1/ An apparent attack on a 'shadow fleet' tanker off the coast of Senegal means that Ukraine may now be able to attack Russian interests worldwide, says Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots. He calls it a new and threatening phase in the war. ⬇️

https://x.com/JayinKyiv/status/1995513609028554876

2/ Kots, who writes for Komsomolskaya Prava, has asked how Russia should respond to the severe damage suffered on 27 November by the oil tanker Mersin. Its Turkish owners report that the vessel was hit by four external explosions while it was in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

1/ A video showing alcoholics, newly recruited into the Russian army, has attracted scorn, concern, and even some compassion from Russian warbloggers. They suggest that the men will be deliberately killed for being useless when they arrive at the front. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1992235930300936365

2/ "We are Russians - we don't care' comments that this video is far from being a unique case (a fact that other warbloggers have confirmed). "If you think these are just the most hopeless ones, then I have some bad news for you – these are only the ones that got busted."

1/ Russian warbloggers conclude gloomily – and angrily – that the Russian Black Sea Fleet is so weakened and so far behind technologically that it cannot retaliate effectively against Ukraine's attack on two Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers. ⬇️

https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1994785482094383355

2/ On 28 November, the tankers Kairos and Virat were struck and seriously damaged by Ukrainian sea drones in the southern Black Sea. Both ships were disabled and had to be towed to Turkish ports. Ukraine subsequently declared a de facto blockade of Russian maritime cargo traffic.

1/ Relationships between neighbouring Russian units in the Pokrovsk area are reportedly so tense that commanders have had to publish instructions on how to behave – including refraining from stealing from each other. A lack of training and incompetent command is blamed. ⬇️ 2/ 'Callsign OSETIN' explains the context:

"Comrades in Pokrovsk, I'm addressing you. Information is coming in from various units that there's discord between some units; no one wants to cooperate, and no one likes their neighbours, blaming each other for everything."

1/ The Wall Street Journal reports that the main focus of the US-Russia peace talks is to get commercial advantage for American companies, and personal benefits for individuals linked to the Trump Administration. European officials are said to be shocked by the plans. ⬇️ 2/ According to the WSJ, talks between Trump's golfing friend Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev have bypassed the US national security and diplomatic apparatuses to focus on economic benefits for well-connected American companies.

1/ The Russian army has to rely on modified civilian vehicles purchased with soldiers' own money, because military trucks are in such short supply. According to a Russian soldier-warblogger, units have to wait between 5 to 12 months to receive trucks. ⬇️

https://x.com/CaolanReports/status/1988081980110406143

2/ Probably as a result of heavy losses due to Ukrainian attacks and a slowdown of production at Russian manufacturers, trucks are now scarce in the Russian army. Light vehicles and motorcycles are not supplied by the army, forcing soldiers to buy them themselves.

1/ Whatever the legality of the strikes as a whole, this incident is very clearly a war crime (if you accept that these are combatants).

https://twitter.com/AlexHortonTX/status/1994458955666329641

2/ Specifically under the 1949 Geneva Convention:

"Rule 47. Attacking persons who are recognized as hors de combat is prohibited. A person hors de combat is:...

(b) anyone who is defenceless because of unconsciousness, shipwreck, wounds or sickness...

1/ Wounded soldiers in Russia's 51st Army say they have been banned from going back to Russia for medical treatment. Instead, they're sent straight back, unhealed, to the fighting. "Tie a crutch to his leg and let him go to the front line," one commander has reportedly said. ⬇️ 2/ The 51st Guards Combined Arms Army, currently fighting at Pokrovsk, is a Russian formation that was originally created in the 'Donetsk People's Republic' as its 1st Army Corps. It has attracted a reputation for brutality and the careless expenditure of the lives of its men.

1/ Hardline Russian nationalists and war supporters have reacted with hostility to the Dmitriev-Witkoff peace proposals. Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin's detailed critique is of particular interest, as it is likely representative of this powerful faction's views. ⬇️ 2/ Girkin's comments provide an insight into the fine line that Putin is having to walk between reaching a settlement that he can accept and one that the hardliners will accept. Putin likely agrees with many of their objections, but knows that they are unachievable.

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin is sceptical of "the mega-crook Donald and his cronies" and is confident there won't be a peace deal soon. In a fresh missive from prison, he draws attention to the Zaporizhzhia front, but says that Russia is unable to exploit successes there. ⬇️ 2/ Replying to an earlier letter from a friend, he comments:

"Now we have yet another “sweet expectation of a quick and inevitable deal” (that is, a “compromise”), inspired by the statements of the mega-crook Donald and his cronies."

