1/ A Russian military journalist says that Russian manufacturers won't produce electronic warfare drones because "the more UAVs shot down at the front, the more orders they have". It's said to illustrate how they treat the war as a get-rich-quick scheme. ⬇️ 2/ Alexey Sukonkin quotes a correspondent on how the developers of a flying electronic warfare system, created in 2023, have found a complete lack of interest from Russian drone manufacturers despite the increasing threat from Ukrainian drones:

1/ Russian Black Sea Fleet submarines based in Novorossiysk are reportedly suffering from constant mechanical breakdowns, which are being blamed on sabotage. The suspected culprits, however, are not Ukrainians but the fleet's own personnel. ⬇️ 2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that according to a source, "since the beginning of 2024, constant breakdowns have been occurring on submarines of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation."

1/ Russian coast guard sailors are being sent to Ukraine to serve as stormtroopers, according to relatives of the men. It's unclear whether this is a new policy to make up for manpower shortages, or is being done to punish the individual men in question. ⬇️ 2/ The mother of one of the men, a sailor named Ivan Krinichny, has recorded a video message to the Russian authorities appealing for her son to be returned to his normal duty with the Coast Guard.

1/ Following Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian airfields, the Russian Air Force is reported to have responded by ordering its personnel to build wire and mesh anti-drone shelters for aircraft – at their own expense. Naturally, the airmen aren't happy about this. ⬇️
2/ The Fighterbomber Telegram channel, known for its ties to the Russian Air Force, reports that there has been a flurry of overdue activity to protect airfields in Russia. However, as the channel says, "there is a nuance".

1/ Russian sources report that today's Ukrainian strike on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea failed to damage the bridge itself due to the successful operation of protective structures around the bridge supports.⬇️

https://x.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1929859143394816115

2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, a Russian source says that "the attack on the Crimean Bridge began today with a strike by a 'test' underwater drone. The drone reached its target, but failed to blow up the support due to the anti-drone flame arrester."

1/ Today's Ukrainian drone attack on Russian air bases was launched using drones concealed in shipping containers. It shows that Ukraine has managed to weaponise the global logistics system, and will alarm security planners worldwide. ⬇️

https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1929149397075361835?t=mUNrv8sMIS5VO1hxvc9HZw&s=19

2/ Video from the scene of the attacks shows drones flying out from the top of a standard 20 ft shipping container. Photos released by the Ukrainians show that the drones were concealed in hidden compartments, with the roofs likely ejected explosively.

1/ Two fatal bridge collapses in 24 hours have highlighted the shoddy state of Russia's railway infrastructure. Despite a recent record level of investment, much of the money has been stolen by corrupt contractors and Russian Railways officials. ⬇️
2/ The Russian Crime website, which tracks corruption in Russia, reports that "schemes for embezzling tens of billions of rubles, procurement abuses, overstated project costs, and abuse of official position for personal gain have been uncovered" in Russian Railways (RZD).

1/ Jimmy is absolutely correct about this, and I want to point out something that a lot of people don't seem to have addressed: what happens if the drone operator lets this guy go?

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1928465693663453580

2/ He's not going to hang up his gun and go back to Russia to live the rest of his life in peace. Even if he wants to, his own side will imprison and torture him until he agrees to rejoin the assault squads. This is what will happen to him:

https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1927742405832249620

1/ Evidence reportedly from the scene of the assassination of the deputy mayor of Stavropol, former Russian army major Zaur Gurtsiev, suggests that the bomb which killed him and his companion Nikola Penkov was remotely detonated. ⬇️

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1928116608288919775?t=mw-fDpQUbMfBc-Thy9xNmA&s=19

2/ A circuit board, reportedly found at the scene by Russian police investigators, is shown in a photograph published by the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel. According to the channel:

1/ The killer of the deputy mayor of Stavropol, former Russian army major Zaur Gurtsiev, is reported to have been a man whom he met on a gay dating website. The man, Nikita Penkov, may not have known he was carrying a bomb. ⬇️

https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1927977998210207774?t=vra1IwA7XmAo7jpOqUCe1Q&s=19

2/ Apparent details from the police investigation have been reported by the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel. According to the channel, Gurtsiev met Penkov on a gay dating website. The two were said to have been meeting for the first time in a discreet nighttime rendezvous.

1/ This graph from @JonBruner tells an important story: America's current dominance in science only began after the mid-1930s, when persecuted scientists began fleeing universities in Germany and then elsewhere in occupied Europe. 2/ Note especially the complete lack of German Nobel Prizes in physics between around 1933 and the 1950s. Hitler specifically persecuted "Jewish physics", prompting Einstein and others to flee to the US (enabling the US to build the atomic bomb, so it was very consequential).

