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ChrisO_wiki Profile picture
ChrisO_wiki
@ChrisO_wiki
Independent military history author and researcher. Coffee tips are appreciated! https://t.co/t1EjNrIZ2c Now also at https://t.co/4qGQ2ffHJJ
May 23 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Vladimir Putin's reversion to 'February 2022 mode' is meeting with a stony response from Russian warbloggers. Many have refrained from commenting, but some are reacting with open and sharp criticism, calling him "completely divorced from reality". ⬇️
2/ 'Comrade Artyom' writes:

"Yesterday, Putin stated the following:

"The situation on the front for the Ukrainian Armed Forces is turning from difficult to catastrophic; neither Western aid nor forced mobilisation are helping them."
May 23 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
1/ With Russian logistics vehicles now regularly being blown up by Ukrainian drones far behind the front lines, Russian warbloggers are angrily demanding to know why the military leadership didn't anticipate this and put in place anti-drone protections. ⬇️
2/ As illustrated in this excellent post by @clement_molin, Ukraine is managing to extend its 'kill zone' into Russia and Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, severely hindering Russian logistics across the region.
May 23 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
1/ While the Russian army has had some success in adapting to the conditions of the Ukraine war, this has often relied on bypassing the existing military bureaucracy. A Russian commentary highlights how a "self-defensive bureaucratic carcass" is hindering Russia's war effort. ⬇️ Image 2/ The Russian war effort is heavily dependent on soldiers' and volunteers' personal funding and individual adaptation, as often seen in the 'Mad Max' style vehicles used on the battlefield. Soldiers have often complained of a lack of support and provision from the bureaucracy.
May 22 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1/ The Ukraine war is deadlocked, writes the imprisoned Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. He warns that Russia's current tactics are ineffective and Ukraine's intensifying drone strikes on the Russian rear may be leading up to a new counter-offensive. ⬇️ AI-edited image of Igor Girkin with a chess board 2/ Girkin, who has been a constant critic of the Russian military's strategy, observes:

"THERE'S A COMPLETE DEADLOCK ON THE FRONT. The summer campaign is beginning as incoherently as the winter-spring campaign ended."
May 22 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
1/ With the war in Ukraine locked in a stalemate and Russia casualties growing, Russian warbloggers are divided between advocating a full mobilisation or calling for the front lines to be frozen. Oleg Tsarev advocates ending the war and declaring victory to save Russian lives. ⬇️ Image 2/ Tsarev, a fugitive Ukrainian-Russian politician now living in Russia, says that Russia has already achieved as much as it's likely to with the conquest of 'Novorossiya', and the war should be ended now with a declaration of victory so that no more Russians need to die:
May 22 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russia's demographic crisis is worsening sharply, as its villages empty out and birth rates slump. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have died in the war in Ukraine and at least a million more have fled the country, with no respite in sight for its dwindling population. ⬇️ Image 2/ Russian political scientist Yuri Baranchik writes on his Telegram channel:

"Villages are dying: the outflow of young people has led to record-low birth rates."
May 21 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Even as sales of consumer cars plummet in Russia, the country's super-wealthy oligarchs are importing record numbers of sanctions-busting luxury cars from the West. It's another sign of how the Russian elite are profiting even as the population suffers. ⬇️ Image
Image
Image 2/ As recently reported, the combined wealth of Russia's 155 richest people has risen by a record amount over the last year even as the economy as a whole has suffered. This is reflected in their conspicuous consumption, especially on luxury vehicles.
May 21 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russian warblogger Lev Vershinin wonders how Russia has managed to revert to 18th century standards of brutal military discipline, as seen in this video. How did it "become so savage in just one generation?", he asks. ⬇️
2/ The video shows a commander (almost certainly Russian, despite Vershinin's disingenuous uncertainty in the post below) savagely beating several men. They have apparently retreated ("rolled back") without authorisation from a mission or frontline position.
May 21 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ A Russian soldier says that he and his comrades were told by their commander that "a single shell is worth more than all your lives". The men were sent on suicidal missions without artillery support, without supplies, and had to scavenge for weapons on the battlefield. ⬇️ 2/ In a video explaining his decision to desert from the Russian army's 144th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 11739), 36-year-old Anton Aleksandrovich Shirshin describes his commanders as brutal and corrupt.
May 21 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Continuing his review of how Ukraine is employing Palantir Technologies' platforms in its war with Russia, Belarusian-Russian journalist Alex Zimovsky breaks down in detail Palantir's capabilities and usages, according to public statements and reports. ⬇️ Image 2/ (For a briefer summary see the linked thread below.)
May 21 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Russian warbloggers are increasingly admitting that Russia is suffering steady attrition from endless swarms of Ukrainian drones. '13 Tactical' posts a lament about Russia's strategic dilemma as it faces escalating costs in its war in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ The Russian military volunteer Dmitry Tinkov, writing on the '13 Tactical' Telegram channel, reviews the current situation and is very unhappy at what he sees, but takes refuge in half-hearted bravado as the only solution that he sees:
May 20 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
1/ The powerful AI-driven Palantir platform is becoming Ukraine's 'operating system' for the war with Russia. Belarusian-Russian journalist journalist Alex Zimovsky warns that it's "heading towards the point where Palantir will soon become a scary name for children in Russia." ⬇️ Image 2/ Zimovsky has been assessing how Ukraine uses Palantir. He writes:

