1/ An ongoing epidemic of murder and extortion in the Russian army has reached such a level that Russian warbloggers say the army has become a "gangster supermarket". "Extortion under the threat of death has become an entire shadow industry", says one Russian blogger. ⬇️ 2/ Fresh reports of men being "zeroed out" by their commanders are published almost daily. Recently leaked data from the Russian human rights commissioner records over 6,000 complaints in 6 months from soldiers and their relatives about abuses in the army.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2007089653653135768

1/ Why are Russian soldiers so ill-equipped that they are forced to rely on combat donkeys? Russian warbloggers draw a direct connection to cases of egregious military corruption, such as the recent conviction of Rear Admiral Nikolai Kovalenko for stealing 592 million rubles. ⬇️ 2/ Kovalenko's case – for which he was fined just 500,000 rubles ($6,519) and spared jail – has attracted outrage from many Russian commentators. As they point out, it is merely one of many similar cases over the past three decades.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2023681228168388979

1/ Ukraine's rapid advances in recent days have revealed that many Russian claims of capturing settlements along the length of the front were false or tenous. Russian warbloggers complain that this has exposed more lies by their side's commanders. 📷

https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/2023657876099678455

2/ Rybar provides a gloomy assessment of Ukraine's progress:

"The situation on the western flank of the Zaporizhzhia front has deteriorated sharply over the past 24 hours."

1/ A retired Russian rear admiral has been convicted of stealing over half a billion rubles allocated to repairing anti-aircraft missile systems. He was fined 500,000 rubles and immediately released from custody. ⬇️ 2/ Rear Admiral Nikolai Kovalenko was found guilty yesterday in the Moscow Region Garrison Court of organising a large-scale embezzlement of Russian Ministry of Defence funds allocated to four contracts for the repair of anti-aircraft missile systems between 2013 and 2017.

1/ The Russian army is continuing to send grossly unfit men to fight in Ukraine. They include a crippled elderly pensioner, a man with a withered arm, and a legless man who has been designated an assault machine gunner. ⬇️ 2/ The pensioner is – or now most likely was – 59-year-old Sergei Zuikov from Salavat, who was forced by his employer to sign a military contract in March 2025 despite having a spinal injury. He was not given a medical fitness review before being sent to Ukraine.

1/ Russian casualty ratios in Ukraine are in places as high as 25 to every 1 Ukrainian defender, according to the UK Defence Secretary John Healey. A newly published account by warblogger 'Bch3' of the lives of Russian convict stormtroopers helps to illustrate why. ⬇️ 2/ "Different people. Different faces. Someone with a hoarse convict's voice, twisted by life like a Karelian birch; another simple, without his own opinion, just tagging along with fate. Mice with petty souls and predatory wolves; team players and loners.

1/ Simply travelling to and from the front line in Ukraine is a deadly task, due to the wide-ranging presence of drones. Many soldiers are killed before they even get near a frontline position. An account from a Russian warblogger highlights the work of "killzone runners". ⬇️ 2/ 'Voenkor Kotenok' writes:

"On the front lines, they're often called "runners." They're supposedly special forces/semi-combatants on errands. They're supposedly as nimble as sperm, evading even drones."

1/ Telegram will not be restored in Russia, and tighter restrictions will be imposed on mobile phone ownership, says Sergey Boyarsky, head of the State Duma IT Committee. He cites scammers, pro-Ukrainian sabotage, and drone attacks as the reasons behind these moves. ⬇️ 2/ In a wide-ranging interview with the St Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka, Boyarsky has explained the thinking behind the government's new restrictions on Telegram. He says that "Telegram doesn't comply with Russian Federation law, and hasn't done so for many years."

1/ While Telegram is only part of a wider complex of communications systems used in the Russian army, it comprises a keystone without which the wider system falls apart. A commentary by a Russian warblogger explains the Russian army's communications ecosystem in detail. ⬇️ 2/ Responding to comments earlier this week by presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 'Vault No. 8' provides a "briefing note" on the role of Telegram in the Russian military communications ecosystem.

1/ While the Russia army struggles with the impact of Telegram and Discord being throttled or blocked by the government, Ukraine has long used a highly sophisticated indigenously developed digital command and control system. Russian warbloggers have highlighted the contrast. ⬇️ 2/ Detailed accounts such as the one in the thread below illustrate how Telegram – a commercial app run from Dubai – has been a central tool in the Russian kill chain, allowing for rapid responses to Ukrainian actions. Discord was also heavily used.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2021709181330362828

1/ The Russian army is reportedly forcing its soldiers to abandon Telegram and move over to the government-authorised MAX app. A Russian warblogger explains why the transition will prove to be very difficult. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/2022266669444292878

2/ 'Unofficial Bezsonov' writes:

"Some challenges of switching from Telegram to MAX for our military personnel.