1/ While the Ukrainians welcome home their exchanged prisoners of war, Russian warbloggers criticise their own POWs for not having died fighting and call for them to be interrogated and/or prosecuted for surrendering. ⬇️

https://x.com/raging545/status/1926581878120759781

2/ The exchange of 1000 Ukrainian POWs for 1000 Russians has prompted some remarkably sour reflections from Russian warbloggers, who appear to consider the released Russian POWs to be little more than deserters or traitors.

1/ An announcement that Russia's new BT-3F is entering testing has been met with hostility by Russian warbloggers, who accuse its makers of ignoring lessons from the Ukraine war. "Just copy the Bradley," one urges. ⬇️

https://x.com/_GIIG_/status/1925491949508698578?t=MIMJaeaNvB-N9elMo9ZHzg&s=19

2/ The BT-3F is meant to combine characteristics of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle with those of the airmobile BMD vehicles used by the Russian airborne forces. However, neither vehicle has performed particularly well in Ukraine, especially against drones.

1/ North Korean "hobbits" are "passionately fond of chocolate, foreign films and pictures of naked women," have trouble telling Russians and Ukrainians apart, and have a habit of stealing and vandalising things, according to a Russian warblogger. ⬇️ 2/ Using a euphemismistic analogy to avoid Russian censors, "Platon Mamadov" writes:

1/ The huge reported scale of corruption in the Russian military wouldn't be possible without the active support and involvement of senior officers. An appeal to Putin from one Russian soldier highlights how even generals are likely to be profiting from the war in Ukraine. ⬇️ 2/ One of the most important principles of modern Russian society is the concept of 'krysha', literally meaning 'roof' – a term borrowed from the Russian mafia to refer to protection from powerful individuals to enable criminal immunity for allies. It also works in the military.

1/ Russians in pre-trial detention – not even having been convicted of a crime – say they are being tortured and forced to choose between sexual assault and signing a military contract. At the front, they were told they were animals and were wiped out in their first assault. ⬇️ 2/ In September 2024, the Russian State Duma adopted a new law allowing the Ministry of Defence to recruit from the 60,000-strong population of pre-trial detainees. As many as 40% were expected to sign up. This has expanded the pool from which the Russian military can recruit.

1/ North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine in Russia are reportedly causing problems for the local people, including drunkenness, thefts and attempted rapes. It's being blamed on the unusual degree of freedom that they're experiencing fighting for Russia. ⬇️ 2/ A message from a private chat channel for Tuvan units says: "The cultural and language barrier makes our imaginary "friends and comrades" from the DPRK absolutely deny military brotherhood, coherence and army discipline."

1/ Nearly two years after Yevgeny Prigozhin died, an account has been published of a tense meeting with Vladimir Putin in which the Wagner Group leader rejected subordination to the Russian Ministry of Defence. "Zhenya, you're fucking nuts", Putin is said to have told him. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian journalist and warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova, who was an outspoken supporter of the Wagner Group and is writing a book on its rise and fall, has described what happened when Putin and Prigozhin met on 29 June, five days after the Wagner rebellion was called off.

1/ Officers in a Russian rifle regiment are said to be labelling men as deserters to avoid paying them, beating them, denying medical care, forcing female medics into sex, and sending men into assaults without equipment while telling them to scavenge it on the battlefield. ⬇️ 2/ The wives, mothers and sisters of men serving with the Russian 54th Motorised Rifle Regiment have published an 'appeal to the Tsar' complaining that their "husbands, sons and fathers are subjected to illegal actions by inhuman beings endowed with power," i.e. army commanders.

1/ A veterans' certificate has become one of the most sought-after documents in Russia due to the benefits it brings. Not surprisingly, this is attracting legions of imposters and 'dead souls', a classic Russian scam dating back at least 200 years. ⬇️ 2/ Alexander Borodai, a United Russia deputy in the State Duma, has highlighted how the Russian government's announcement of preferential treatment and generous benefits for Ukraine war veterans is being exploited.

1/ A Russian soldier who has fled to the West for asylum has described life in an occupied frontline Ukrainian district. He describes children being abducted, wounded soldiers being sent into assaults, corrupt and incompetent officers, and a tank unit relying on film props. ⬇️ 2/ Despite opposing the war, 22-year-old web designer Evgeny was rounded up in a mobilisation raid on the Moscow metro. He was designated to be a sapper, but received no training – "all this time we were just digging holes." His unit was eventually sent to Ukraine.