1/ Russian warbloggers are continuing to provide examples of how Telegram is used for frontline battlefield communications, to refute the claim of presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov that such a thing is "not possible to imagine". ⬇️ 2/ Platon Mamadov provides two detailed examples:

"Example number one:

Aerial reconnaissance of Unit N spotted a Ukrainian self-propelled gun in a shelter in the middle of town N."

1/ Russian soldiers overwhelmingly prefer to use Telegram for tactical communications despite the Russian army having its own dedicated military messengers. The reason isn't complex – the military's own alternatives are unreliable and difficult to use. ⬇️ 2/ 'Vault No. 8' explains the problem:

"The Telegram slowdown is particularly nasty because Telegram is used for communication on the front lines.

Military messengers have been around since I wrote about this, but... Guess what you have to do to get a firmware-ready smartphone?

1/ Russian warbloggers are outraged at the Russian government's view that blocking Telegram is no big deal for frontline troops. They say it's a catastrophe heaped on the disaster of losing Starlink and that anyone who says Telegram isn't needed is talking "complete bullshit". ⬇️ 2/ Dmitri Peskov, Vladimir Putin's spokesman, says: "I don't think it's possible to imagine frontline communications being provided via Telegram or some other messenger. It's difficult and impossible to imagine such a thing."

1/ Life after Starlink is proving to be difficult and frustrating for the Russian army. Russian warbloggers appear to be going through the stages of grief, expressing anger and alarm at the crisis and concern that Ukraine will exploit it. One anticipates "24/7 fucking". ⬇️ 2/ Further instances of price-gouging are being reported, with the cost of US-made Ubiquiti WiFi bridges – illegally imported into Russia – doubling overnight. 'Strong Word' complains:

1/ What can Russian soldiers do with thousands of useless Starlink terminals? One Russian warblogger has some humorous suggestions. ⬇️ 2/ 'BKGB Casuar' writes:

"Here are 10 ways to use a broken terminal in the Special Military Operation zone:

1/ Russian political officers are reportedly using the Epstein files to justify the 'Special Military Operation' (SVO) as a "war against global evil". However, as a frontline Russian warblogger points out, Russia and its soldiers are hardly innocent of crimes against children. ⬇️ 2/ 'Vault No. 8', a serving soldier in the Russian army, writes:

"Over dinner, we were shown a report on the Epstein files: Satanism, cannibalism, paedophilia, child trafficking to EU countries in Ukraine, etc. The conclusion: "The SVO is the fight against global evil."

1/ As many as 4% of the able-bodied men in one village in the Russian Far East may have died in Ukraine. The figure illustrates how the human cost of the war is being borne disproportionately by impoverished communities deep in the Russian interior.
2/ The village of Tigil is the principal settlement of a lightly populated region the size of West Virginia or Latvia. About 1,600 people live in the village. Ethnic Russians only make up about 36% of the population, with various indigenous groups making up the rest.

1/ The Russian authorities have published details of three people accused of Friday's shooting of Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev. Two men have been arrested, one in the UAE, while a woman is said to have escaped to Ukraine, which is blamed for the attack. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/2020416886215700944

2/ The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (roughly Russia's equivalent of the FBI) has issued a statement, which includes the following:

1/ General Vladimir Alexseyev, who was shot yesterday in a Moscow apartment building, may have been secretly visiting his mistress before the attack. Despite a reputation as an uncorrupt officer, he is said to have enjoyed the same luxurious lifestyle as many of his peers. ⬇️ 2/ The building where Alekseyev was shot is a fairly ordinary apartment building in Moscow's Shchukino District. Completed in 2022, it has 10 apartments on each floor. Alekseyev was using an apartment on the 24th floor.

1/ Why has Russia failed so abysmally at providing secure battlefield communications to its troops in Ukraine? The answer, concludes Russian warblogger Oleg Tsarev, is that the military communications budget has been looted for years by corrupt generals and contractors. ⬇️ 2/ Tsarev relates the dismal history of Russia's military communications programmes:

"I remember how, at the beginning of the Special Military Operation, all units were buying Motorola radios. There was no other communications."

1/ The attempted assassination of Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev in Moscow this morning has outraged Russian warbloggers, who regard him as a hero of Russia. They have highlighted his key role and contributions to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ Vladimir Romanov writes:

"An assassination attempt was made on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev [who is known as 'Stepanich'], First Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defence."

