1/ The Starlink shutdown has reportedly made 'flag-sticking' – one of the most suicidally dangerous and militarily useless Russian combat missions – even more lethal. Deprived of high-speed Internet, Russian soldiers now have to courier drone videos on USB sticks. ⬇️
2/ 'Flag-sticking' is the practice of sending a small group of soldiers to carry a Russian flag to a Ukrainian-held settlement and unfurl it prominently, to be videoed by a Russian drone for a commander's video report to his superiors, so that he can falsely claim a capture.
3/ This often turns out badly for everyone except the commander. The soldiers are often killed shortly afterwards, having exposed themselves to Ukrainian drones, and many Russian soldiers die when they enter a settlement that is supposedly now Russian-held.
4/ Generals draw maps showing the front line kilometres ahead of where it actually is, leading to bad tactical and strategic decisions. Meanwhile, the commander who ordered the settlement 'taken on credit' is rewarded with cash bonuses, medals, and promotions.
5/ Until Starlink was shut down, the Russians used it to transmit drone videos to commanders for review. This is no longer possible and the only alternatives, the Gazprom Yamal satellite system and Wi-Fi bridges, are slow, bulky, expensive, unreliable, and in short supply.
6/ 'Combat Reserve' on Telegram posts a report from a frontline contact noting that in the absence of Internet connections, soldiers are now having to risk their lives couriering USB sticks containing drone videos between the front line and headquarters:
7/ "Here's a quick rundown of what Wi-Fi bridges are for.
In reality, the connection technically exists, but it’s shaky at best. The “Tutus,” “Liras,” “Peanuts,” and other assorted junk are working, but as Krivoruchko used to say, “everything works” — yeah, right.
8/ "Some time ago, the brass saw that everything was working via Starlink and rushed to report that EVERYTHING IS FUCKING AWESOME AND WE’RE AHEAD OF THE WHOLE PLANET. They tied all operations to photo and video reporting as objective confirmation.
9/ "And when the white dish got switched off, what happened, happened. The whole constructed system collapsed.
Idiots are idiots everywhere, as it turned out — transmissions don’t go through on a Baofeng [analogue radio].
10/ "☝️😳 what, seriously????
So how are they supposed to send videos of successful strikes now without internet?
And what about their beloved flag-planting videos?
HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO JERK OFF TO THEM NOW WITHOUT ANY IMAGES?
11/ "That’s why a courier is running back and forth with flash drives, unloading and uploading them so that fresh information in the form of videos can be viewed and reported to the “higher mind.”
12/ "IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE THAT THERE ARE SUCH FIGHTERS WHO HAVE NEVER HELD AN ASSAULT RIFLE OR A CONTROLLER IN THEIR HANDS, BUT THEY DRIVE AROUND IN A UAZ VAN WITH FLASH DRIVES FROM THE FRONT LINE TO HQ AND BACK.
13/ "LATER THEY’LL TELL EVERYONE HOW THEY WERE SMASHING THE UKROPS, BLOOD, SHIT, AND “GERMANS”
☝️😳😳😳😳
And by the way, where he brings those flash drives, there are always people sitting there editing and uploading videos." /end
1/ Russians who have never served in the Russian army and have never signed a military contract are nonetheless being rounded up as deserters and sent to their deaths in assault squads. It's the result of an ongoing and still unresolved bureaucratic blunder by Russia's MOD. ⬇️
2/ During the war in Donbas, between 2014 and the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022, thousands of Russian nationalists volunteered to fight for the militias of the Luhansk and Donetsk 'People's Republics'. Many were subsequently discharged.
3/ In December 2022, Russia formally incorporated the Luhansk and Donetsk militias into the Russian Army as part of the annexation of both 'People's Republics'. All current and former members of the militias were reclassified as soldiers of the Russian army.
1/ What is the war in Ukraine even for?, asks a Russian warblogger and paramilitary leader. After four years, the shifting goals of the Russian government have left many of its citizens confused about what its aims are in Ukraine, making it unclear what victory actually means. ⬇️
2/ Zakhar Prilepin sums up the complaints of many warbloggers about the vagueness of Russia's objectives:
"Yesterday, I received a lot of congratulations, and the phrase "I wish you victory!" was a common one.
I hope people say it ritualistically, not seriously."
3/ "It's not even that Russia can't win yet. The point is that we don't have such a goal. We're not planning to go to Kyiv, and we're not planning to go to Odesa. This means there will be no demilitarisation or denazification.
1/ The results of Russia's war have been "mediocre", says a Russian warblogger who is fighting in Ukraine. The army is beset by "corruption, scheming, and collusion", and by the mass intimidation and coercion of soldiers by commanders. He sees tough challenges still to come. ⬇️
2/ 'Vault No. 8' writes:
"The war was not easy from the outset.
The enemy still retains counterattack capabilities; over time, the enemy has become capable of targeting the economy of pre-war Russia and conducting mass terror and sabotage, including in Moscow."
3/ "However, it was only in the fourth year of the war that we began to properly employ strategic strike weapons, which began to yield maximum success. Only in the fourth year of the war did we bring the drone component up to a modern level.
1/ Russia is "entangled in too many sins" for it to have succeeded in Ukraine over the past four years, argues Russian warblogger Yuri Podolyaka. He sees the war as a "salvation plan" for Russia that went badly wrong and "laid bare" the country's problems. ⬇️
2/ "Four years ago, a special military operation began...
It obviously didn't go according to plan. Or rather, not according to the plan our military and political leadership had originally.
As a result, the country changed irreversibly.
3/ "No matter how much anyone would like to turn everything back. And this, perhaps, is the most important result of these four years. Difficult years. But, apparently, necessary. Since God decided so.
1/ Four years on from the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian warbloggers are reflecting on the changes that the war has wrought in Russia. Some Russian soldiers are wondering what it was all for. ⬇️
2/ Nikita Tretyakov writes:
"Our varied thoughts and questions converge on one thing: what is going on out there, in the rear, while we are here, far from our families, loved ones, and past lives, defending the Motherland as best we can and seemingly honourably as possible?"
3/ "What is going on there in this very Motherland behind our backs?
Why does it feel more and more uncomfortable to walk around our cities in military uniform – now including Donetsk and Luhansk – every year? Is it even inappropriate?
1/ With manpower increasingly in short supply, Russia is reportedly turning instead to womanpower. Women, particularly convicts and migrants – some still only teenagers – are being forced to join the army, in some cases to serve in frontline combat roles. ⬇️
2/ Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the Russian prison service is putting female convicts under intense pressure, including through starvation, to sign contracts to join the army. Hundreds of women – both Russians and foreigners – are thought to have signed up.
3/ The Uzbek human rights organization Ezgulik reports that it has received letters from the relatives of dozens of Uzbek women who say they are being abused and mistreated to force them to sign military contracts.