"As of May 2026, the American company Palantir Technologies has become a key element of Ukraine's AI- and big data-based war management architecture."
May 20 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ After mobilised Russian troops were threatened with being sent to their deaths if they didn't sign contracts making them permanent soldiers, they were promised a big cash bonus if they did so. There's just one problem: they've now been scammed out of the payments. ⬇️ Image 2/ 'Vault No. 8,' a serving Russian soldier, writes that the mobilised residents of the Moscow region who are serving in his unit are now complaining bitterly that they have been scammed:
May 20 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russia actually won the war in Ukraine in 2023 – but the Ukrainians changed the paradigm in 2025 and have turned the tables on the Russian army since. So claims RT journalist Alexander Kharchenko, who calls for Russia to change its approach fundamentally. ⬇️ Image 2/ Writing on the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel, Karchenko says:

"We won! You heard right. In a war of "will and steel," the Russian military machine crushed Western proxy forces in Ukraine."
May 19 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Over four years into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian commanders have still not beaten their deadliest enemy – the cumbersome centralised bureaucracy of the Russian military. 'Two Majors' gives a flavour of how badly Russian commanders are swamped with paperwork. ⬇️ Image 2/ In an essay titled "On the Need for a Radical Overhaul of the Management System for Security Forces Involved in the Special Military Operation. Thoughts on the Topic, with Some Profanity", one of the contributors to the prominent 'Two Majors' Telegram channel writes:
May 19 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/ The Ukrainians have developed AI-guided hunter-killer drones which can identify humans on the battlefield and attack them, according to a prominent Russian source. Another Russian warblogger warns that it's only the start of a full automation of war. ⬇️
2/ 'Two Majors' writes:

"❗️Attention:

The enemy has begun using upgraded tactical drones with combat artificial intelligence. There are signs of facial auto-targeting and a corresponding heat signature loaded into the drone's "brains."
May 18 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
1/ The steadily increasing number of Ukrainian drones being flown into Russia is a major cause for concern among Russian warbloggers reflecting on the weekend's attack on Moscow. 'Older than Edda' sees Russia's air defences being progressively worn down and overwhelmed. ⬇️ Image 2/ "When assessing the prospects of a "drone war," it's important to understand that massive attacks using a couple thousand or more UAVs per night are just around the corner.
May 18 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Could Yevgeny Prigozhin have become Russia's equivalent of Ukraine's Robert 'Madyar' Brovdi if he had been allowed to live? A provocative Russian commentary suggests that Wagner's 'civilian-controlled military' operating model could have been applied more widely by Russia. ⬇️ Image
Image 2/ 'Russian Engineer' writes:

"The answers to the questions are about what changes allowed the enemy to halt the downward trend in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was clearly evident throughout 2025."
May 17 • 30 tweets • 5 min read
1/ Ukraine's massive penetration of Moscow's air defences is sparking a great deal of gloomy and angry commentary from Russian warbloggers. The military-technical Telegram channel 'Atomic Cherry' warns of an escalating trend of Ukrainian capabilities. ⬇️
2/ "As an interim observation, I will note that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for the first time in years of the conflict, have succeeded in destroying a number of targets in the Moscow region:

1) Solnechnogorsk loading station;
2) Angstrem JSC enterprise;
3) Elma Technopark;
May 17 • 33 tweets • 6 min read
1/ The Russian government is warning that the Ukrainians are trying to buy Russian Telegram channels that are now unprofitable after the government's blocking of the app. Russian commentators say it's an inevitable result of the government's restrictive policies. ⬇️ Image 2/ Russia has been severely restricting Telegram since the start of April, as well as making it retrospectively illegal to use Telegram for advertising. This has been a disaster for Russian businesses, for which Telegram was an essential marketing tool.
May 16 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Russia's anti-drone defences are said to be severely hampered by bureaucracy, such as bans on interceptor drones with explosive warheads, and legal liability, which makes mobile fire teams liable for damage caused by shot-down enemy drones. ⬇️
2/ Russian drone developer Alexey Chadayev looks for answers to the eternal question of "where air defence?". He highlights legal and bureaucratic obstacles that he says are major obstacles to the effective protection of facilities that are being targeted by Ukrainian drones: