the Ministry of Defence’s reports," likely with reference to one of the areas in the Zaporizhzhia region where Ukrainian forces have recently been reported to be advancing.
Read 5 tweets

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