1/ The US Office of Management and Budget is circulating questionnaires to democracy-promoting organisations in eastern Europe, asking them if they are promoting DEI or climate science, opposing abortion, "combating Christian persecution", or making money for the USA. ⬇️


2/ A six-page memorandum with the questionnaire has been leaked to the independent Russian media outlet Agency. News. It appears to have been sent to all agencies that fund foreign assistance as part of a global review. Further funding depends on how the questions are answered.

1/ In two possible indications that the Russians expect fighting in Ukraine to end soon, the Russian army has reportedly abruptly stopped recruiting convicts, and officers are said to be flocking to safe areas of Donetsk and Luhansk so that they can gain war veteran benefits. ⬇️ 2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, "sources report that in a number of penal colonies and pretrial detention centers the recruitment of prisoners for the war was suspended. It is possible that this was done everywhere."

1/ The acute exhaustion and demoralisation of the Russians fighting in eastern Ukraine comes across in a vivid description of conditions on the ground, as told by the Telegram blog of a Russian soldier titled, revealingly, 'Groundhog Day'. ⬇️ 2/ 3 March 2025

"I have not been able to concentrate, sit down and write a note lately. Another hit cuts off the power, so I sit down to try to convey all the feelings of the last few days.

1/ Russian soldiers are being stuck with massive fines, to be paid from their own pockets, for driving military vehicles on toll roads. They complain that the Russian army is making them pay for so much themselves that they can't make any profit from fighting in Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ A Russian army driver writes to the 'Two Majors' Telegram channel:

"I am a mobilised driver, I drive a Ural [truck]."

1/ Ukrainian drones are dominating the skies above exhausted Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region, according to a prominent Russian warblogger. As a result, Russia's progress has virtually halted in the region, even as it advances in Kursk. ⬇️

https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1899079775420895506

2/ 'Military Informant' highlights the likely culmination of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. He contrasts the situation in the Donbas and Kursk, and warns that an orderly Ukrainian withdrawal in the latter will cause more difficulties in the former:

1/ An officer of the Russian 37th Motor Rifle Regiment says its men are being "slaughtered" by their own commanders. A former Wagner mercenary who was "eager to fight for our country" is said to have "ended up as meat in the hands of his own commanders" who executed him. ⬇️ 2/ 35-year-old Anatoly Aleksandrovich Savin, callsign 'Pokhula', went missing in November 2024 on the front line east of Lyman, in the Donetsk region. His regiment is a relatively new formation, created only around May 2023.

https://x.com/JohnH105/status/1750677620570706310

1/ Russian fleet sailors are reportedly baffled by a directive from Black Sea Fleet commander Admiral Sergei Pinchuk to give him real-time coverage of his ships by "connecting all the Mavics". ⬇️ 2/ Russian warblogger and sailor 'Evil Sailor', who professes "Love for the Motherland and the Navy through clenched teeth and tears", writes:

"Sergey Mikhailovich has gone wild again!"

1/ Russian warbloggers are furious about the apparently disastrous failure of an attempt to send 100 men through a gas pipe to Sudza, who were then suffocated by the Ukrainians. "Why? Why the fuck are you doing this? For what?", asks one angry blogger. ⬇️

https://x.com/Tendar/status/1898474684725039488

2/ Seemingly posting inside information before the failure of the operation was known, Anastasia Kashevarova names the units involved and provides some details of how it was carried out:

1/ Why has Donald Trump been demanding that Ukraine pay the US $500 billion, and how is this likely to be a demonstration of the principle of Trump's Razor? 2/ In early February 2025, Trump told journalists: "I told them [Ukraine] that I want the equivalent, like 500 billion worth of rare earth [sic]. And they've essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid."

1/ A recent shooting at a Moscow shopping mall has highlighted a deepening crisis among Russia's internal security forces. They are chronically underpaid, massively under strength and have lost vast numbers of personnel to Russia's war effort against Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ On 2 March 2025, 24-year-old Danila Potekhin was refused entry to the Krasny Kit shopping mall in Mytishchi in the Moscow region. He returned and tried to force his way in, firing six shots from a Grand Power T12 less-lethal pistol which moderately injured four guards.