1/ Russian State Duma deputy and surgeon Badma Bashankaev boasts that wounded Russian soldiers enjoy a 96% survival rate. Russian warbloggers point out, however, that only the lightly wounded usually get treated; most seriously injured Russians die on the battlefield. ⬇️ 2/ Badma Bashankaev is a fervent supporter of Russia's war effort and represents Putin's United Russia party in the State Duma. He has recently appeared in an interview with state news agency TASS speaking about Russia's ostensible success in treating wounded soldiers.

1/ While Russia is making incremental advances in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian soldiers say that it's resulting in carnage among their units. Conditions at Stepnohirsk are said to be dire, with entire battalions virtually wiped out. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1993695775058989173

2/ Russian soldiers fighting at Stepnohirsk on the road to Zaporizhzhia city have told the 'Brothers in Arms' Telegram channel that "the situation there is, to put it mildly, dire."

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin warns from his jail cell that Ukraine and the EU have no reason to accept the Dmitriev-Witkoff proposals to end the war, because Russia is currently incapable of inflicting a strategic defeat on Ukraine, despite local tactical victories. ⬇️ 2/ The imprisoned Girkin has posted a lengthy analysis of the context of the 28-point plan (he says that he has not yet read the full content of the points, "which our media modestly remained silent about").

1/ Russian soldiers are complaining that if they fall foul of military regulations in any way – such as having only 1 litre of water in their car instead of 2, or wearing a non-regulation patch – they face being arrested by the military police and forced into an assault squad. ⬇️ 2/ The notoriously corrupt Russian military police have been hated and feared by Russian soldiers throughout the Ukraine war for their brutality and larceny. To the soldiers' frustration, they are now reportedly dragging men off to die in assault squads for petty infractions.

1/ Why have so many supposedly MAGA accounts on X been exposed as being based in Nigeria? The answer may be linked to the unfortunate coincidence that the word "maga" in Nigerian Pidgin English means "a gullible person, a fool, or the unsuspecting victim of a scam". ⬇️ 2/ "Maga" is widely believed to have evolved from the Yoruba word "múgùn" (or "mugu"), which translates to someone who can be easily manipulated or used as a "ladder to reach the top".

Calling someone a "maga" is an insult, implying they are simple, easily controlled, or naive.

1/ A Russian soldier recruited under duress from a penal colony says that his unit has suffered 97% casualties in recent assaults, with a constant supply of new cannon fodder arriving and dying immediately. "They fucking keep replenishing, replenishing, replenishing," he says. ⬇️ 2/ The man, who identifies himself as Ramzan, says that he was serving a sentence in a penal colony when he was brutally forced to sign a military contract by a "camp boss" – another prisoner who was working for the prison management.

1/ The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is "running a shadow operation inside the White House in an effort to sideline pro-Ukraine officials", cutting out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an effort supported by Vice President J.D. Vance. ⬇️ 2/ According to sources quoted by the Kyiv Independent, Witkoff is "running a broader operation with [Russian envoy Kirill] Dmitriev, trying to sideline the pro-Ukraine voices in the Trump administration."

1/ Russian lawyers say that gamers could face up to six years in prison or charges of treason if they stream S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 or wear a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. T-shirt, following the Russian government's designation of its Ukrainian developers as an 'undesirable organisation'. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian Prosecutor General's Office added Kyiv-based GSC Game World to its list of 'undesirable organisations' on 18 November. The developer relocated many of its staff to Prague after the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022.

1/ Vladimir Putin is reported to be unhappy with the proposed Witkoff-Dimitriev peace plan for Ukraine. "Trump is in a hurry, and Vladimir Vladimirovich is not so much," says a Russian source. ⬇️ 2/ The independent Russian news outlet Verstka reports that Russian diplomatic sources and sources close to the Kremlin consider the draft agreement to be "vague, in need of revision, and not fully implementable." They see it as merely a basis for a future agreement.

When an American billionaire offers money to people from relatively poor countries (Serbian average monthly salary $1,329) for riling up and radicalising Americans, it's not surprising that they'll take up the offer

https://twitter.com/micah_erfan/status/1992018233541738506

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1992151787609243877?t=RldR-9OxqEpyhhYtDYAvSg&s=19

1/ In 2024, Vladimir Putin created a new programme called 'Time of Heroes' to train Russian soldiers and war veterans to be part of a "new elite" to lead Russia in the future. However, soldiers are finding that they are being declared to be deserters if they enroll in it. ⬇️ 2/ The 'Time of Heroes' programme was launched on 1 March 2024 after a speech by Putin in which he declared that participants in the Russian invasion of Ukraine should be given training to occupy leadership positions in the Russian government and state institutions.