1/ A Russian soldier says that only the "marginalised" – drug addicts, the homeless and the destitute – are joining the Russian army these days . He says that the war continues because people in Russia profit from it and that its aim is to "dominate and humiliate" Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ Former Wagner soldier Ruslan from Dagestan, who is now serving under contract to the Russian Ministry of Defence, tells a friend that many soldiers lack motivation because the goals and reasons for what's happening are unclear to them.

1/ A shadow war is being fought over the Russian army's access to Starlink. The Russians face a constant battle with Starlink itself and Ukrainian hackers deactivating their terminals, and obstruction from the Russian customs service holding up grey imports of Starlink devices.⬇️ 2/ Starlink is banned from being exported to Russia, but can be obtained unofficially through grey imports from Central Asia and China. Most Starlink terminals used by Russian forces are obtained by volunteers and shipped across Russia's southern land borders.

1/ When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the town of Irpin, just west of Kyiv, was the closest that Russia reached to the capital. Its soldiers targeted Christian facilities in the town, destroying buildings and burning Ukrainian-language Bibles in the street. ⬇️

2/ One of the buildings targeted by the Russians was the Field Ministries Training Centre of @MissionEurasia, an international Christian organisation based in Wheaton, Illinois. The group trains missionaries throughout the former Soviet Union and provides humanitarian aid.

1/ 790 Russian soldiers from a single unit have died at Pokrovsk, according to a Russian combat medic, with another 900 having deserted according to leaked figures. Another soldier from the same unit says that losses are running at 80-90%. ⬇️
2/ The unnamed medic says that she is serving with the 39th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 35390) at Pokrovsk. She describes how she was on the front line with "young guys" aged 19 or 20:

1/ How does a false report that Kupyansk has been captured by Russia come to be delivered on camera to Vladimir Putin? A Russian warblogger blames a military reporting process that prizes low-value metrics, rewards blind optimism, and eliminates nuance. ⬇️

https://x.com/GloOouD/status/1999761872099127536

2/ 'ZINOVSKY' writes:

"The transfer of operational information from the bottom up in the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Russian Armed Forces is accompanied by a consistent transformation of the initial data as it moves up the chain of command."

1/ A sign of how things are now on the Russian front lines: Russian volunteers declare success after raising enough money to buy a truckload of body bags. ⬇️


2/ From the 'Good staff' Telegram channel:

"Our next item to collect is body bags for our fallen comrades.

As hard as it is for us, and it's always hard for me to write about it, the guys have an urgent need for them."

1/ Ukraine's audacious attack today on a Russian submarine at anchor in Novorossiysk has prompted anger and derision from Russian warbloggers. One complains: "I don't have the strength to comment on this anal fucking anymore." ⬇️

https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/2000597393356755293

2/ Anatoly Shariy comments that the attack on the submarine Varshavyanka is "totally mindblowing." "Is Novorossiysk missing a submarine?" he asks sarcastically.

'Military Informant' comments gloomily that the damage is likely to be severe:

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin says that Russia will only achieve victory if Ukraine is 'defeated and reformatted', but complains that nothing has been done to persuade the Ukrainian people that this is actually a good thing for them. ⬇️ 2/ From his suspiciously well-connected prison cell, he writes of his favourite (but distinctly fantastic) scenario, which is likely shared by influential pro-war figures in the Russian elite:

"I see clear criteria after which we could speak of victory."

1/ Scammers claiming to be 'forensic experts' are reported to be conning hundreds of thousands of dollars from relatives of dead and missing Russian soldiers, to 'identify' their loved ones from heavily pixelated images released by Ukrainian sources. ⬇️


2/ The Russian warblogger and journalist Anastasia Kashevarova reports on the latest scam affecting relatives, who have been plagued by an entire industry of fake mediums, astrologers and other frauds who claim to be able to track down the missing and dead:

1/ A member of Russia's military police says that they have been ordered to impose at least 15 fines per day, or face being sent to their deaths in stormtrooper squads. Because they are so widely hated, they are sent to fight alongside convicts and 'undesirables'. ⬇️ 2/ The military police, known as the VP, are widely detested by the rest of the Russian military for their corruption, violent treatment of detainees, and tendency to impose fines for trivial breaches of regulations, such as not having the right stamps on official paperwork.

