1/ Russia actually won the war in Ukraine in 2023 – but the Ukrainians changed the paradigm in 2025 and have turned the tables on the Russian army since. So claims RT journalist Alexander Kharchenko, who calls for Russia to change its approach fundamentally. ⬇️
2/ Writing on the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel, Karchenko says:
"We won! You heard right. In a war of "will and steel," the Russian military machine crushed Western proxy forces in Ukraine."
3/ "In 2023, we proved to everyone that the Russian state, despite all the difficulties, can accumulate resources. We crushed the enemy in Bakhmut, and mines, ATGMs, and artillery made Robotyne synonymous with Verdun.
4/ "Stern Russian commanders were able to send men with difficult fates to the front, where they obliterated those who would later be called the cream of the Ukrainian nation.
5/ "The only problem is that the final chord of "will and steel" sounded in Pokrovsk. Tanks appear on the front lines increasingly rarely, artillery barely reaches important targets, and even the number of stormtroopers sent cannot guarantee advancement.
6/ "The enemy, unwilling to surrender to the slaughter, changed the rules of the game.
We have transitioned to a war of "minds and communications." Our problem isn't drones, but rather that the enemy has shifted its army's paradigm.
7/ "A company of drilled and calibrated soldiers will now definitely lose to a company of creative opponents. What matters now isn't how hard a commander slams his fist on the table, but how quickly he spots talent and puts it to work for his unit.
8/ "And that's the crux of the matter.
The war of "will and steel" turned a man into an average soldier and used him to fill a grid. "Order beats class"—that expression was relevant just a couple of years ago.
9/ "Our army needs to completely restructure its approach to human resources. A commander must not reject anything unconventional, but rather recognize original ideas and carefully bring them to life on the battlefield.
10/ "Only intelligence, connections, and the speed of change can help us in the technological race unfolding on our soil. With the old military paradigm, we risk falling forever behind in the battle for our future." /end
1/ The powerful AI-driven Palantir platform is becoming Ukraine's 'operating system' for the war with Russia. Belarusian-Russian journalist journalist Alex Zimovsky warns that it's "heading towards the point where Palantir will soon become a scary name for children in Russia." ⬇️
2/ Zimovsky has been assessing how Ukraine uses Palantir. He writes:
"As of May 2026, the American company Palantir Technologies has become a key element of Ukraine's AI- and big data-based war management architecture."
3/ "The system is based on the Gotham and MetaConstellation platforms, which integrate into a single combat environment:
→ UAV video feeds
→ satellite reconnaissance
→ SIGINT / electronic intelligence
→ radar data
→ OSINT and open sources
1/ After mobilised Russian troops were threatened with being sent to their deaths if they didn't sign contracts making them permanent soldiers, they were promised a big cash bonus if they did so. There's just one problem: they've now been scammed out of the payments. ⬇️
2/ 'Vault No. 8,' a serving Russian soldier, writes that the mobilised residents of the Moscow region who are serving in his unit are now complaining bitterly that they have been scammed:
3/ "As some may recall, last fall was marked by the slogan, "Mobilised men! Sign a contract or run to attack!"
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 Ukrainians have developed AI-guided hunter-killer drones which can identify humans on the battlefield and attack them, according to a prominent Russian source. Another Russian warblogger warns that it's only the start of a full automation of war. ⬇️
The enemy has begun using upgraded tactical drones with combat artificial intelligence. There are signs of facial auto-targeting and a corresponding heat signature loaded into the drone's "brains."
3/ Commenting on the report, 'RusPanorama news' observes:
" 'AI in war' is no longer just a tool.
A war of the recognition circuits themselves is beginning.
One AI learns:
see a person → classify → destroy.
Another AI learns:
see a drone → classify the threat → intercept.
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.