1/ Russia's battlefield communications are reportedly "in chaos" following the Starlink shutdown. Communications specialists are said to be scrambling to find alternative solutions, while warbloggers advocate torturing Ukrainian PoWs to get their Starlink passwords. ⬇️ 2/ Yuri Podolyak writes:

"So, what everyone had long feared, but secretly hoped wouldn't happen until the end of the Special Military Operation has happened. Elon Musk flipped the switch, and 80% of Starlink terminals on the front line went down."

1/ A Russian warblogger explains what the Russian army in Ukraine saw when they were disconnected en masse from Starlink yesterday. ⬇️ 2/ "Starlink went down across the theatre of military operations in a rather strange way.

At around 22:00 Moscow time, it was like this:

1/ Russian retailers are cashing in on Elon Musk's mass disabling of the Russian army's Starlink terminals by massively increasing the price of Russian alternatives. One such system has quadrupled in price overnight to over $2,600, but is said to be far inferior to Starlink. ⬇️ 2/ 'Combat Reserve' complains that there has been a huge overnight increase in the price being asked for the Yamal 601 system, which uses Gazprom's Yamal satellite constellation. Units are now selling for 200,000 rubles ($2,612) apiece.

1/ Russian forces in Ukraine are experiencing a devastating loss of connectivity as the Starlink terminals they rely upon are systematically shut off. With Russia's own Starlink alternative years away from implementation, Russian warbloggers say the army is in crisis. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian army has, like Ukraine's, become dependent on Starlink for battlefield communications. Unlike Ukraine, it cannot import Starlink terminals legally and has to rely on grey imports activated in third countries.

1/ Russian 'combat penguins' are in reality soldiers who have been so badly misled about thermal protection capes that they treat them as magic amulets, says a Russian warblogger who says he is horrified by images such as this. ⬇️ 2/ 'Reserve Pioneer' writes:

"I'm sure many have seen the enemy video about "combat penguins." As a manufacturer of thermal blankets and ponchos, I can't help but comment on this horror. The two photos above represent two lives lost by our soldiers."

1/ A town in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan unveiled a war memorial last year for local men who died in the war in Ukraine. Only six months later, it has already nearly doubled in size, with nearly 48 times more war dead than in Afghanistan and Chechnya combined. ⬇️ 2/ In September 2025, the town of Birsk (population 44,611) unveiled a memorial to the 'defenders of the Fatherland', commemorating the casualties of the wars in Afghanistan (3 local men), Chechnya (4 men), and Ukraine (188 people at that time).

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin is once again gloomy about Russia's prospects in Ukraine. He advises against trying to placate Trump with brief semi-ceasefires, and warns that "it will all end like with Milosevic", apparently anticipating Putin going on trial for war crimes. ⬇️ 2/ Girkin writes from his jail cell:

“It is very interesting to observe how, at a demand disguised as a request from Trump, we are ceasing military operations against an enemy that has no intention of ceasing military operations against us."

1/ An authoritarian government begins rounding up people it sees as targets, using a rapidly expanded paramilitary force known for brutal tactics. Because of a lack of detention spaces, it warehouses people in requisitioned facilities. The year is 1933, the place is Germany. ⬇️ 2/ People have a clear image of what a concentration camp looks like: a purpose-built site with wooden barracks, surrounded by watchtowers, barbed-wire fences and armed guards. This was the standard model used in WW2 by the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Japan, and the US (below).

1/ Measures to prevent Russia using the Starlink system for drone navigation have prompted alarm among Russian warbloggers. They fear losing Starlink altogether at the front line, and warn that Russia's Starlink alternative is years away from implementation. ⬇️ 2/ In recent weeks, Russia has increasingly been using Starlink terminals embedded in kamikaze drones to carry out attacks far behind the front lines in Ukraine. Russian soldiers also rely heavily on Starlink for battlefield communications.

https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2017187906117345788

1/ Russian tank operators say that they are running short of explosive reactive armour due to losses running much higher than the relatively low rate of replenishment. Documentation published by a Russian foundation states that 100,000 ERA bricks are being produced annually. ⬇️ 2/ The 'No Pasaran Charitable Foundation for Humanitarian Aid to the Population of Donbas' recalls:

"Before and at the very beginning of the Special Military Operation, we often received "bald" tanks from storage, many of which were devoid of dynamic protection from the start."