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.
4/ "The companies no longer have three platoons; they exist only on paper, but in reality, all the soldiers were sent to the assault, were killed, or went missing. Now it's time for the 2nd Platoon.
5/ "They recently announced that they were training two more men for the infantry... The tankers are disappearing ingloriously.
Then, most likely, the battalion will be abolished on paper. If there are no men, there will be no tanks, no battalion.
6/ "How can this be stopped? How can this fact be made public? People are ready to go into battle and defend their homeland. But I consider it a crime to waste the lives of tankers like this. After all, tankers are not infantry.
7/ "It's easy to send a tanker to the infantry, but try to quickly turn an infantryman into a tanker, train him, put him in a tank, and go fight the enemy! Try it!
8/ "I beg you, whoever is responsible for this, to stop this outrage and the destruction of our tankers through your own absurd actions. I appeal to the Minister of Defence, to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [i.e. Vladimir Putin]. I ask for your intervention.
9/ "After all, it's an illegal practice to send tankers who have seen combat since the beginning of the Special Military Operaion, who have invaluable experience in tank combat, who know a tank like the back of their hand, who have orders and medals, to assault units.
10/ "These are just a few of the names of the tankers killed and missing in action [who were] recently sent to assault units:
11/ "While I was writing this message, I received information that literally all tankers were being thrown into the assault. A couple of men were left to guard the tanks. The rest [have been told]: forward, everyone, everyone, everyone." /end
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/ 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,…