1/ A Russian colonel has been charged with extorting at least 1 million rubles ($10,800) from his subordinates over the past year. He is reported to have blackmailed his men and threatened to send them to join stormtrooper units, with a high chance of being killed. ⬇️ 2/ According to the Chita-based newspaper Vechorka, judicial authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine have opened a criminal case for "bribery on an especially large scale" against 57-year-old Evgeny Luzhbin.

1/ The Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Toropets munitions depot is reported to have destroyed 20 billion rubles ($217 million) worth of ammunition. At least 10 people are said to have died. Around 30% of the site's 5 billion ruble cost of construction may have been stolen. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian dissident group reports on the impact of the attack on the 107th GRAU arsenal, also known as military unit 11777 and Object 606/60-3TSO. It reports that at least 10 guards and arsenal security staff were killed as a result of the attack.Gulagu.net

1/ Corruption may have contributed to Ukraine's ability to destroy Russia's 107th GRAU arsenal at Toropets. The site's construction was overseen by former Deputy Minister of Defence General Dmitry Bulgakov, who was arrested for fraud in July 2024. ⬇️
2/ NASA FIRMS data shows fires across the entirety of the arsenal, which is estimated to have stored as much as 19,000 tons of explosives. The scale of the inferno suggests major failures in fire safety at the site.

https://x.com/Blake_Allen13/status/1836254139132592329

1/ The rifle regiments of Russia's 51st and 3rd armies (formerly the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the LPR and DPR) are facing a "catastrophic shortage of people and material support", due to losses and disorganisation, according to a source in one of the regiments. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian 'Ghost of Novorossia' Telegram channel reports the account of a signalman from one of the regiments, with whom it says "we have been working for a very long time". The man's identity is not being disclosed in order to protect him from retaliation by his superiors.

1/ Corrupt Russian HQ troops are reported to be selling drones and other equipment donated by volunteers at a market in Donetsk city. Drone operators often have to buy drones with their own money, and fear being sent into suicidal assaults as punishment if they complain. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian Telegram channel 'Interbrigade 2022' says that Mavic drones and other items of military equipment are being sold openly at the Mayak market in Donetsk city. Representatives of the 'DPR Ministry of Internal Affairs' are said to exact 'tributes' from sellers there.

1/ Russian regions are spending hundreds of millions of rubles to equip schools with life-size mock weapons and 'combat wound simulators'. Children will be taught battlefield medicine and basic military drills, as part of a plan to create Russia's next generation of soldiers. ⬇️ 2/ 'We can explain' reports that from the start of the current new school year in Russia, children are being taught a new 'Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland' (OZBR) course. At least 177 million rubles ($2 million) has been spent on equipment for the course.

1/ France is reportedly putting pressure on Pavel Durov's older brother Nikolai and Telegram vice-president Ilya Perekopsky to come to Paris and testify. This could speed up the resolution of the legal case against Pavel, but it also has risks for Nikolai and Perekopsky. ⬇️

2/ The Russian Telegram channel SHOT has interviewed "a representative of Pavel Durov's inner circle" about the pros and cons of Durov's agreement to cooperate with the investigation, such as a relaxation of Durov's judicial control that would allow him to travel within the EU.

1/ Badly injured Russian soldiers are being denied recuperation and are sent into frontline assaults on canes and crutches. Outraged Russian milbloggers blame field commanders for refusing to allow medical leave, but the blame likely goes much higher. ⬇️ 2/ As the video above shows, wounded soldiers who have to rely on crutches and sticks to walk are being used for frontline duty. Ukrainian drone footage shows a Russian stormtrooper who appears to have been killed while attempting to assault Ukrainian positions with a white cane.

1/ At least 100,000 tons of Russian fuel is estimated to have been destroyed in Ukrainian drone attacks. The attacked fuel depots were built underground for protection but were moved to the surface to save money. Now they may have to be buried again. ⬇️
2/ In August 2024, Ukrainian drones attacked two fuel storage facilities in Russia's Rostov region – "Base No. 7" (also known as "Atlas") in Kamensky district and "Flagman" (formerly "Kavkaz") in Proletarsk. The attacks caused massive damage.

1/ Companies involved in schemes to export sanctioned coal and metals from Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions reportedly invested about 10 million euros in Telegram, despite its CEO Pavel Durov's process of supposedly carefully personally scrutinising and selecting investors. ⬇️ 2/ 'Important Stories' reports that a Dutch company, Stiron BV, invested about €10 million in the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain platform in 2018. The company is interconnected with another Dutch firm, ME Property Invest, but the ownership of both is obscure.