Telegram doesn't require a Russian number to be linked, making it difficult for adversaries to [de]anonymise users."

1/ Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said (very wrongly) that "It's difficult, if not impossible, to imagine ... frontline communications being provided via Telegram or any other messenger." Warblogger Nikita Tretyakov has a list of other 'unimaginables'. ⬇️ 2/ "What else is unimaginable?

It's unimaginable that just a week ago, our troops' communications relied on an enemy country's satellite constellation.

1/ Russian warbloggers are outraged at being told by a journalist that it's their own fault that the Russian government is restricting Telegram. They argue that if not for the warblogger community, the military's lies would have gone unchallenged – which is exactly the point. ⬇️ 2/ Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist Ivan Pankin has prompted fury with his claim that "endless nameless insiders, all those endless bloggers, the smartest people on earth who know everything and who have been spreading all sorts of nonsense" have annoyed the Russian government.

1/ In January 2026, Ukraine reported killing 34,000 Russian soldiers – on average 1,096 a day, or 7,846 per week. Thousands of Ukrainians have likely died in the same period. Last month in Ukraine was much bloodier than the average monthly death toll at Auschwitz. ⬇️ 2/ The extraordinary lethality of the Ukraine war stands out in comparison to recent wars and mass killings:

🔺 At least 7,000 people are reported to have been killed in the recent Iranian uprising. More have died in Ukraine in each week of last month.

https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2015731046449336370

1/ Six months ago, the newly built Russian Navy tugboat Kapitan Ushakov capsized at its moorings during its final outfitting, when it was 97% complete. It's still there today, resting on its side, leading to some hard questions for the Northern Fleet. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1954186615246487630?s=20

2/ The only thing that seems to have changed after six months is that the boat is now encased in ice at the Baltic Shipyard pier in St. Petersburg. It's an "endless disgrace", 'Military Informant' complains. But how and why has it not been raised?

1/ Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin predicts that Western civilization will collapse due to the Epstein files, clearing the way for Russia and China to take over. He calls for all-out opposition to the West, and for Russia to save Iran from Donald Trump. ⬇️ 2/ Dugin writes:

"The West, thanks to Epstein's lists, is beginning to crumble before our eyes. Russia and China have a historic opportunity to become the beneficiaries of the total collapse of the entire Western system.

1/ Russian unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have become another casualty of the Starlink shutdown. A Russian warblogger highlights UGV operators' reliance on embedded Starlink terminals for their vehicles' navigation. ⬇️ 2/ 'Southern Front' writes:

"Significant progress in the use of the UGV was achieved by installing Starlinks onboard. The minimum equipment required was a laptop and a TX-12 remote control.

Now, after Elon sided with evil, the use of Starlinks on the UGV is no longer possible."

1/ Russia is reportedly considering proposing a wide-ranging economic partnership with the Trump administration, including joint cooperation to push fossil fuels as an alternative to Chinese and European clean energy solutions, in opposition to curbing climate change. ⬇️ 2/ Bloomberg is reporting that Russia has prepared a seven-point memo that includes a return to the dollar settlement system, reversing Putin's by now well-established policy of creating an alternative system insulated from US economic pressure.

1/ Why does the Russian government appear to be so clueless about the role Telegram plays in military communications? The answer, one warblogger suggests, is that the military leadership doesn't want to admit its failure to provide its own reliable communications solutions. ⬇️ 2/ Recent claims by high-ranking officials that Telegram isn't relevant to military communications have prompted howls of outrage and detailed rebuttals from Russian warbloggers, but have also pointed to a deeper problem about what reliance on Telegram (and Starlink) represents.

1/ Telegram is deeply embedded into Russian military units' internal communications, providing functionality that MAX, the Russian government's authorised app, doesn't have. A commentary highlights the vast gap that is being opened up by the government's blocking of Telegram. ⬇️ 2/ The Two Majors Charitable Foundation writes that without Telegram, information exchange, skills transfer, and moral mobilisation work within the Russian army will be crippled:

1/ Russia's Federal Customs Service is seeking to prosecute Russian volunteers who are importing reconnaissance drones from China to give to frontline troops. It's the latest chapter in a saga of bureaucratic obstruction that is blocking vital supplies to the Russian army. ⬇️ 2/ Much of the army's equipment, and many of its drones, are purchased with private money by volunteer supporters or the soldiers themselves. High-tech equipment such as drones and communications equipment is purchased in China or Central Asia and imported into Russia.