iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

1/ Russia's double attack on a major Kyiv bridge today marks a significant change in Russian tactics, reportedly aided by a new cumulative warhead for the Geran drone which has been designed to damage bridge supports. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/maks...

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1/ Russia's surviving mobilised soldiers – many of whom have been serving without a break for four years – are completely exhausted, says one. With no respite in sight, severe injury or death are the only ways out. ⬇️

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1/ What does it take to become 'meat' in the Russian army? The bottom line, observes one Russian warblogger, is that anyone can become a disposable assault trooper for use in a suicidal attack – it just depends on your commander's attitude and who you might have annoyed. ⬇️

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1/ Hundreds of Russian soldiers near Lyman surrendered because they were starving and drinking their own urine, according to first-hand accounts from frontline soldiers. The officers are said to have taken the radios and ran away, while ordering the men not to retreat. ⬇️

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1/ Four years after Russia's September 2022 mobilisation, the Russian warblogger 'Vault No. 8' – one of those mobilised – is looking back at how the 'mobiks' were used. Many were slaughtered as "meat", he says, comparing them to Warhammer 40K's much-abused Imperial Guard. ⬇️

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One marginal advantage of Trump's idiotic rebranding of AI as "super intelligence" is that it helps to expose which media outlets are fully in the tank for him. There's no official geographical naming excuse this time.

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1/ A few weeks after sacred relics of St. Dmitry Donskoy were 'rediscovered' and paraded in occupied regions of Ukraine to boost Russian troops' morale, the Russian Army has reportedly lost them. This comes just over 4 years after the Russian Navy lost the True Cross of Jesus. ⬇️

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1/ Ukraine's drone strike campaign has been partly responsible for cutting Russia's oil and gas revenues by 18%, leading to a shortfall of 1.6 trillion rubles ($19 billion) in the Russian treasury. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...

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Vladimir Putin has signed a decree increasing the size of the Russian armed forces by 15,500 personnel. Although it's not a huge increase, it's the fourth one in only a year, and represents a form of "creeping mobilisation" according to Russian commentators. ⬇️

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1/ Another AI-generated video falsely depicting Russian 'control' north of Lyman has been publicised by disgusted Russian warbloggers. It's part of a "plague" of AI "neurocontrol" that prominent warblogger Rybar condemns as "inept, half-baked information warfare". ⬇️

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1/ Russia won't invade Europe because it's too weak to do so, says the imprisoned Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. He dismisses talk of a Russian attack on the Baltic states or elsewhere, pointing out that Russia can't even defeat Ukraine after four and a half years of war. ⬇️

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1/ China is displacing Russia as a supplier of military equipment to Central Asia. With Russia's own military-industrial complex under sanctions and with heavy domestic demand due to the Ukraine war, China is now ideally situated to replace Russian defence exports. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Russian commanders have been sending their superiors fake AI-generated video reports of successes in the Lyman area, Russian warbloggers complain. This reportedly made the Russian high command oblivious to Ukrainian activity until it was too late. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...

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1/ Russian warbloggers are angry at pictures of large numbers of Russian POWs captured near Lyman, which they see as a humiliation. They demand – almost certainly futilely – that the Russian government should be more honest about what is happening at the front. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/ukra...

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Reposted by ChrisO_wiki

Shayan Sardarizadeh @shayan86.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

An AI-enhanced version of a grainy image that appears to be authentic and shows several men being arrested in relation to the ongoing incident at RAF Fairford is currently being shared on multiple platforms. A SynthID check reveals that the enhanced image was generated with OpenAI.

AI-enhanced version of an authentic image showing arrests at RAF Fairford

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Ukraine has taken a reported 250 Russian prisoners and claims to have killed 2,000 more Russians in its ongoing Operation Vivaldi near Lyman. A Russian warblogger says that Ukraine has overturned Russian assumptions about its capabilities. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Russia faces a long, difficult fight even if it succeeds in taking the Donbas 'fortress belt' cities, warns a Russian warblogger, citing frontline soldiers' views. The fight for the fortress belt only marks a phase in the battle, not the culmination of the war. ⬇️

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1/ The strange appearance and disappearance of a RIA Novosti article threatening a Russian invasion of Lithuania has prompted comments from Russian bloggers. They suggest that the affair indicates the limits of the Russian government's desire to threaten its NATO neighbours. ⬇️

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1/ What is the fate of Russian soldiers who infiltrate Ukrainian-held territory, either alone or in groups of two or three? A frank commentary from a frontline Russian warblogger says they are usually killed, captured, or desert to save their lives. ⬇️

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1/ Russian forces in the Lyman area have fallen back to a line along the Zherebets river according to Russian warbloggers, with fighting ongoing in areas of the formerly Russian-held salient. They warn that Ukraine's counteroffensive is now working towards crossing the river. ⬇️

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1/ Russia cannot explain what the war in Ukraine is for, complains a prominent Russian warblogger. Anastasia Kashevarova says that the idea of a 'Russian world' is an empty shell without a governing ideology that would appeal to others as a model. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/kaja...

