1/ Russia's border policies may result in the creation of a "shooting gallery" for Ukrainian drone operators, warns a prominent Russian warblogger. Queues at the still-enforced border between Russia and Ukraine are now an obvious target for attacks. ⬇️
2/ Even though Russia has formally annexed four regions of Ukraine, the border with Russia is still strictly enforced. This is done to prevent the smuggling of weapons and contraband, and to prevent military deserters from escaping back home to Russia.
3/ One of the principal checkpoints is at Veselo-Voznesenka in the Donetsk region, where queues often form. A recent Ukrainian video showed a drone flying near the checkpoint, 150 km from the front line.
"The problem isn't so much what the enemy showed in the drone's flight video, but rather what they didn't show. The Hornet's lens shows an old, inactive checkpoint."
5/ "The functioning multi-lane checkpoint is located slightly to the left and was edited out by the enemy from the published video.
6/ "While heavy-duty trucks entering the [Donetsk People's Republic] aren't subject to any special checks, long queues of cars and trucks typically form at the exit to the Rostov Oblast.
7/ "The problem is still in its infancy, but if the enemy gains the ability to regularly and frequently fly to the Veselo-Voznesenka checkpoint, the congestion there will become a veritable shooting gallery for Ukrainian drone operators,…
8/ …who will be able to target any civilian trucks and fuel tankers waiting for or undergoing inspection. The only exceptions to the queue are military vehicles.
This is essentially a convenient bottleneck for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
9/ "There's no need to scour the highways every time, looking for a target—you can fly directly to a specific point where there will always be military or civilian transport entering or leaving the republic." /end
1/ Russian front-line forces in southern Ukraine face a 'critical' situation with food due to Ukraine's middle-strike drone campaign, warns a prominent Russian warblogger. With starvation becoming a risk, he calls for urgent action against the drones. ⬇️
"The enemy’s intense attacks on our logistics have reached the shores of the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian forces are also carrying out drone strikes using ‘Hornet’ drones on the motorway near Berdyansk."
3/ "The direct distance to Orikhiv is approximately 95 km, so Ukrainian Armed Forces operators have no particular problems covering this distance, given the maximum radius of up to 145 km.
1/ Russia has reportedly effectively privatised its air defence systems, shifting their cost onto regions and private businesses. This is likely resulting in wealthy Moscow getting a disproportionate amount of air defences while poorer regions languish. ⬇️
2/ VChK-OGPU (now restored to Telegram following Pavel Durov's falling-out with the Kremlin) reports that according to a source, "the federal centre has effectively shifted funding for the creation of ever-new air defence lines for Russian cities to the regions…
3/ …(Moscow is no exception). The air defence systems themselves come from the Ministry of Defence (and sometimes their creation is financed by regional budgets), but the expensive preparatory and communications work falls to regional budgets.
1/ How could Russia counter Ukraine's ongoing and increasingly devastating drone campaign against its logistics? One Russian warblogger suggests a possible approach, but another says it won't happen due to the army's systemic deficiencies ⬇️
1/ Russian soldiers who are blind, deaf, have lost limbs, or are in wheelchairs, are having their medical discharges cancelled and are being sent back to Ukraine to fight. It appears to be Russia's latest measure to make up for its huge losses. ⬇️
2/ Seriously injured soldiers with category 'G' status (temporarily unfit for service) are being rounded up at home in Russia and declared fit again by military doctors, before being sent back to war. Relatives say that appeals to the authorities are having no effect.
3/ 38-year-old Pavel Podgrushny from Krasnodar was blown up by a mine in 2024, suffering head and chest injuries and losing his hearing and his left eye. He was treated in Volgograd, discharged to recuperate at home, and given a prosthetic eye.
1/ A leaked order from the Russian army instructs military drivers to disguise their vehicles as civilian ones, repainting them in non-military colours and applying the logos of civilian organisations to their sides. However, this appears to violate the Geneva Conventions. ⬇️
2/ The 'Combat Reserve' Telegram channel has published an extract from the order, which reads:
3/ "3. In view of the enemy’s use of AI-powered strike UAVs, and in order to prevent incidents and avoid the destruction of military equipment during enemy UAV operations, as well as to safeguard the lives and health of service personnel, the formation commander has ordered:
1/ Even as Ukraine invests in accelerating its middle-strike campaign against Russian forces, Russian counter-measures are nowhere to be seen, according to a Russian warblogger and military volunteer. He says that Putin "doesn't give a shit". ⬇️
"The entire route to Crimea, from Taganrog to Chonhar, should have been secured with light air defence – anti-aircraft fire units. It should have been done yesterday. But who is doing this?"
3/ "I recently drove there in a Ural truck to Zaporizhzhia and back: I saw only ‘mushroom clouds’ ahead of me and behind me and heard ‘pops’, but I didn’t see a single anti-aircraft gun or machine-gun crew. So I drove with my pants full of fear. God had mercy on me.