1/ The explosion in Moscow this morning killed Colonel Damir Davydov, head of the procurement department of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to VChK-OGPU. ⬇️
"The BMW X3 in which Damir Davydov, head of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate [GRAU] of the Russian Ministry of Defence, was blown up today belongs to Davydov himself. He purchased the used car in 2024 from a businessman in the Vladimir region.
3/ "More than 15 years ago, Davydov headed the Central Testing Technical Bureau at the 51st Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, located in the Vladimir region.
4/ "Since then, Davydov has headed the GRAU himself. Since the start of the war, he has repeatedly traveled to the Luhansk People's Republic."
5/ While the car isn't linked to Davydov himself in leaked Russian databases, it appeared on the social media channel of his son Rafail, a 20-year-old cadet at the Military Academy of Logistics.
6/ 'Important Stories' comments:
"Ukrainian intelligence services likely knew the colonel's address for a long time. His personal information appeared on Ukrainian OSINT projects dedicated to tracking down Russian Armed Forces personnel and individuals suspected of war crimes.
7/ "The Evocation project published a brief biography of the colonel, his phone number, his address in Balashikha, and the license plate number of his old Audi.
8/ "Ukrainian analysts directly noted that they were monitoring the Davydov family through the social media accounts of his children and wife. They also noted that some of Davydov's relatives live in the United States."
9/ The Ukrainian 'Book of Executioners' website lists Davydov's personal information and says that "he was directly involved in planning and organizing the Russian military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022."
10/ According to The Insider, "the operation was carried out by forces of the Ukrainian Security Service [SBU]". The explosive device was detonated a short distance from Davydov's home in Balashikha at 6 Kozheduba Street (Aviatorov neighborhood).
11/ Kommersant reports that police believe an improvised explosive device with a yield of up to 500 grams of TNT was attached to the underbody of the car. (According to Shot, the bomb was planted inside the car.) Davydov was reportedly not killed outright but died at the scene.
12/ Apart from possible revenge motivations for his role in the invasion of February 2022, Davydov's death deprives the GRAU of its commander at a crucial stage in the war when Ukrainian drones are again targeting Russian ammunition depots.
13/ The killing also highlights the continued inability of the Russian authorities to prevent their senior military officers being assassinated.
14/ It is the second assassination in the same area in just over a year, with Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yaroslav Moskalik being blown up 350 metres from the scene in April 2025. /end
1/ Why is Russia so vulnerable to Ukraine's mid-range drone attacks? Russian drone developer Alexey Chadayev says that it's due to an ongoing and unresolved series of Russian failures in developing new interceptor drones and anti-drone capabilities. ⬇️
The balance of the war has shifted significantly in the enemy's favour, not because of any problems on our part at the front—the same positional dragging continues there, essentially."
3/ "Problems have arisen in the rear—due to the exponential increase in the number and capabilities of deep strikes and middle strikes, as well as the focused pressure on our logistics, especially fuel and energy infrastructure.
1/ Russia faces "tectonic events" in the near future due to Ukraine's seizure of the initiative in the war, which presages an "impending disaster", according to a gloomy commentary by Russian journalist and warblogger Maxim Kalashnikov. ⬇️
2/ Kalashnikov draws attention to the convergence of several unfavourable trends for Russia – economic, military and industrial – which he says are seriously threatening a Russian war effort that is faltering and weakened by chronic corruption, inertia, and backward-thinking.
3/ He writes:
"We are on the eve of a new upheaval. Anyone who studied dialectical and historical materialism ... knows that the number of changes always leads to a qualitative leap. Or a collapse.
War in early summer 2026 is the threshold of the latter. What do we have?"
1/ Russian journalist and blogger Anastasia Kashevarova is baffled and upset by Russia's apparent helplessness in the face of Ukraine's drone campaign. "They're fighting us, and we're wanking our limp dicks," she complains. "Guys, what are you doing?" ⬇️
"The enemy is loading UAVs with all sorts of destructive elements. The enemy doesn't care what they use to kill you, as long as it kills you. The enemy is hitting everything that moves on the roads."
3/ "The enemy doesn't give a damn about the elderly, children, women, or Ukrainian politics—the more Russians die, the better.
The enemy is begging other countries for weapons. The enemy is ready to crawl on their knees just to be given weapons to kill Russians.
1/ The Russian Navy is being condemned as "unteachable" by Russian warbloggers following a Ukrainian attack on an ammunition depot, which is said to have destroyed 5,000 tons of ammunition. They say that the Navy has learned nothing from the war. ⬇️
2/ High-resolution satellite images from before the strike show massive amounts of ammunition being stored in the open air at the 15th Arsenal of the Russian Navy in Petergof, Leningrad region. This Soviet-style practice has led to repeated disasters at Russian Army depots.
3/ As 'Alex Parker Returns' comments, "The ammunition was stored outdoors, so triggering a detonation using drones was no problem. Pypa [Putin], here are the results."
1/ Igor 'Strekov' Girkin must die, says another Russian warblogger. His missives of doom are not universally welcomed by Russia's 'angry patriots', who don't always appreciate the ideological commitments which underlie his criticisms of the Russian war strategy. ⬇️
2/ Girkin has repeatedly issued warnings about Russia's failing strategy in Ukraine, and the consequences thereof, along with criticisms of the Russian leadership. He is currently in prison for his criticisms, but this doesn't seem to have deterred him.
1/ Donetsk Airport has been converted into a launch base for Russian attack drones, with hardened concrete shelters erected on the runways, aprons, and taxiways to protect them from attack. More than 130 shelters have been built, along with concrete warehouses and launch pads. ⬇️
2/ Recent satellite imagery shows that, as of 2 June 2026, the following are located on the airport grounds:
3/ Construction is ongoing, with 37 new drone shelters built in the eastern part of the airport since April 2026. New air defence positions and unidentified structures, probably also for drone storage, are being built in the central part of the airport.