1/ Mobilised Russian soldiers complain that they have not been paid this month. The reason isn't clear, but it may be part of an ongoing campaign to force them to sign contracts to make them permanent soldiers. ⬇️ 2/ Around 300,000 Russians were compulsorily mobilised beginning in September 2022. Although many have since died in Ukraine, thousands of 'mobiks' still remain. They serve under different conditions and pay rates from permanent 'contract' soldiers.

1/ Russian warbloggers are furious at the Russian army's apparent loss of Kupyansk after months of bloody fighting, accompanied by lies and exaggerations over the extent of its gains in the city.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1999585591743189428

2/ 'Military Informant' points out that Colonel General Sergey Kuzovlev lied to Putin's face on camera on 20 November, and was subsequently awarded a 'Hero of Russia' medal. The conversation went like this:

1/ A Russian regiment's chief medical officer was reportedly doused in gasoline and set on fire, likely by order of his commanders, after he allowed injured men to go to hospital. The killing is said to have happened after his unit lost a large number of men in an offensive. ⬇️ 2/ Yegor Vladimirovich Korotkiy (call sign "Samara"), of the Russian 164th Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 11740), has recorded a video describing the events in his unit which led to him going AWOL and fleeing from a hospital to take refuge in Krasnodar in Russia.

1/ Ukraine's recent reversal of Russian gains in Kupyansk – celebrated here by President Zelenskyy – highlights months of false claims of victory by General Valery Gerasimov. Russian warbloggers have for months been warning that such claims are false. ⬇️

https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1999473376620937551

2/ The Russians have been fighting their way into Kupyansk since July 2025, making very slow (and now reportedly reversed) advances into the city from the north.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1999420688197718289

1/ The deaths of Russian soldiers who are murdered by their own commanders for personal profit are reportedly covered up by a systemically corrupt military command and justice system, while the killer commanders themselves are protected and even promoted despite their crimes. ⬇️ 2/ Radio Svoboda reports on the case of Alexey Grigoriev, a 50-year-old from Moscow with three children who was eager to join the war in Ukraine, according to his wife. Despite having a good job, he flew to Magadan in Siberia to get a big enlistment bonus from the region.

1/ Russian warbloggers are angry and frustrated that Ukraine has continued to attack 'shadow fleet' tankers in the Black Sea. They admit that Ukraine has not been deterred, and that the Russian Navy lacks the capability to prevent such attacks.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1998803404571947422

2/ Video of the latest attack, on the Gambian-flagged tanker Dashan, has been widely shared on Telegram. 'Military Informant' comments:

1/ The Russian army's fetish for bureaucracy has reached new levels this year, according to a Russian soldier and warblogger. The quantity has tripled over the past year, but the system is geared towards generating false information, or "fantasy stories about armed conflict". ⬇️ 2/ 'Vault No. 8' has previously written about the extreme quantities of paperwork that the Russian army requires its personnel to generate and process. As well as taking up huge amounts of officers' time, the output often does not reflect reality.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1958932563512188943

1/ Russian soldiers who fall out with their commanders – due to personality clashes, disagreements, or a refusal to pay bribes – are routinely sent to their deaths in stormtrooper squads. Few survive for long; the following account vividly describes the life of a stormtrooper. ⬇️ 2/ 'Occupant's Life', written by a frontline Russian soldier, tells the story:

1/ Injured Russian stormtroopers say they have to lie in their own blood, pus and feces while under armed guard in hospitals that are more like prisons. They get expensive, inedible food which they have to pay for themselves, and are sent back to fight before they are healed. ⬇️ 2/ A Russian stormtrooper who has been seriously injured twice describes the grim conditions in the hospital where he has been sent. His account is consistent with accounts from other men of overcrowded, insanitary facilities for the war wounded.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1984587430737903668

1/ Russia's decision to block Roblox and other popular apps will backfire on the government, a Russian warblogger warns. He asks why the state is willing to "antagonise HUGE swathes of a warring nation" by taking away its "last bit of joy". ⬇️ 2/ 'SHAKESPEARE' writes:

"Our tight-knit "good state" blocked Roblox. I have no idea what that is. But it has over 18 million unique users in Russia .

Again: 18,000,000 of our people."

1/ So-called 'black commanders' are confiscating Russian soldiers' salary cards, then sending them to their deaths, failing to report them missing or killed, and stealing their salaries. This scam is reportedly widespread and has prompted many complaints from soldiers. ⬇️ 2/ The 'Brothers in Arms' Telegram channel describes how the scam works:

"'Black commanders' are those who do not report soldiers as missing when communication is lost or a soldier is killed."