1/ Russian commanders have falsely declared potentially thousands of missing and dead soldiers to be deserters, as well as using such declarations for extortion. Relatives say they are being deprived of compensation payments and accuse commanders of concealing their losses. ⬇️ 2/ Huge numbers of Russians have gone missing during the war in Ukraine. According to the Russian journalist Anastasia Kashevarova, who has campaigned for more to be done to find the missing, 99% of them will have died on the front line but have not been recovered.

1/ Commanders in Russia's 80th Guards Tank Regiment are reported to be systematically abusing their men, including beatings, extortion, imprisonment, and murder. A soldier from the regiment recorded a video describing the situation before his imminent execution. ⬇️ 2/ Valery Aleksandrovich Glyzin of the 80th Guards Tank Regiment (military unit 87441), which has recently been fighting near Pokrovsk, recorded a video accusing his commanders of crimes. He says that his own execution had been ordered in retaliation for writing a complaint.

1/ Supplies of volunteer aid for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are dwindling as volunteers lose interest and bureaucratic obstacles increase, leading to soldiers spending more and more of their own money on supplying themselves with food and equipment. ⬇️ 2/ Since Donald Trump returned to office, Russian warbloggers have repeatedly complained about a collapse in the amount of donated aid and cash. Many Russians apparently believe that Trump's peace initiatives will lead to an imminent ceasefire and have stopped donating.

1/ A Russian schoolteacher mobilised despite ill health has described his time in a notorious Russian army unit. He was told to execute POWs, saw Russian deserters being tortured, and was repeatedly beaten. After he deserted, his lawyer tried to turn him in. ⬇️ 2/ Ilya Elokhin is now in Armenia, seeking political asylum in the West. He says he was opposed to the war when it began and had hoped that his physical ailments would keep him out of it. However, while on sick leave from his job as a primary school teacher, he was mobilised.

1/ 6,000 North Koreans are to be sent to Russia's Kursk region to help with demining and rebuilding. Additionally, Russia and North Korea are to collaborate on building memorials in Russia and North Korea and a memorial museum in Pyongyang. ⬇️
2/ Former Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu – who is now Secretary of the Russian Security Council – met Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang last week to discuss Russia-North Korea cooperation. Kim agreed to send 1,000 sappers and 5,000 construction workers to Kursk.

1/ A Russian veteran of the Chechen war who has deserted from the war in Ukraine has described how poorly-equipped Russian soldiers were forced into assaults, shot by their own side if severely wounded, and stopped by Chechen 'blocking detachments' if they tried to retreat. ⬇️ 2/ 42-year-old Alexander (a pseudonym) was mobilised in late 2022 and deserted in August 2023. Although he had health problems caused by his service in the second Chechen war in the early 2000s, these were ignored and he was sent to the occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine.

1/ The Russian army is sending one-armed and one-legged soldiers into assaults, according to a wounded Chechen soldier who has been assigned to a so-called 'cripple battalion'. He says that the men's fitness status is systematically being falsified. ⬇️ 2/ In a video appeal for help addressed to Chechnya's dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, a soldier named Suleiman Khuseinovich Borshigov identifies himself as a member of the 383rd Motorised Rifle Regiment (military unit 11086), based in Voronezh.

1/ Poland's electoral commission has said that there were "major irregularities" in the second round of the recent presidential election, won narrowly by Karol Nawrocki. Votes appear to have been recorded wrongly, or transferred to the wrong candidate. ⬇️

https://x.com/KnightCziwi/status/1931032414253404259

2/ Nawrocki, a pro-Trump figure representing the right-wing PiS party, won by only 360,000 votes. The National Election Commission says there were "incidents that could have an impact on the outcome of the vote" requiring "an in-depth analysis of the reasons".

1/ Israeli operatives who have infiltrated Iran have reportedly been using unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to attack Iranian sites with explosives. It's another echo of the unmanned systems that have been seen in Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ A video from Iran shows Iranian military personnel inspecting equipment in an Israeli "autonomous base" used to control the UGVs. The vehicles were reportedly used to make holes in Iranian defensive structures, through which explosive-laden UGVs were subsequently driven.

1/ Russian military recruiters are enlisting the elderly, alcoholics, drug addicts and the homeless into the army, apparently to meet recruitment quotas. Not surprisingly, the new recruits are proving problematic in training and on the battlefield. ⬇️ 2/ A video shows a new recruit, likely in his late 60s, in a firing range literally unable to work out which way round he should hold his assault rifle. A frustrated instructor yells: “Look here, I’m here, look at me, put the assault rifle in combat mode, shoot there”.

