Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
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 27 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
1/ A leaked order from the Russian army instructs military drivers to disguise their vehicles as civilian ones, repainting them in non-military colours and applying the logos of civilian organisations to their sides. However, this appears to violate the Geneva Conventions. ⬇️ Image 2/ The 'Combat Reserve' Telegram channel has published an extract from the order, which reads:
May 27 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Even as Ukraine invests in accelerating its middle-strike campaign against Russian forces, Russian counter-measures are nowhere to be seen, according to a Russian warblogger and military volunteer. He says that Putin "doesn't give a shit". ⬇️
2/ 'No Pasaran' complains:

"The entire route to Crimea, from Taganrog to Chonhar, should have been secured with light air defence – anti-aircraft fire units. It should have been done yesterday. But who is doing this?"
May 27 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Six crippled Russian soldiers, some on crutches, are sent to their deaths in Ukraine with three bulletproof vests and two automatic rifles between them. "It's just fucking crazy," says the man filming it, who is now likely missing in action. ⬇️ 2/ The video was filmed by 50-year-old Sergei Aleksandrovich Pisarchik, a soldier in the Russian Army's 69th Motorised Rifle Division. He sent it to his relatives on 21 May 2026 and stopped communicating afterwards.
May 27 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Ukraine's incessant drone strikes on the Russian rear are causing deep concern among Russian warbloggers. One points out that the entire region's logistics depend completely on road transport and forecasts a "very serious situation" developing. ⬇️
2/ 'Informant' warns:

"We repeat what was said earlier: without prompt measures to mitigate the threats to Russian logistics, which consist of gaining dominance in the lower skies and providing technical means to protect the highways and the mobile task forces patrolling…
May 27 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russia's border policies may result in the creation of a "shooting gallery" for Ukrainian drone operators, warns a prominent Russian warblogger. Queues at the still-enforced border between Russia and Ukraine are now an obvious target for attacks. ⬇️
2/ Even though Russia has formally annexed four regions of Ukraine, the border with Russia is still strictly enforced. This is done to prevent the smuggling of weapons and contraband, and to prevent military deserters from escaping back home to Russia.
May 26 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Constant Ukrainian drone strikes in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region have driven the Russians to a desperate measure: they're unbanning Telegram because their mobile air defence teams can't manage without it. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky has announced the temporary unbanning of Telegram in the region (see the video above):
May 26 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
1/ RT war correspondent Alexander Karchenko calls for a change of tactics in the face of relentless Ukrainian drone attacks. Instead of dispersing troops, he calls for Russian soldiers to group together to fight off the drones. ⬇️
2/ Writing on the 'Witness of Bayratkar' Telegram channel, Karchenko comments:

"The tactic of maximally dispersing troops has stopped working. An entire division now watches as a single soldier attempts to march one kilometer across an open field."
May 26 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Russian commanders often send men on suicidal 'flag-sticking' missions to raise the Russian flag over objectives, so that they can claim to have captured them and obtain personal rewards. As a Russian warblogger comments, this frequently leads to heavy Russian casualties. ⬇️ Image 2/ Commanders' routine lies about military successes have often been commented on by Russian warbloggers. They have strong incentives to fake successes, such as the prospect of cash awards, medals, and promotions.
May 25 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Russia's statistical agency Rosstat has recently highlighted Russia's dire demographic situation, which has become far worse due to its war losses. Komsomolskaya Pravda war correspondent Grigory Kubatyan suggests nuking Ukraine as a solution. ⬇️ Image 2/ The slumping birth rate has recently been the subject of Rosstat data and has produced alarmed commentary from Russian commentators (see thread below). The war's human losses have also become so huge that they can no longer be ignored.
May 25 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russian soldiers in Ukraine face a "catastrophic" shortage of drones and personnel at the front, according to two Russian warbloggers. The Russian offensive is coming to a standstill with Ukrainian forces said to be outnumbering the Russians two or three to one in places. ⬇️ Image 2/ Anatoly Radov compains that the massive Russian missile strikes against Kyiv over the weekend were a case of exerting the wrong kind of force in the wrong place:
May 24 • 30 tweets • 5 min read
1/ Continuing with Russian warbloggers' reactions to the overnight Oreshnik ballistic missile attacks against Ukraine, there's a great deal of criticism and bitterness about the Russian government's tactics. One asks: why not attack London instead? ⬇️
2/ (For the first thread of reactions, see below.)
May 24 • 27 tweets • 7 min read
1/ Russia's Oreshnik missile is clearly losing its cachet as a 'wonder weapon'. Many Russian warbloggers express frustration and weariness, calling it a propaganda gimmick. One says it's a "humiliating circus, a clown dance on the bones of Russians." ⬇️
2/ The ultra-nationalist 'Russian Movement of Strelkov' (a group of supporters of the imprisoned Igor Girkin) is scathing about the use last night of Oreshnik against targets in Kyiv and Bila Tserkva:
May 24 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Ukraine's Hornet drones are continuing to attack Russian targets across the occupied territories, seemingly without hindrance. A Russian warblogger fighting in the region expresses deep frustration at Russia's inability to prevent the drone strikes. ⬇️
2/ Writing on the 'Donetsk infantry' Telegram channel, one of the contributors (a member of the "Club of Anonymous Commanders") is clearly exasperated by the situation. He calls for urgent action:
May 23 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russian soldiers fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region say they have run out of medications due to their officers' incompetence, and are having to rely on folk remedies such as pine needles for coughs, salt and soap for fungal infections, and vodka with garlic to treat pain. ⬇️ Image 2/ 'Brothers in Arms' writes:

"Brothers from the 166th Motorised Rifle Regiment sent a message via chat ... about medicine in their regiment's units."
May 23 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1/ The Russian government has ordered ports to improve their anti-drone defences. However, that reportedly involves electronic warfare systems which installers admit is ineffective, low-paid security guards, and massively inflated costs. ⬇️
2/ 'Combat Reserve' posts an extract from an order issued by Rosmorrechflot, the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport. It orders transport infrastructure (OTI) operators on the Sea of Azov to: Image
Image
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."