Ukraine struck an oil refinery in Tatarstan.
Nizhnekamsk is about 730 km east of Moscow.
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🔥 In Tatarstan, a massive fire broke out at the Russian oil refinery "Taneco." Russian sources report air raid alarms and employee evacuations at the site. Meanwhile, drone attack warnings have been issued, and the "Carpet" emergency plan is in effect at Nizhnekamsk Airport.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) January 11, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Tearing up a Russian convoy 101
Ukraine is reported to have launched a massive drone/missile attack against an array of targets across Russia.
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🇺🇦🚀🦅 According to Ukrainian monitoring channels, Ukrainian "Peklo" (Hell) ground-launched missile technology was used at night. Strikes (preliminary):
▪️port in Novorossiysk;
▪️gas pumping station in Anapa;
▪️air defense complexes in Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions.
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— MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 3:04 AM
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Another explosive night in Russia: Ukrainian UAVs struck Kotovsk, Tambov region. At least 11 injuries reported after debris hit an apartment building. Drones also visited Dzhankoy, Anapa, Berdyansk, Slavyansk-na-Kubani, Voronezh, Feodosia, Kerch, Kursk, and Novorossiysk overnight.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) January 11, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Nope. Those ain’t fireworks.
This is reported to be a compression station for natural gas to be shipped via pipeline through Turkey.
Yet another Highway of Death for Russia.
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A Russian occupier is traveling along the "road of death" in the Pokrovske direction. The scene is littered with destroyed vehicles, some still burning, and numerous occupiers, both dead and alive. The video’s author highlights the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ use of fiber-optic drones:
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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Good ole Made in America hardware.
Another 1,570 lucky winners.
Draft evasion continues to be an issue for Ukraine.
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⚡️ Police dismantle almost 50 illegal border crossing schemes in massive crackdown.
The Ukrainian National Police broke up nearly 50 schemes for draft-age Ukrainian men to illegally cross the border, the police said on Jan. 11 after a large-scale operation.
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) January 11, 2025 at 4:52 AM
The disaster from the two Russian oil tankers that sank near the Kerch Strait continues.
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Birds covered with fuel oil flew to the Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park in the Odesa region (pic1)
They were also noticed on the Black Sea coast of Georgia (Gonio,Batumi,Poti,Anaklia)&unrecognised Abkhazia(Gagra,Bichvinta,Sukhumi) (pic 2)
The Volgoneft disaster is becoming international in scale
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— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 7:45 AM
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In Anapa, Russia's Krasnodar region, the FSB detained and questioned volunteers after they tried to prevent the release of weakened birds washed from fuel oil.
The volunteers tried to interfere but the attempt was unsuccessful, and the next morning, more than 40 dead birds were found on the shore
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— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 4:23 AM
In an effort to prevent Ukraine from taking the village of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, which is in the Kursk area and a logistics hub for the Russian Army, the Russians have resorted to human wave assaults using North Koreans.
This is reported to have slowed the Ukrainian advance but not stopped it and resulted in a whole lot of dead North Koreans.
The oil depot at Engels is still burning.
Snipers at work.
Out of all of Russia’s voluminous war crimes this one is the worst.
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#Russia continues to deport 1000s of kids from occupied #Kherson.
That's the accusation from #Ukraine ombudsman @lubinetzs who says 3,310 children were transferred to various camps in remote regions for Russification (translation of his TG post below)
#RussiaIsATerroristState
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— Tim White (@twmcltd.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 8:28 AM
This is a good analysis on how drones have changed warfare and what lessons can be learned for the future.
LESSON 1: Wars in the future might look very different from Ukraine
However, Ukraine could also just be a peak moment for drone warfare. The factors that made drones relevant in Ukraine might look different in future wars. The overall number of drones could be lower if civilian drones cannot be used—due to weather conditions or longer distances, such as in a maritime confrontation. Civilian drones might also not be as readily available in confrontations involving China, which produces virtually all civilian systems (see lesson three below). Other weapon systems might be available, thus decreasing the need for drones as substitutes.
LESSON 2: Adapt Quickly
Drone types can lose their usefulness quickly. If the combat situation changes, or if defences are developed to counter them, a drone system that was vital yesterday can become obsolete today. During the initial assault on Ukraine, Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones were so crucial in fighting back Russian troops that they inspired a popular war song. By 2024, Bayraktars were no longer important, largely due to air defences. Bayraktars were not the only system to suffer this fate; it has become increasingly difficult to take stock of the drones used in Ukraine because of their fast turnover. Systems need to be adapted fast.
