1/ While the Russia army struggles with the impact of Telegram and Discord being throttled or blocked by the government, Ukraine has long used a highly sophisticated indigenously developed digital command and control system. Russian warbloggers have highlighted the contrast. ⬇️
2/ Detailed accounts such as the one in the thread below illustrate how Telegram – a commercial app run from Dubai – has been a central tool in the Russian kill chain, allowing for rapid responses to Ukrainian actions. Discord was also heavily used.
3/ Although this approach has been effective, it has now deliberately been rendered unusable by the Russian government. 'Two Majors' compares how Ukraine has approached digital command and control, and never made itself reliant on Telegram:
4/ "On the digitalisation of Ukraine's armed forces, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have launched a digital command and control system, Mission Control, designed to unify planning, task execution, and reporting for all UAV operations on the frontline.
5/ "The system allows operators to enter data on the UAV type, launch location, flight route, mission, weather conditions, speed, launch type, and results.
6/ "Based on this data, automatic reports are generated in real time, eliminating paperwork and manual summaries, and providing commanders with a quick overview of mission effectiveness.
7/ "Mission Control is integrated into the DELTA system, the core situational awareness and battle management ecosystem, first introduced in 2016 and officially adopted by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in August 2024.
8/ "DELTA is used across all branches of the armed forces and at all levels of command in the Ukrainian army, from tactical units to strategic leadership.
9/ "It's simultaneously accessible via mobile devices such as phones and tablets, providing real-time situational awareness and enabling rapid decision-making.
10/ "Ukrainian units also use other applications, including those integrated into DELTA:
◾️"Krapiva" is a tactical-level situational awareness system used to coordinate actions between units, adjust fire, and exchange operational intelligence during combat.
11/ "◾️Nettle-Krapiva is software for artillery calculations that speeds up calculations by 2–10 times.
◾️Milchat is a secure messenger for over 600,000 military personnel.
12/ "It integrates aerial target flight data from visual and technical detection systems. It enables maneuvering of mobile task forces and airborne countermeasures, and alerts fixed firing posts and radar positions.
13/ "◾️The UA DroneID app complements the UAV flight control system and replaces the "friend or foe" system in the air.
◾️DOT-Chain Defence is a digital platform for the procurement and logistics of weapons, drones, and equipment.
14/ "◾️Impulse is a digital personnel management system deployed in 250 units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It replaces paper logs with digital ones to track arrivals/departures, assignments, vacations, business trips, and generate orders/reports in real time.
15/ "◾️Army+ is a mobile app for military personnel that allows them to submit requests for deferments, medical referrals, and collect user feedback.
16/ "Notably, Delta has demonstrated interoperability with 15 different situational awareness and command systems from 10 countries, including three NATO-developed systems, and is also capable of exchanging information using the NATO protocol Link 16.
17/ "✨The applications are developed using open source code, which naturally made them susceptible to attacks and leaks in the initial stages, which were published in the Russian segment of Telegram.
18/ "At the same time, their use ensures a sufficient level of interaction and rapid decision-making on the battlefield, which has become critically important since 2022.
19/ "✨⭐️Closed military Telegram chats and other semi-legal means of information exchange emerged precisely because of the lack of these technologies in our troops.
20/ "🇷🇺 It's significant that Russian companies are already developing similar systems, and they're being selectively tested in the military, demonstrating their effectiveness.
21/ "Their widespread implementation is being hampered by bureaucracy and, likely, by a lack of understanding among some individuals of the vital need for their rapid systemic implementation in the military." /end
1/ Goldman Sachs analysts report that the biggest oil crisis in history is about to hit globally, with profound and highly destructive consequences. A new report asks ""Are We Running Out of Oil?", and concludes that the answer is yes. ⬇️
2/ Goldman reports that average daily flows of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have fallen by 94% from their pre-war levels.
3/ This has led to a 63% collapse in the flow of oil and its refined products from the Middle East. Exports are down from 7.4 million to 2.8 million barrels per day of oil, 39% of which is flowing via a pipeline to Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports.
1/ A shortage of drones reportedly means that Russian drone pilots often don't attack Ukrainian vehicles again after disabling them. This, says a serving Russian soldier, means that the Ukrainians are frequently able to retrieve disabled vehicles. ⬇️
2/ Russian forces in Ukraine have been complaining for a long time that they lack drones, with those provided by the Russian MOD being few and often of poor quality.
3/ Instead, they often have to rely on voluntary donations and unofficial drone production by the so-called 'people's military-industrial complex' – an ecosystem of enthusiasts and ex-military personnel who make or import drones for military use.
1/ News of the destruction of yet another US aircraft on the ground is being met with incredulity by Russian Air Force pilots. They ask if the United States has learned nothing from Russia's own very costly experiences. ⬇️
2/ 'The Voivode Broadcasts', a Telegram channel run by a group of Russian military helicopter pilots, expresses astonishment at pictures published overnight of a US CH-47 Chinook helicopter that was destroyed on the ground in Kuwait.
3/ "I look at this photo and realize that the Americans, with all their budgets and all, haven't studied or systematized our experience in any way.
1/ Russian army commanders are reportedly refusing to allow stored ZSU-23-4 Shilkas mobile anti-aircraft guns to be refurbished and put back into service, despite Russia's desperate need for more defences against Ukraine's increasingly large-scale drone strikes. ⬇️
2/ 'The Voivode Broadcasts', a Telegram channel written by three Russian Aerospace Force pilots, writes:
"I was talking to some guys from one of the repair battalions the other day."
3/ "They were showing us what Category 5 [the lowest condition] equipment they're getting off its knees with their own resources.
BMPs [armoured personnel carriers], BTS [armoured recovery tractors], and so on.
1/ Russia has "shot itself in the dick" with its block on Telegram, according to a scathing commentary. A Russian warblogger notes that pro-Kremlin propagandists have seen huge falls in views of their Telegram channels, but not dissident and pro-Ukraine channels. ⬇️
2/ Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Dmitry Steshin calls it "a day of celebration for foreign agents, as the audience for pro-Russian channels on Telegram has plummeted."
3/ "Margarita Simonyan saw a 52.3% drop, while propagandist Alexander Sladkov saw a 49.4% drop. Views for ‘RT in Russian’ fell by 42%, whilst those for propagandists Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Zarubin fell by 47.2% and 42.7% respectively.
1/ In a further sign of an economic slump in Russia, the giant vehicle manufacturer AvtoVAZ will shut down production entirely for 17 days due to falling demand and overcrowded warehouses. Its vehicles aren't selling and storage facilities are overflowing. ⬇️
2/ The Russian news outlet Mash reports that AvtoVAZ will shut down its assembly lines for almost the entire period from 27 April to 17 May, with the workforce sent on mandatory leave.
3/ Workers will be sent to do maintenance work between 27-30 April, 12-13 May will be covered by a postponement of vacation days from December, and staff will be paid at two-thirds their normal salary on 14-15 May.