1/ Three years into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a prominent Russian warblogger laments that the Russian people still don't understand what the war is about. He urges the Russian leadership to inspire the people, as with sufficient inspiration "they will go to Poland". ⬇️ 2/ Roman Alekhine writes:

"We do not have a description of victory. In the [Second World War], we fought to the death, until a clear victory, in which we clearly intended to "Drive a bullet into the forehead of the rotten fascist scum."

1/ Iran's rapid military collapse is being blamed by Russian warbloggers on rampant corruption under the country's notionally Islamist regime. Everything is for sale like in "the late USSR", they say, which has allowed the Israelis to infiltrate Iran with ease. ⬇️ 2/ Dmitry Steshin writes:

"The West has found Iran's solar plexus and is hitting it precisely and methodically. Of course, it is being helped from within. Who? Why? I'll explain based on my personal impressions."

1/ A single Russian brigade has lost more than 12,000 men – more than five times its authorised strength. Its soldiers say they are subjected to violence, abuse, torture and robbery by their own commanders, who throw them into bloody attacks where thousands die. ⬇️ 2/ The 15th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade is based in the Samara region, but recruits from across Russia. Personnel from at least 77 regions have been listed as missing or dead, with the largest number being from the Volga Federal District and the Astrakhan region.

1/ Russian warbloggers say that Russian army commanders are causing unnecessary problems for other units, and heavy casualties for their own men, by lying about their successes. This exposes the flanks of neighbouring units and causes men to be sent into unsupported assaults. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian army has had widespread problems with commanders falsely claiming to have captured objectives – a practice dubbed "taking on credit" – since the early days of the war in Ukraine.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1888551675918512471

1/ On preparing a new member of a Russian stormtrooper unit, to which he has been assigned as a punishment, for his first assault mission: ⬇️ 2/ "The smell of pine needles, dust, exhaust fumes. The noise of the engine, the rustle of gear, the jingle of all sorts of shiny things falling into a bag. The dry sound of phones being lowered into a lock box. The crunch of automatic rifles being checked.

1/ The imprisoned Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin has given a gloomy prediction of the likelihood of Russian success in the Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine. They're well-defended by the Ukrainians, he says, while Russia has insufficient forces to capture them. ⬇️ 2/ Girkin writes:

"The offensive in the Sumy region had been in preparation for a long time. The enemy knew about it very well, the enemy began building defensive structures against this supposed offensive several months ago, built several defensive lines to the east of Sumy."

1/ Corrupt Russian officers are suspected to be selling information to Ukraine, contributing to the destruction of high-value assets such as this Iskander missile launcher, according to a Russian journalist. ⬇️

https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1930535533064700311?t=rsiM0XtEOkuy_jZ1HquQQg&s=19

2/ On 5 June, Ukraine destroyed an Iskander ballistic missile launcher and its rockets. According to Russian journalist Maxim Kalashnikov, the launcher was destroyed and 8 personnel from the 26th Missile Brigade (military unit 54006) were killed.

1/ Putin's announcement of a new Russian drone force has been welcomed grudgingly by Russian warbloggers. They complain that it's far too late, and highlight the deficiencies of a bureaucratic system that provides soldiers with too few drones. ⬇️

https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/1933244195856355743

2/ 'SHAKESPEARE' grouses that "Not even three years have passed since [the Ukrainians created a drone force]. I don't even know what emotion to feel now: rejoice or swear."

1/ Israel launched drones which attacked targets in Iran using what may have been an identical method to that employed by Ukraine recently. A video shows what appears to be a commercial vehicle, reportedly used as a drone launcher, self-destructing near Tehran yesterday. ⬇️ 2/ Compare this to the drone launchers used in Ukraine's recent Operation Spiderweb attack on the Russian Air Force – wooden cabins carried on the back of flatbed trucks, which likewise self-destructed after use.

https://x.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1929181164906102887

1/ The commander of Ukrainian's unmanned air forces, Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, has announced a set of reforms to improve the effectiveness and logistical supply of drones in the Ukrainian armed forces. They are to be implemented over the next three months. ⬇️ 2/ As described by the 'Cuckoo's Nest' Telegram channel:

🔺 Immediate implementation of existing collective experience.

1/ A Russian army captain whose commander ordered him to be tied to a tree so that the Ukrainians would kill him says that he is now being sent to his death on the front line. He accuses his senior officers of stealing volunteer aid sent to the 24th Motorised Rifle Regiment. ⬇️ 2/ Captain Andrei Stanislavovich Elisenko has recorded a testimonial video in which he describes how he fell out with his commander over corruption and lack of equipment. Such videos are fairly common for rank and file soldiers, but quite rare for officers.