1/ Russian warbloggers are increasingly admitting that Russia is suffering steady attrition from endless swarms of Ukrainian drones. '13 Tactical' posts a lament about Russia's strategic dilemma as it faces escalating costs in its war in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ The Russian military volunteer Dmitry Tinkov, writing on the '13 Tactical' Telegram channel, reviews the current situation and is very unhappy at what he sees, but takes refuge in half-hearted bravado as the only solution that he sees:
3/ "I think there are three underlying factors at the root of all our problems:
1. Those at the top genuinely believed they could reach an agreement on our terms.
2. They don't know what to do next with Ukraine (= what the outcome should be).
4/ "3. They thought things would continue this way and that time is on our side.
But the reality is this:
5/ "1. The enemy, realizing that it lacks offensive infantry potential, is adopting the only possible strategy – UAVs, strikes close in and deep into the area, destroying infrastructure, making the war more and more expensive for us. Day after day, over a long period of time.
6/ "Moreover, the cost of a Leopard 2 tank ranges from $11 million to $32 million, depending on the configuration.
The cost of one aircraft-type UAV is $5,000.
That is, one tank, not the most expensive one, by the way, is worth from 2,200 to 6,400 drones.
7/ "On average, this is the same burden that fell on the shoulders of our air defence in central Russia during the May holidays.
8/ "2,200 - 6,400 drones, a certain number of Pantsir missiles, said to cost (I don't know exactly) around 4 million [rubles ($56,000) each], and some millions of rounds of ammunition burned by mobile fire teams, which no one even counts, but they should.
9/ "So what happens if, say, a thousand missiles were expended, then that's costing from 4 billion rubles [$56.1 million].
10/ "A 5.45x39 cartridge in a magazine costs 27 rubles. I don't know how accurate this calculation is, or the exact number of 5.45, 7.62, 12.7, 14.5, 23, and 30mm rounds that were expended, but they don't grow in cornfields and cost the state money.
11/ "What's my point?
One tank won't cause us 4 billion rubles worth of damage. (Unless it falls from a plane onto Barvikha Luxury Village [an ultra-exclusive suburb of Moscow] from above).
12/ "But 2,200-6,400 UAVs will inflict damage by default.
Even if everything is shot down.
Even.
And that's not all.
So, there's another plus.
13/ "While our top brass thought there was some point in negotiating or that they wanted peace, the enemy was simply getting what they needed - time. And, as we see, they used it to the maximum:
14/ "1. They created a system in its broadest form.
2. Squeezed maximum efficiency out of it.
3. Created production.
15/ "And yet, on our TV and in the State Duma, they call all this an act of desperation. They've saved up, say the chairmen of various specialised defence committees.
You guys saved up.
But they do it every day.
And that's the problem.
16/ "The problem is that they haven't saved up, they've reached their design capabilities.
And this strategy is about twice as profitable for them.
For every billion they spend, we respond with two. That's the best-case scenario. The worst is 1 to 5.
17/ "Not counting the damage to infrastructure. Debris, of course, and mostly burning grass, but no one really knows how many yards a week of burning such oil grass costs the state.
18/ "What about us? Nothing.
I don't see any signs of understanding the situation among those who should have them.
19/ "My prediction will be funny.
We will kill everyone, of course.
It has always been this way and it always will be this way.
As it was a hundred years ago, so it will be a thousand.
20/ "But there are two conditions:
1. We unite only when EVERYONE is in trouble , not just the border areas.
2. We pay a very high price for the indifference of others.
But as I already said, we will kill EVERYONE. So don't rush to post emojis, little piggies.
Reread.
21/ "You won't win, it's just that not everyone is in trouble yet. But you are doing everything to make it happen for everyone. Without really realising what this means for you.
22/ "And it's not about the ruling class, the backroom oligarchs, the State Duma, and the like.
It will be an ordinary Ivan who will kill you." /end
1/ The Ukraine war is deadlocked, writes the imprisoned Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. He warns that Russia's current tactics are ineffective and Ukraine's intensifying drone strikes on the Russian rear may be leading up to a new counter-offensive. ⬇️
2/ Girkin, who has been a constant critic of the Russian military's strategy, observes:
"THERE'S A COMPLETE DEADLOCK ON THE FRONT. The summer campaign is beginning as incoherently as the winter-spring campaign ended."
3/ "Push-pull back and forth" isn't something that can lead us even to such a limited (and strategically senseless) goal as the complete liberation of the entire Donbas (DPR), much less the complete liberation of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions—…
1/ With the war in Ukraine locked in a stalemate and Russia casualties growing, Russian warbloggers are divided between advocating a full mobilisation or calling for the front lines to be frozen. Oleg Tsarev advocates ending the war and declaring victory to save Russian lives. ⬇️
2/ Tsarev, a fugitive Ukrainian-Russian politician now living in Russia, says that Russia has already achieved as much as it's likely to with the conquest of 'Novorossiya', and the war should be ended now with a declaration of victory so that no more Russians need to die:
3/ "It's bad when a person falls into a psychological trap they create for themselves. Psychologists call this a cognitive trap: when faced with a difficult situation, a person doesn't ask for help to avoid appearing weak.
1/ Russia's demographic crisis is worsening sharply, as its villages empty out and birth rates slump. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have died in the war in Ukraine and at least a million more have fled the country, with no respite in sight for its dwindling population. ⬇️
2/ Russian political scientist Yuri Baranchik writes on his Telegram channel:
"Villages are dying: the outflow of young people has led to record-low birth rates."
3/ "A demographic alarm is sounding. The birth rate in Russian villages has hit rock bottom—a 35-year low. Rosstat recorded a fertility rate of 1.464. For reference, to avoid population decline, a fertility rate of at least 2 is needed.
1/ Even as sales of consumer cars plummet in Russia, the country's super-wealthy oligarchs are importing record numbers of sanctions-busting luxury cars from the West. It's another sign of how the Russian elite are profiting even as the population suffers. ⬇️
2/ As recently reported, the combined wealth of Russia's 155 richest people has risen by a record amount over the last year even as the economy as a whole has suffered. This is reflected in their conspicuous consumption, especially on luxury vehicles.
3/ The Russian Telegram channel 'Political Report' notes:
"Sales of new luxury vehicles reached 81 units in April—the highest level in 4.5 years. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan led the way with 21 units sold, while the Lamborghini Urus and Bentley Continental also made the top three."
1/ Russian warblogger Lev Vershinin wonders how Russia has managed to revert to 18th century standards of brutal military discipline, as seen in this video. How did it "become so savage in just one generation?", he asks. ⬇️
2/ The video shows a commander (almost certainly Russian, despite Vershinin's disingenuous uncertainty in the post below) savagely beating several men. They have apparently retreated ("rolled back") without authorisation from a mission or frontline position.
3/ “I came across some front-line footage. Not AI. But I don’t know which side it was filmed on. Neither the Russian language nor the swearing mean anything, because the war is essentially a civil one. So, it could be both.
1/ A Russian soldier says that he and his comrades were told by their commander that "a single shell is worth more than all your lives". The men were sent on suicidal missions without artillery support, without supplies, and had to scavenge for weapons on the battlefield. ⬇️
2/ In a video explaining his decision to desert from the Russian army's 144th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 11739), 36-year-old Anton Aleksandrovich Shirshin describes his commanders as brutal and corrupt.
3/ He was forced to join the army after being blamed for a traffic accident. The police offered him a choice between imprisonment followed by being conscripted to join the army, or joining the army voluntarily. He chose the latter option.