1/ RIA Novosti war correspondent Alexander Kharchenko issues a "cry for help" for Russian forces in the use of FPV drones against Ukrainian forces. He says that while improvements have been made, they rely solely on local initiative and not on the military command. ⬇️ 2/ On the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel, Kharchenko writes: "In some areas of the front, we have ensured superiority in FPV drones. I spent enough time with a UAV unit in the Kursk direction and realised that not everything is as bad as they write on the Internet.

1/ A heavily publicised anti-UAV system adopted by the Russian National Guard turns out to have been smuggled in from China and apparently falsely represented as Russian by its supplier. At least one person has been charged in Russia for weapons smuggling.
2/ In January 2024, the press service of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) publicised its personnel using the Vyzhigatel ("Scorcher") anti-drone gun operationally for the first time in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine.

1/ The government of Russia's republic of Chechnya is reportedly forcibly sending detained homosexual men to fight in Ukraine, blackmailing them into 'volunteering' for a military contract. At least seven such cases are known, with one person killed so far. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian organisation Crisis Group SK SOS, which supports persecuted LBTQ+ people in the North Caucasus, reports that as early as September 2022 the Chechen authorities began forcibly sending detained LGBTQ+ people to war in Ukraine.

1/ A Russian Arctic brigade which has been recruiting from prison colonies is reported to have been decimated in Ukrainian attacks on Russian-occupied islands in the Dnipro estuary and Black Sea, suffering as much as 80% casualties. ⬇️ 2/ The 80th Arctic Motorised Rifle Brigade was created in 2014 to protect Russian territories bordering Norway and Finland, along a line from Murmansk to the New Siberian Islands. Although it is a specialist Arctic warfare unit, much of the brigade was sent to Ukraine in 2022.

1/ A Russian colonel who drunkenly sent dozens of mobilised soldiers into an assault in which all were killed was awarded a Hero of Russia medal. The widow of one of the dead soldiers wants Putin to prosecute him for "mass murder and genocide of the Russian people." ⬇️ 2/ ASTRA reports the story of Mikhail Shchebetun, who volunteered to go to war in January 2024 but died only six weeks later somewhere near Avdiivka in Ukraine.

1/ Russians soldiers fighting in Ukraine are subjected to a variety of arbitrary, brutal and illegal disciplinary methods, such as beatings, being imprisoned in pits, or being chained to trees for days at a time. Commanders kill their own soldiers and conceal their deaths. ⬇️ 2/ Discipline is meted out by commanders and military police for offences including the use of alcohol or drugs, refusal to obey orders, insubordination or travelling without the right permits. While some are taken away to torture facilities, many are dealt with on the spot.

1/ Telegram is under criminal investigation by South Korea's National Police Agency (NPA) for aiding and abetting the distribution of pornographic deepfake images. Just as in France, it's accused of ignoring requests from authorities which are investigating criminal acts. ⬇️ 2/ South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reports that a case is being prepared against Telegram for aiding and abetting deepfake sexual crimes. Woo Jong-soo, the head of the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters, has spoken about it in a press conference today.

1/ Russian Defence Ministry officials are coming under scrutiny in an expanding investigation into an alleged 2 billion ruble ($22.3 million) fraud involving the supply of low-quality bulletproof vests to the Russian military, which may have cost lives.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1810291796359925967

2/ As previously reported, the Picket Group of companies are under investigation for fraud. Its CEO Andrei Esipov and two other company officials were arrested on suspicion of giving a bribe on an especially large scale and acting as an intermediary in the transfer of a bribe.

1/ Could Donald Trump have become one of Germany's biggest supporters of Ukraine if his grandfather Friedrich hadn't evaded the draft in Bavaria? Let's take a dive into counterfactual history to consider what might have been. ⬇️ 2/ Apart from being fun, counterfactual history is a useful tool for historical enquiry. It helps us to "conjectur[e] on what did not happen, or what might have happened, in order to understand what did happen." While it's speculative, it's also illuminating.

1/ A chronic shortage of military vehicles has left the Russian army in Ukraine dependent upon civilian vehicles. This is leading to conflict – sometimes with weapons drawn – between Russian troops and military police, who are trying to confiscate the vehicles. ⬇️ 2/ Two years of constant artillery and drone attacks have destroyed much of Russia's fleet of military transport vehicles. In their place, volunteers and soldiers themselves have purchased or donated numerous civilian vehicles which are used to transport ammo, supplies and men.

1/ The recent success of Ukrainian FPV drones in shooting down numerous Russian UAVs has prompted concern from Russian observers. They comment that Russian adherence to military "dogmas" mean that effective countermeasures have not been found. ⬇️

https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1829130105160896959

2/ Alexander Kharchenko of the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel highlights how Ukraine is compensating for its shortage of air defence missiles with its much larger supply of drones: