1/ Summer vacations in Crimea are definitely off, in the face of constant Ukrainian drone attacks and worsening fuel shortages across the peninsula. The Crimean economy is said to be in deep trouble, with factories and amenities closing, and workers being laid off en masse. ⬇️
2/ 'Your News' laments:
"Comrades from Crimea report: the resort season on the peninsula has been almost completely cancelled.
Fuel is hard to come by, or not available at all."
3/ "Destroyed factories and oil depots are not resuming operations, but simply disappearing from the economic map along with their workers.
Hundreds of workers are being sent on unpaid leave or simply laid off due to a lack of jobs.
4/ "Cafes, restaurants, hotels—in general, Crimean businesses have ground to a halt.
No fuel means no tourists.
No tourists means no business in Crimea. Exactly.
Add to this the regular shelling of cities on the peninsula, and the picture becomes especially frightening.
5/ "Drones are flying to Crimea based on American intelligence, using American components, purchased with American money.
Secretary of State Rubio told us directly: "We support Ukraine, Ukraine is ours, we don't need a Russian victory."
He said this several times.
6/ "Negotiator Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Kushner are planning to visit Moscow.
Iran is celebrating its victory over them, and we're preparing to give them a warm welcome.
7/ "We'll be trying to persuade them to put pressure on Zelenskyy.
1/ Russian commanders are being accused of failing to ensure that their soldiers do not wear neo-Nazi and far-right insignia. The practice is said to be widespread. However, a crackdown is apparently underway, with offenders being sent to die in assault units. ⬇️
2/ Throughout the war in Ukraine, Russian soldiers have been photographed wearing unofficial patches representing extremist ideologies, such as death's-head insignia, Nazi runes, and the "black sun" Sonnenrad symbol.
3/ This reflects the appeal of far-right and neo-Nazi ideology among Russian nationalists. (Indeed, there is an entire neo-Nazi paramilitary group, the Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group (DShRG) 'Rusich', fighting alongside the Russian regular forces.)
1/ Russian warbloggers have steadily become bolder in calling for Russia's leadership to be replaced to overcome the current stalemate in Ukraine. Calling the current situation "hopeless", 'Verum Regnum' calls for new leadership in Russia so that it can win the war. ⬇️
2/ While well aware that open criticism of Vladimir Putin is still too dangerous a step, many warbloggers are willing to criticise "the system" in general terms or call out specific officials regarded as failing, such as Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov
3/ This kind of approach, which could be summed up as "the Tsar should replace his boyars", is clearly visible in what 'Verum Regnum' writes on Telegram:
"Do you know what a "hopeless situation" is? It's a situation where we don't like the simple, obvious way out."
1/ Russia's air defence teams are manned by "homeless people, alcoholics, deserters, disabled people, idiots", complains a Russian warblogger. In the face of continued failures to stop Ukrainian drone attacks, urgent investment in robotic defence systems is advocated. ⬇️
2/ 'Military Chronicle' argues that "recent incidents involving the use of attack drones against targets in Moscow and Voronezh demonstrate that the human factor is becoming the most critical vulnerability in modern air defence systems."
3/ 'Dead Heads' explains that Russia's mobile fire teams are attracting the wrong kind of recruits: "We're forming Mobile Task Forces (MOGs) and assembling them by units: homeless people, alcoholics, 500s, disabled people, idiots – why aren't they shooting down anything?"
1/ The Russian warblogger 'Fighterbomber', a retired Russian air force pilot, is taking heavy flak from other warbloggers for disclosing a fuel delivery to Crimea that the Ukrainians promptly blew up. "Go fuck yourself. Preferably holding hands," he responds. ⬇️
2/ On 17 June, in an apparent attempt to refute widespread accounts of fuel shortages in Crimea, 'Fighterbomber' wrote on his Telegram channel: "The audience is saying that fuel has arrived in Crimea. Lots of it. There's more coming. 😍"
3/ Three days later, Ukrainian forces struck the Kerch oil terminal's fuel depot, causing a major fire. An official Ukrainian Telegram channel trolled Fighterbomber by crediting the warblogger for the strike (it's unlikely that he had any influence on it).
1/ Dozens of specialist workers were likely killed or wounded in today's Ukrainian strike in Voronezh. Russian warbloggers are dismayed, complain that the Russian government is ignoring it, and call for London to be nuked in retaliation. ⬇️
2/ Heavy missiles (it's not yet clear what type; the Russian warbloggers assume a UK/French Storm Shadow or SCALP/ER) have caused heavy damage and raging fires at the Voronezh Semiconductor Devices Plant, a vital element of Russia's missile production chain.
3/ The regional governor says that five people are known to have died, with dozens more injured. He says that while most were able to take shelter and survived, many ignored the alert and were caught up in the attack.
1/ Russian warbloggers complain that their readers are insufficiently enthusiastic about the disastrous war in Ukraine, following an outpouring of negative sentiment after the drone strikes on Moscow. "Social media has been a living hell since yesterday," one gripes. ⬇️
2/ Warblogger Andrey Antonov urges his readers not to believe what they're reading:
"Be vigilant! Social media has been a living hell since yesterday.
A coordinated campaign against our peace of mind is underway.
I saw the same thing in 2022, during Crocus, Kursk, and so on."
3/ "Your feed is flooded with nonsense, both from new accounts you never followed and from tried-and-true opposition faggots you never followed, but bots are amplifying the popularity of these posts, and they're popping up everywhere.