1/ Donald Trump may be aiming to annex the Great Lakes – and possibly south-eastern Ontario in a maximalist scenario – and kick Canada out of NORAD, judging by first-hand accounts of talks between Canada and the Trump Administration. ⬇️ 2/ The New York Times reports on first-hand accounts of what has been said in trade talks between the US and Canada, which led to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau saying publicly on March 4th that he believed Trump wanted to annex Canada.

https://x.com/Acyn/status/1896962569442894287

1/ This is a hugely important finding from @jburnmurdoch (do follow him, he's one of the very best data analysts in the media). The US right is increasingly convergent with Putinism, and is leaving right-wing parties in other countries far behind.

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1897949425701429317

2/ This can clearly be seen in UK polling, where sentiment towards Trump has become extremely negative across the entire political spectrum, including the most right-wing elements.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1897414037161566225

1/ Cash bonuses are incentivising Russian commanders to compete with each other to mount bloody assaults for symbolic or propaganda benefit, rather than doing slower but more useful work such as cutting off logistics, according to Russian warbloggers. ⬇️ 2/ The 'Reporter Filatov' Telegram channel writes about the perverse incentives driving Russian army tactics in Ukraine (referring, as usual, to the "Laotian army" as a means of evading the censors):

1/ As many as 5,000 Cubans may be fighting for Russia against Ukraine, according to investigative journalists. While some were likely tricked into joining the Russian army, many have signed up to escape grinding poverty in Cuba. ⬇️
2/ Russia has recruited people from many countries with historic links to the former Soviet Union, including in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Cuban contingent, with an estimated 5,000 men, may be the second largest after that of North Korea.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1897206960342306938

1/ Although hundreds of Russian soldiers are missing – presumed dead – in fighting for a small village near Vovchansk in Ukraine, their salaries are still being paid out to unknown parties. Their relatives suspect that their commanders are stealing en masse from the dead. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian army pays its soldiers electronically through the Mir payment system. Salaries are paid to an online account, from which money can be paid out through cashpoints or transferred via mobile banking.

1/ Out of 12,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia to fight against Ukraine, only two have been captured alive. They have recently been telling their stories to American and South Korean journalists, providing a unique perspective on the war. ⬇️ 2/ The two men are 21-year-old Baek (left) and 26-year-old Ri (right) (not their real names), both privates in the Korean People’s Army Special Operations Force. It numbers up to 80,000 men and is dedicated to carrying out military, political, and psychological operations.

1/ A Russian soldier serving with the 136th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade says that his commanders have not paid salaries since July 2024, are refusing to allow the wounded to get a medical examination, are withholding injury compensation, and have marked him for execution. ⬇️ 2/ The unnamed soldier has recorded a video which has been published on the 'Soldiers' Truth' Telegram channel. He lists a series of abuses by the commander of his Dagestan-based unit and says he is suing the military prosecutor's office at Buynaksk in Dagestan.

1/ Russian warbloggers are sceptical about Trump's abandonment of Ukraine. Some look forward to "sweeping away Europe" and seeing Russian and American soldiers meeting again on the Elbe. Others worry that it's a ruse and warn about being smashed by the "steel dick of reality". ⬇️ 2/ 'Evil Orcs' praises Putin as "Comrade Warboss the DARKEST!"

"What kind of brains do you need to have to concoct all this into such a fucking multi-move, where in the end, one of your opponents will simply be publicly pissed on by your other opponents!? This is a masterpiece!"

1/ Russian escort agencies are advertising for 'models' to join an epic 14-day party with the elite of the United Arab Emirates to celebrate the end of Ramadan in late March. ⬇️ 2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that the end of Ramadan, which is expected on the evening of Sunday 30 March 2025, has prompted a drive by the Russian 'modeling industry' to find participants in the annual "party in Abu Dhabi" marking Eid al-Fitr.

1/ Russian prosecutors have sued hundreds of schools across the country for spending money on textbooks and classrooms rather than on replica weapons, dummy grenades and realistic wound simulators to prepare children to fight Russia's next war. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian government has introduced a new subject in the current academic year – "Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland" (OZBR). It is part of an increasingly intensive programme of militarisation of schools, intended to create a new generation of soldiers.

1/ Recent Russian setbacks in the Ukrainian city of Toretsk are being blamed by Russian warbloggers on a familiar problem – commanders lying about their successes and taking the city 'on credit' rather than in real life.

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1895908281908154683

2/ The Russians, who have renamed Toretsk as Dzerzhinsk after the founder of the Soviet secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky, appear to have prematurely declared victory in the city in order to curry favour with the military and political leadership.