1/ Russian drone developers are complaining that because of bureaucratic restrictions, they are having to use firecrackers as the warheads on interceptor drones, or rely solely on kinetic methods instead of explosive warheads. ⬇️
2/ The Russian warblogger 'UAV Developer' shows a photo of two firecrackers and asks:
"Do you know what this is?
It's the warhead of an interceptor drone."
3/ "While those Ukrainian drones are hitting a house in Yekaterinburg, smashing a landing craft in Crimea with shrapnel, and killing a dozen civilians along the way, the developers of interceptor drones are trying to somehow circumvent the restrictions of the mad printer…
4/ …[i.e. the State Duma] by inventing air defence systems out of shit and sticks.
One solution is to install a FIRECRACKER on board!
Because you can't put anything else on board. Not even a fucking 50-gram block of TNT.
Because it's peacetime and nothing's happening.
5/ "Because you can't use IEDs behind the line of contact.
Because it's dangerous. Therefore, the Yolka and similar drones are "kinetic" weapons (they poke their snouts at something in the hopes of knocking it over or triggering a self-detonation).
6/ "With limited effectiveness, to put it mildly.
But enemy drones have highly effective warheads and can shoot down up to 70% of Geran [drones].
7/ "Is there another example in world history of citizens defending their country despite the government's efforts and prohibitions?
I'm just curious."
8/ The Yolka drone mentioned above is a kinetic interceptor which has severe operational limitations, as the thread linked below highlights.
9/ Alex Kartavykh is furious at the way that bureaucracy is hampering drone development, and helpfully provides a flowchart illustrating how workflow operates in the Russian civil service:
10/ "We have one problem, globally. And it's not a lack of money, people, or brains. It's INTERDEPARTMENTAL IMPOTENCE. Where each respected agency vigilantly guards its feudal and bureaucratic privileges and takes no more than the bare minimum.
11/ "That's why NO ONE IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for most of what happens in the country, because it's located at the intersection of departments and services. At these intersections, there are standard gaps, still unresolved in the fifth year of the Special Military Operation.
12/ "Everything gets stuck and stalls there. INTERDEPARTMENTAL MEETINGS are convened. At them, everyone grumbles about everything good and everything bad, jerks off to each other, and the money goes in the cup.
13/ "Like in the old meme:
Sit and shut up, or they'll make you work. When the shit hits the fan, that's when you'll start making a move.
14/ "We all pretend we don't know shit, it's not me and it's not my ass, we thought it was supposed to be that way, no one reported it to us, etc.
And it usually works.
15/ "Incidentally, Telegram has occasionally solved this problem through media coverage. The crap would hit the fan, and everyone involved would suddenly stop being stupid and heroically solve the problem. It's a shame Telegram got banned, of course.
16/ "So now, perhaps, our domestic bureaucracy needs to invent a nanotechnology called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Appoint these very same personal accountability officers (not scapegoats, but straight from the top of respected agencies), give them deadlines and KPIs.
17/ "And then BEAT THEM WITH A STICK when they still can't agree on anything. In other words, we need to shift logic from bureaucratic (where "sit and don't talk") to feudal (where "either in the crosses or in the bushes"). There's a war going on, dumbass.
18/ "Tuapse is burning, Ust-Luga is being fucked. What firecrackers, are you kidding me?" /end
1/ Over four years into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian commanders have still not beaten their deadliest enemy – the cumbersome centralised bureaucracy of the Russian military. 'Two Majors' gives a flavour of how badly Russian commanders are swamped with paperwork. ⬇️
2/ In an essay titled "On the Need for a Radical Overhaul of the Management System for Security Forces Involved in the Special Military Operation. Thoughts on the Topic, with Some Profanity", one of the contributors to the prominent 'Two Majors' Telegram channel writes:
3/ "▪️ The principle of multitasking and prioritisation. Even before the war, we once asked a young officer from a garrison unit subordinate to ours: why aren’t you working on such-and-such a task, since it’s objectively important?
1/ The steadily increasing number of Ukrainian drones being flown into Russia is a major cause for concern among Russian warbloggers reflecting on the weekend's attack on Moscow. 'Older than Edda' sees Russia's air defences being progressively worn down and overwhelmed. ⬇️
2/ "When assessing the prospects of a "drone war," it's important to understand that massive attacks using a couple thousand or more UAVs per night are just around the corner.
3/ "This means that in selected areas, the enemy will attempt to simply breach air defences by exhausting the missile launchers' ammunition—which, even with timely delivery on launchers, doesn't appear automatically; reloading takes time.
1/ Could Yevgeny Prigozhin have become Russia's equivalent of Ukraine's Robert 'Madyar' Brovdi if he had been allowed to live? A provocative Russian commentary suggests that Wagner's 'civilian-controlled military' operating model could have been applied more widely by Russia. ⬇️
2/ 'Russian Engineer' writes:
"The answers to the questions are about what changes allowed the enemy to halt the downward trend in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was clearly evident throughout 2025."
3/ "And now they're striking along the Novorossiya highway, and simultaneously in Moscow and Sevastopol.
1/ Ukraine's massive penetration of Moscow's air defences is sparking a great deal of gloomy and angry commentary from Russian warbloggers. The military-technical Telegram channel 'Atomic Cherry' warns of an escalating trend of Ukrainian capabilities. ⬇️
2/ "As an interim observation, I will note that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for the first time in years of the conflict, have succeeded in destroying a number of targets in the Moscow region:
There are a number of statements and testimonies about hits on other targets as well, but listing them all makes no sense. The trend is clear without this.
1/ The Russian government is warning that the Ukrainians are trying to buy Russian Telegram channels that are now unprofitable after the government's blocking of the app. Russian commentators say it's an inevitable result of the government's restrictive policies. ⬇️
2/ Russia has been severely restricting Telegram since the start of April, as well as making it retrospectively illegal to use Telegram for advertising. This has been a disaster for Russian businesses, for which Telegram was an essential marketing tool.
3/ Individual Telegram bloggers have also faced a collapse in their income from Telegram, both because of the advertising ban and due to the blocking reducing their user bases (though many Russians continue to access it through VPNs). Some are now trying to sell their channels.
1/ Russia's anti-drone defences are said to be severely hampered by bureaucracy, such as bans on interceptor drones with explosive warheads, and legal liability, which makes mobile fire teams liable for damage caused by shot-down enemy drones. ⬇️
2/ Russian drone developer Alexey Chadayev looks for answers to the eternal question of "where air defence?". He highlights legal and bureaucratic obstacles that he says are major obstacles to the effective protection of facilities that are being targeted by Ukrainian drones:
3/ "A few thoughts on counter-drone defence of rear-area facilities.
1. The very fact that we have legally limited the ability to use explosives to combat drones in the rear leads to an increase, not a decrease, in collateral losses.