1/ Ukraine's rapid advances in recent days have revealed that many Russian claims of capturing settlements along the length of the front were false or tenous. Russian warbloggers complain that this has exposed more lies by their side's commanders. 📷
2/ Rybar provides a gloomy assessment of Ukraine's progress:
"The situation on the western flank of the Zaporizhzhia front has deteriorated sharply over the past 24 hours."
3/ "The enemy is attempting to cut off the penetration toward Zaporizhzhia along the shore of the former Kakhovka Reservoir. Ukrainian forces have launched an offensive along a sector approximately 20 kilometers wide.
4/ "▪️Recent [Russian] reports of the liberation [i.e. capture] of Mahdalynivka turned out to be false. The enemy has amassed its forces and launched attacks toward Lukianivske , which has come under firm control of Ukrainian forces. Fighting continues in Novoiakovlivka.
5/ "▪️ The situation in Prymorske has deteriorated significantly. The northern part of the town remains a "layered" zone with intermingled positions.
6/ "While Richne was previously claimed to have been liberated, the current dynamics suggest that the town was not under the stable control of the Russian Armed Forces. It's likely that, at best, only small groups [of Russians] entered the area.
7/ "▪️ The enemy advanced along the E-105 highway between Prymorske and Stepnohirsk and deployed stormtroopers in Plavni. As a result, Russian units in Prymorske were cut off from their main positions.
8/ "In Stepnohirsk itself, the enemy not only held positions in the north of the city but also managed to increase its presence...
9/ "We previously wrote about the threat of a Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at pushing Russian forces back from the Kinka line and the approaches to Zaporizhzhia.
10/ "In fact, we can confirm, if not the beginning of such a counteroffensive, then a very large-scale reconnaissance in force. The question of how many enemy forces were deployed in the "liberated" villages is one that will almost certainly remain unanswered."
11/ 'Combat Reserve' is angry about the false claims made previously by the Russian Ministry of Defence about the capture of Mahdalynivka:
"Bullshit again, Mahdalynivka is as far away as China.
Why?
Why talk shit when you haven't even gotten there?"
12/ 'Alex Parker Returns' calls out another false claim from the Russian MOD:
"The Russian Armed Forces have liberated the village of Minkivka in [Donetsk], the Russian Ministry of Defence reports. They're lying. In reality, it's under the control of the [Ukrainians]."
13/ "After Kupyansk, someone took it upon themselves to liberate everything on credit. The results are out the window."
'Callsign "Osetin"' sarcastically calls on the Russian military to stop falsely claiming victories, using a frequent euphemism for Russia:
14/ "Comrade soldiers and senior Laotian officials, please stop reporting on the liberation of settlements while the enemy is still present. There's no point in doing so.
15/ "It doesn't raise morale, it doesn't demoralize the enemy, it doesn't liberate settlements any faster, it doesn't lead to victory in the information arena, and it doesn't make the people any happier (they will be,…
16/ …but only until they learn that Laotian soldiers are still fighting for the village.
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):
1/ The Russian army has been taken over by an organised crime syndicate, says a Russian journalist. The mass recruitment of criminals now means that crimes and corruption of all sorts – murder, torture, extortion, prostitution, drug and alcohol smuggling – are now routine. ⬇️
2/ Sergey Komkov writes that organised crime has become "the most widespread social virus in the Special Military Operation zone, capable of burying virtually the entire combat capability of our Russian army."
3/ He says that an "Organised Thieves' Den", which he refers to with the acronym OVM, "has long been in full swing in many dugouts and personnel quarters of our armed forces in the SVO [Special Military Operation]."
1/ Ukraine is launching a new, agile system for rapid military deployment of new technology; Russia, not so much so. Pro-Kremlin warblogger Vladimir Romanov sarcastically highlights the differences between the Russian and Ukrainian systems. ⬇️
2/ Romanov notes how Ukraine is "systematically streamlining the path of technological developments to the front lines":
"The [Ukrainian] government, at the recommendation of the Ministry of Defence, is launching a new model for purchasing innovative weapons for the army."
3/ "The Ministry of Defence now has the authority to quickly procure innovative products through a simplified procedure, and combat units will test them and decide on their effectiveness.
Solutions proven in combat are eligible for inclusion in procurement requirements.
1/ Russia's Black Sea Fleet is trapped and largely neutralised, according to gloomy commentaries from Russian warbloggers. Ukraine's recent attack on its ships anchored at Novorossiysk show that its situation is a "catastrophic failure". ⬇️
2/ Ukraine's drone attack on a Russian frigate at anchor at Novorossiysk on April 6th has been the subject of commentary from several Russian warbloggers, who have noted that the drones used were clearly under manual control for their terminal guidance. 'Rybar' writes:
3/ "An important point is that the Ukrainian side had objective control over the final stretch of the strike thanks to Starlink. This was most likely achieved by relaying a signal from another UAV, which was located outside the Krasnodar Krai territorial waters at the time...
1/ Russia's regional governments and state-owned institutions are planning to spend billions of rubles to circumvent the Internet restrictions imposed by Russia's federal government, a situation which Russian commentators have criticised as ridiculous and wasteful. ⬇️
2/ The SHOT Telegram channel reports that numerous Russian cities and regions are advertising contracts for the provision of VPN services. Thousands of similar tenders have also been posted by state institutions and state-owned companies, according to LIFE.
3/ The customers include "local ministries, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Health, investigative departments of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, city and district administrations, educational institutions, meteorological services,…