1/ Yuri Kozarenko, the high-profile Russian drone developer who was arrested last Friday on fraud charges, is being accused of passing off Chinese products as his own. Other Russian UAV developers say that his firm was notorious for "brazen relabeling of products from China." ⬇️ 2/ The video above shows a drone claimed by Kozarenko's company to be its 'Quadcopter Krechet' model. It's actually a Chinese-made Autel EVO MAX 4T, which has been relabelled as a Russian-made product without even any cosmetic modifications to disguise its origins.

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin thinks things are terrible in Russia, which is "being beaten and will continue to be beaten" and is being "humiliated before the entire world" due to the failures of "the cretins in power." He also ridicules his prison's motley Victory Day parade. ⬇️ 2/ In a letter to a friend, posted on his Telegram channel, he writes:

1/ The Russian ultranationalist community has exploded into a fit of apoplectic rage over Volodymr Zelenskyy's decree 'permitting' Russia to hold its Victory Day parade. They condemn it as a humiliation for Russia and call for maximum retaliation. ⬇️

https://x.com/JimmySecUK/status/2052857650673574276

2/ Russian Telegram channels have had a meltdown over Zelenskyy's decree declaring Red Square to be off-limits for attacks on 9th May in order "to permit the holding of a parade in the city of Moscow (Russian Federation)." Many helpfully translate it for their readers.

1/ A recent video filmed by Russian soldiers shows Ukrainian AI-controlled Hornet drones hunting for Russian targets near Mariupol. A Russian UAV specialist warns that advanced AI processing will soon turn the Hornet into a fully automated system. ⬇️

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/2053488571122594094

2/ Ukraine introduced the US-designed Hornet into large-scale battlefield use in the last few months. It is already being described by the Russians as a game-changer and a severe threat to their rear logistics, due to its advanced design and AI systems.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2052113873625329717

1/ If patrol boats covered with anti-drone cages aren't crazy enough for you, I present the submarine cope cage. (h/t @covertshoresBsk)

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/2053556632844399043

2/ This photo shows the Project 06363 (Kilo class) submarine Mozhaisk and Project 877EKM (Kilo class, built for tropical waters) submarine Dmitrov, equipped with anti-drone protection, in Kronstadt near St. Petersburg.

1/ A high-profile figure in Russian drone development has been arrested on charges of large-scale fraud. It's another illustration of how Russia's pervasive corruption is hampering its efforts to become a leading developer and producer of drone technology. ⬇️ 2/ On Friday 8 May, the Sverdlovsky District Court of Belgorod arrested Yuri Kozarenko, former CEO of Transport of the Future LLC, and sent him to a pre-trial detention centre. He is under investigation for alleged large-scale fraud; details have not yet been released.

1/ A new military treaty between Russia and Nicaragua has gone into force, enabling Russia to base troops, special forces, and surveillance facilities in the Central American country. However, warns a warblogger, it's now potentially Russia's last strongpoint in the Americas. ⬇️ 2/ Russia and Nicaragua have maintained close defence ties for decades, dating back to Soviet-era support for the Sandinista government in the 1980s. Cooperation has deepened under President Daniel Ortega, with a new agreement signed in November 2025 and now ratified by Russia.

1/ With Donald Trump ("our Trumpushka") increasingly seen as irrelevant to the war in Ukraine, Russian warbloggers are increasingly calling for "demonstrative strikes" on the EU, UK and Canada to force them to cease support for Ukraine and negotiate a peace settlement. ⬇️ 2/ On 15 April 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Defence published detailed lists of European companies and facilities it claimed were producing strike drones (UAVs) and components for Ukraine. It explicitly framed these joint production sites as "potential targets".

1/ If yesterday's Victory Day parade had been a true reflection of Russia's frontline army as it is now, it would have been a chaotic display of battered vehicles, motorbikes, exhausted soldiers on crutches, and donkeys. A Russian warblogger imagines how it could have been. ⬇️ 2/ 'Jon Snow and the Second Singer' writes:

"A parade. It will be led by children carrying portraits of their fathers—old photographs, of course, from their civilian lives, from that time.

Mavic 3 drones will fly overhead.