LESSON 3: Reduce China’s Influence
And not only China produces the majority of commercial drones but it also manufactures most of the components needed to assemble them. As a result, while Ukraine will likely come out of the war as a drone power, its industry is dependent on Chinese-made parts—from cheap plastic components to motors and video transmitters.
This dependency is particularly concerning in light of the growing geopolitical competition between the West and China, alongside the Sino-Russian cooperation. In Ukraine, there are complaints about defective Chinese components, sparking rumours of sabotage. Amid a trade war with the US, China is now restricting exports of components and materials critical to drone building, a move that is already affecting Ukraine. Kyiv has recently begun to onshore component production, but this will be a long process and will require European support.
Speaking of constantly adapting.
I wonder how the crew got out. Or if they did.
Update from Kursk.
Meanwhile, in Transnistria people are busy cutting down trees to try to stay warm.
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Many of the 360,000 people in Transnistria have already had their gas, electricity, and water cut since the start of the year. Following the gas cut, people were forced to switch to electric heaters, while planned blackouts of up to nine hours per day were introduced by Tiraspol authorities.
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) January 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Most of Transnistria’s economy has shut down.
By January 4th cuts were at 3 hours / day. On the 5th, 4 hours / day. This led to announcements of water shortages as prolonged blackouts reduced pressure in water lines and caused stoppages in multi-story buildings. By January 7th rolling blackouts had increased to 8 hours a day with households having 4 hours without power each morning and evening.
In addition to household shortages almost all heavy industry in the region has shut down. The Moldovan Metallurgical Plant (MMZ) closed operations leaving 2000 employees without work. The plant drained water from its furnace cooling system which local engineers say will make it time consuming to bring back online and dangerous to idle for long periods. While some stores and food production facilities are still operating on generators the vast majority of the Transnistrian economy has shut down.
On January 8th the “security council” of Transnistria met to discuss the situation. During the meeting they presented reports indicating that their forecasting for the energy shortfall was flawed. It was based on modeling from a gas cutoff in 2009 where many residents used their gas stovetops to heat their apartments. This isn’t happening now meaning that the pressure in the gas lines will last longer than expected. Conversely, instead of using stoves people are heating with electric heaters more - which explains the power system’s disastrous state as they did not anticipate the use of this many space heaters.
Nobody will miss him.
And this guy can fuck all the way off.
War isn’t a time for putting up with crappy politicians.
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⚡️Ukrainian lawmakers move to dismiss Energy Minister, MP Zhelezniak reports.
Reasons raised for the motion, included "systemic corruption in the energy sector," "failure to protect parts of the energy infrastructure," and "lies and manipulations."
kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-la...
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) January 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Duck hunting in Ukraine.
Send him back to Italy. I’m sure he’ll get a warm welcome.
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An #Italian mercenary fighting for Russia was captured by the AFU 78th Airborne Regiment near #Kupyansk. He is saying that he was illegally mobilized in Russia, does not want to fight, and wants to return to Italy.
#OSINT #Russia #UkraineWar
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— OSINT (Uri Kikaski) (@urikikaski.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 7:57 AM
They actually strapped an anti-tank mine to the side of this ugly thing.
Speaking of anti-tank mines in the wrong place.
Racism in Russia? Say it ain’t so.
And yes, we have no room to talk here in America.
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A Russian international stormed off during a match after racial taunts from the crowd.
Nando, born in Brazil but given a #Russia passport four years ago, was playing mini-football (Futsal) for Norilsk in Siberia when he walked off after being subjected to racial abuse by men wearing black shirts.
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— Tim White (@twmcltd.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Rest in peace.
Ukraine’s postal service doing its part to stamp out Russian aggression.
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📯 Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service, has launched a sale of postal stamps titled "The Budapest Memorandum is bull***it!"
According to the Ukrposhta CEO, the stamp was inspired by a comment made by President Zelenskyy during an interview with Lex Fridman.
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— UNITED24 Media (@united24media.com) January 10, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Some posts on day-to-day life in Ukraine:
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I know I live in a “safer” area but I am always so scared for my cat especially when I’m not at home during the air alert and can’t take him to the shelter myself. I always try to make sure someone is at home with the cats.
This is what life in Ukraine feels like. It is exhausting. #UkrainianView
— Морґана Ле Слей 🏳️🌈любить Шпротика (@publicmental.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 7:28 PM
