1/ Russian warbloggers are continuing to provide examples of how Telegram is used for frontline battlefield communications, to refute the claim of presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov that such a thing is "not possible to imagine". ⬇️
2/ Platon Mamadov provides two detailed examples:
"Example number one:
Aerial reconnaissance of Unit N spotted a Ukrainian self-propelled gun in a shelter in the middle of town N."
3/ "Five minutes after the discovery, the target's coordinates and a detailed video were uploaded to a special secret chat group read by all drone operators, scouts, and artillerymen in that sector of the front.
4/ "The strikers used the video to understand how to approach the target: where the branches were, where the nets were, where the infantry with rifles were guarding the air.
5/ "And also the nature of the target - armor thickness, vulnerable spots under the armor and barbecue, and so on.
Twenty minutes after the target was detected, the first drone with the appropriate munitions was inserted into it.
6/ "Forty minutes after the target was detected, it caught fire.
The hit was recorded by aerial reconnaissance.
All those involved added the relevant item to their reports, attaching first-person and objective control videos.
7/ "After which, they immediately switched to other tasks.
Example number two:
The enemy threw two tanks and an infantry fighting vehicle with paratroopers into the breach.
8/ "One of the dozens of Mavics hovering over the line of contact around the clock spotted the armoured group.
9/ "Information about the incident was broadcast in real time via video. Who was driving, where they were parked, what they were doing, where our incoming attacks were heading.
My attack drone was over the targets 20 minutes after their detection.
10/ "By this point, one of the two tanks and the infantry fighting vehicle was already burning. Corpses of the landing force lay around the infantry fighting vehicle, and the surviving tank, under the rain of bullets falling on it, hastily scurried back.
11/ "Not a single unit participating in the disco was identified or hit by the enemy.
Just as they had not been identified in the previous two years of the war.
12/ "Despite the active use of Telegram, whose creator is something in Paris, blah-blah-blah, NATO.
Now tell me, please, how we can achieve such results without using the Internet and instant messaging." /end
1/ Russian warbloggers are baffled and aghast at reports that the Russian Ministry of Defence will ban the issue of drones to combat units, and will keep them for its new Unmanned Systems Forces instead. If carried out, the consequences are likely to be drastic. ⬇️
2/ The Russian MOD established its Unmanned Systems Forces (BPS) in November 2025. To the concern of many commentators, it appointed Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Vaganov to command the new force, despite his lack of formal military education or prior service experience.
3/ Vaganov has earned the unofficial callsign 'Toilet' for his previous career as a seller of plumbing fixtures. He became a monopoly supplier of FPV drones to the army after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
1/ A prominent Russian warblogger and Ka-52 helicopter pilot appears to have killed himself after posting an apparent farewell video on Telegram. 'Voivode', real name Alexey Zemtsov, says he has committed suicide due to pressure from his superiors. ⬇️
2/ Zemtsov is a Guards Senior Lieutenant in the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) and administrator of the Telegram channel 'The Voivode Broadcasts', which has about 152,000 followers. He has been a prolific warblogger, but his criticisms caused serious problems with his superiors.
3/ He has published a farewell post on his channel, saying in a series of videos that he has "exercised the right of his last officer's honour" (i.e., decided to commit suicide) and declaring that "I won't be able to survive this disgrace". He explains his reasons.
1/ In this third part of his exposé of how organised crime has taken over the Russian army in Ukraine, Russian journalist Sergey Komkov highlights how Russian commanders are now "jumping to the tune of robbers and murderers." ⬇️
1/ Wealthy Russians are reportedly being offered the chance to have an hour-long meeting with Elon Musk's father Errol for the generous price of 1.9 million rubles ($25,000). Interested parties are advised to book slots quickly, as he flies out of Moscow tomorrow. ⬇️
2/ Russian warblogger Alex Kartavykh has published an apparent Telegram conversation offering access to Errol Musk, who is said to be organising resettlement opportunities for Afrikaner farmers from South Africa.
3/ The elder Musk has been a fairly regular visitor to Moscow in recent years. He was pictured over the past weekend attending an Easter service in the presence of Vladimir Putin.
1/ Russian tank crews are being sent to their deaths en masse in infantry assaults, according to a Russian soldier's plea for help. With tank use now severely limited due to drone strikes, their crews appear to be surplus to requirements. ⬇️
2/ A Russian soldier writes to the warblogger 'Voenkor Kotenok':
"Hello. I can't help but tell you what's really going on in the tank battalion of the 110th Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces (formerly the 100th Brigade of the DPR People's Militia).
3/ "Basically, tanks are now hardly taking part in direct combat, and so every two to three weeks, two men from each company in the battalion are drafted into the infantry and sent to assaults, to fortified positions, to support UAVs.
1/ An "Organised Thieves' Den" that has taken over Russia's army in Ukraine is systematically exploiting the war for profit, caring nothing for Russia's ultimate success or failure, says Russian journalist Sergey Komkov. ⬇️
2/ Here's part 1 of Komkov's exposé of how convicts recruited by the army have, in his assessment, effectively taken it over and are exploiting it for personal gain.
3/ Komkov complains that professional soldiers are unable to tackle the "criminal scum" (which he refers to by the acronym "OVM") who have taken over the lower ranks in the 'Special Military Operation' (SVO):