1/ Ahead of Russia's Victory Day celebrations tomorrow, Russian nationalists are engaged in their traditional pastime of rewriting history to erase the Hitler-Stalin alliance. It was all the fault of the "main bastards", the perfidious British, according to one warblogger. ⬇️ 2/ 'Historian' Maxim Ravreba asks on his eponymous Telegram channel, "Who started World War II?", and turns to that well-known impartial source, Adolf Hitler, for the answer:

1/ One indication of the increasing sense of a fin de régime in Russia is that Russian warbloggers are becoming steadily bolder in being critical of, or even abusive towards, Putin himself – previously a bright red line. One commentator lambasts him as a "bunker granny". ⬇️ 2/ Comparing him to an old woman in a so-called frontline 'granny village', who shelters in her basement as the village is destroyed around her, 'Bomber Harris did nothing wrong' is brutally critical of Putin:

1/ As Victory Day approaches in Russia, warbloggers are increasingly despondent and predict the fall of the regime in the face of drone attacks and social and economic problems. They perceive a rapid worsening of the situation and a sense that 'things can't go on like this.' ⬇️ 2/ Alex Kartavykh responds scornfully to a government statement, declaring:

"[The government is] noticing a noticeable shift in public sentiment here. And I'll also note for the record. My audience is slowly going nuts."

1/ As Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day, its death toll from the ongoing war in Ukraine is so enormous that in parts of the country it is approaching or exceeding the number of casualties sustained in World War II. Vast memorials are being installed across the country. ⬇️ 2/ In Naberezhnye Chelny, a recently inaugurated memorial (video above) commemorates the dead of four wars. A single column contains 67 names of those who died in Afghanistan and Chechnya. 800 more names are listed for Ukraine, covering 16 columns.

1/ The paranoia of the Russian authorities is killing vital hypersonic missile research, say Russian warbloggers following the conviction of two researchers for publishing a paper on air intake design. As a result, they say, practically nobody now wants to work on hypersonics. ⬇️ 2/ Two physicists have been convicted of treason and sentenced to 12½ years in a maximum-security penal colony. The two men – senior researcher Valery Zvegintsev and associate professor Vladislav Galkin – are the latest in a series of scientists to be jailed in the last 2 years.

1/ Independent drone development in Russia is being crushed by the heavy hand of the state, according to Russian warbloggers. They say that large corporations have captured the military procurement system, effectively locking out independent developers. ⬇️ 2/ The 'Forge of Mordor' Telegram channel asks why Ukraine is innovating faster than Russia, and points to the problems being caused by the Russian state's military procurement system:

1/ The appointment of Colonel General Alexander Chaiko as the new head of Russia's Aerospace Forces is being criticised by Russian warbloggers, who point to his failure to take Kyiv in February-March 2022. It's being called a reward for incompetence. ⬇️

https://x.com/Oct7NeverForget/status/2052044313677197332

2/ 'Imperium Z' is harshly critical of Chaiko's record, with an only slightly veiled criticism of Putin as well:

"As we've written repeatedly, personnel issues are the main problem facing the current government in general and the president in particular."

1/ It's not just this Saturday's Victory Day parade that's been cancelled or cut back in Moscow; so too has the city's annual cleanup, for the first time in over a hundred years. The city will have to remain dirty for another year. ⬇️ 2/ Cleanup days, or subbotniks, originated in the spring of 1919 under Lenin's rule. They started as voluntary events mainly for communists (Komsomol members) and sympathisers. In later years, they became a familiar, characteristic feature of the "socialist way of life."

1/ A senior Russian official has condemned Amazon's 'Fallout' TV series for rotting the brains of the Russian people. He calls for what amounts to an uplifting Russian version of 'Fallout' as a corrective. Russian commentators are scornful about what they call his "nonsense". ⬇️ 2/ The Russian newspaper Vedemosti reports that Alexey Semenov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Monitoring and Analysis of Social Processes, says Russia needs a "state order for a bright future".

1/ Since March 2026, Ukraine has been using AI-controlled Hornet kamikaze drones to attack Russian targets. They have excelled in action, causing carnage among the Russians. A crashed example permits a detailed look at how it works. ⬇️

https://x.com/MartinRosenkra3/status/2045271227594428440

2/ The Russian Telegram channel 'Hammer of the Witches', which focuses on UAVs, has taken a look at an example of a Hornet which crashed in a nearly intact condition. It calls the lightweight drone "the most dangerous threat to our rear logistics."

1/ As a peace deal is reportedly mooted in the Middle East, a new analysis by Barclays Research highlights the urgent need for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. It reports that the world is running out of runway, and increasing demand destruction will happen from late May. ⬇️ 2/ Barclays describes the current situation – in which a huge drop in oil availability is being cushioned temporarily by an equally huge draw on stockpiles – as "living off the insurance". It uses the striking analogy of "a household that loses its income and lives off savings":

1/ Ukraine is systematically attacking Russian forces with AI-controlled kamikaze drones. Russian warbloggers are seriously worried, calling them a "scourge", and say it's no longer safe within 150 km (93 miles) of the front line. ⬇️

https://x.com/chronicleslive/status/2050310188045836372

2/ 'Veterans' Notes' warns gloomily:

"All major roads within 150 km of the line of contact will be within the strike zone."