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1/ Russia has the United States over a (diesel) barrel, says Russian analyst Igor Dimitriev. He says that the Kremlin is telling the West that "if you don't hand Ukraine over to us, a global [fuel] crisis will erupt that you won't be able to dig yourselves out of". ⬇️

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1/ The Russian government's efforts to strangle social media are having a significant financial effect on Russian warbloggers. As well as crushing fundraisers to support soldiers in the field, it's also threatening the financial survival of some Telegram channels. ⬇️

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1/ Russian courts currently acquit 0.24% of defendants. The Russian government evidently believes this is too high, and is planning to effectively eliminate jury trials, which provide most of the acquittals. Lawyers are calling it "the death of the jury system." ⬇️

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1/ A deluge of new taxes and fees is being imposed on Russians following the State Duma elections. As the Russian government seeks to boost its war-depleted finances, ordinary Russians are about to feel the impact in their wallets. ⬇️

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1/ Danny Tommo is in very serious trouble and faces unlimited fines and potential life imprisonment. Here's how it breaks down:

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1/ The Russian Ministry of Defence is being called out by Russian warbloggers for exaggerating claims about Ukrainian troops being surrounded in 'cauldrons'. Multiple such encirclements simply don't exist, says Russian journalist Yuri Kotenok. ⬇️

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1/ Russian military recruiters are using Facebook and Google adverts to recruit "African male actors" with a "strong screen presence" – who are then made to sign contracts to join the Russian army when they arrive in the country. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1/ Russian soldiers are telling their relatives that they are being forcibly tattooed on their chests with "death numbers" – their military ID numbers – before going on assault missions, presumably to make their bodies more easily identifiable if and when they are recovered. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1/ This Monday was the fourth anniversary of Russia's mobilisation of around 300,000 men. Russian warbloggers have been marking the event with gloomy retrospectives and complaints about the plight of the men still trapped in involuntary military service. ⬇️

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1/ Turkey is anticipating a major war with Russia, according to Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. The jailed former FSB officer warns that Turkey is "preparing feverishly" to fight some time around 2027-29 to reclaim lost Ottoman territories from a disintegrating Russia. ⬇️

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FML, this is completely brutal. I don't know how he could show his face in public again...

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1/ What is Marco Rubio referring to here? It's true that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure have hit some American interests, specifically the US oil companies Chevron and ExxonMobil, but that's a distraction from the real issue. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/atru...

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1/ Much attention is being paid to the blatant cheating in Russia's State Duma election, but it's less widely appreciated that Russia's constitution is specifically designed to help a 'Main Party' – currently United Russia. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/medu...

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1/ Now that the Russian elections are out of the way, the government and oligarchs don't have to pretend to need public favour any more. In the first of what's expected to be a deluge of bad news, food prices have gone up immediately. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

1/ Russian electricity consumers are likely to be charged an extra fee for protecting and repairing power facilities from Ukrainian drone strikes. Not surprisingly, Russian commentators feel that they're being ripped off with an "air defence tax". ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...

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1/ Russia's Ministry of Defence is once again lying about taking Ukrainian settlements dozens of kilometres away from the front lines, say Russian warbloggers. They point out that the settlements being claimed in official statements are far distant from the actual front lines. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

1/ Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin warns that Russia inevitably faces a "terrible future" after Putin, with the possibility of "sullen, cocaine-addicted gangsters with sadistic, perverted tendencies" – people like the late Yevgeny Prigozhin – taking over a disintegrating country. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

1/ The secret funding of Donald Trump Jr.'s lavish Bahamas wedding by a Russian oligarch is being hailed by some Russian commentators as a masterclass in covert destabilisation. Others suggest that an emerging post-Putin elite faction is seeking to ally itself with the Trumps. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

1/ Russia's poorly trained and equipped mobile anti-drone units (MTFs) are, unsurprisingly, often not very effective at shooting down Ukrainian drones. They lack training, the equipment is often defective, and the units are not coordinated, according to Russian warbloggers. ⬇️

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You have to do some unsavory things to win at politics

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Successive tweets in my Twitter feed; no lies detected.

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1/ Russia is experiencing a deepening gasoline crisis due to Ukrainian drone strikes. New data shows that half of all fuel stations across the country are out of gasoline, with drivers facing hours-long queues and no relief expected for weeks or months. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/ange...

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