Ukraine pulled off another audacious strike — this time a drone dropped grenades on an empty shadow fleet tanker Qendil that was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. This was north of Benghazi, Libya, more than 2,000 km away. How did the drone(s) get out there?
Also notable — and strange — was the reported presence of Major Gen. Andrey Averyanov, a high-ranking intelligence officer and commander of the notorious GRU Unit 29155 believed responsible for foreign assassinations.
There are reports in Russian media that Averyanov was on board the Qendil when it was attacked, but there has not been official confirmation.
NOTE: I edited the diary headline since the info about the general has not been confirmed yet.
Averyanov was the head of Russia’s Department of Special Tasks hybrid warfare unit and Russia’s operations in Africa. He is also believed to have played a role in the killing of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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☠️ The liquidation of Andrei Vladimirovich Averyanov, Major General of the GRU, has been announced.
Averyanov is responsible for shady dealings and espionage in EU countries, sabotage, and bombings in the EU.
He conducted operations abroad on Putin's orders.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 2:40 AM
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‼️Russian shadow fleet struck in the Mediterranean by SBU quadcopters
The Qendil was struck and disabled, and GRU Unit 29155 commander Maj. Gen. Averyanov was reportedly demilitarized.
There will be no safe places for the Russian aggressor as long as the war continues.
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— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 5:56 AM
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Unconfirmed: GRU General Andrey Averyanov and aides were killed with the ship. Averyanov allegedly oversaw Unit 29155, linked to assassinations, explosions, sabotage, and covert operations across Europe, including the Skripal poisoning and Czech ammo depot blasts; wanted by Czech authorities.
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— The hedgehog (@the-hedgehog.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 2:19 AM
A huge Russian chemical plant is burning. This fertilizer producer is more than 1,100 km northeast of Kharkiv.
Reports today indicate Ukraine launched two Neptune missiles at a target in Saky on the western coast of Crimea, north of Sevastopol.
Russia continues to throw meat into the grinder at Pokrovsk.
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🔥 In the Pokrovsk direction, the Defense Forces have stopped 50 enemy assault actions over the past 24 hours. 123 occupiers have been neutralized, 101 of them irreversibly.
🫡 Most of the enemy attacks took place in the area of responsibility of the 1st Corps of Azov.
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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Ukraine keeps up the pressure on Caspian Sea oil platforms.
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🔥 SBU has hit the third Russian oil production platform in the Caspian Sea
This time, a drilling rig was attacked at the Rakushechne field (named after Valery Graifer). The drone's onboard camera recorded a successful hit in the area of the platform's gas turbine installation.
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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Russia struck a bridge near the Moldovan border with cluster munitions. You don’t use cluster bombs if your intent is to destroy a bridge. Russia also struck this bridge at Mayaki on the Danube River west of Odesa with Shaheds.
Russia bombed a housewarming party.
This would make a juicy target.
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📌Russian troops on the border have deployed a Chinese laser air defense system to counter Ukrainian drones.
It is reported that the system was handed over for testing to the Kochevniki (Nomads – Ed.) unit.
militarnyi.com/en/news/russ...
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— Militarnyi (@militarnyi.com) December 19, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure left much of Rostov and Orel without power.
The EU failed to approve a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, but it did provide a two-year 90 billion Euro loan after stipulating that Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic wouldn’t have to participate.
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❗️The EU has approved a €90B loan for Ukraine for 2026-27, President of the European Council, António Costa announced.
“Ukraine will repay the loan only when Russia pays reparations. We gathered and we delivered,” said Ursula von der Leyen. Belgium called it a victory for Ukraine and intl. law.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 19, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Poland’s foreign minister sums up the attitude toward Hungary’s Orban.
Another 1,220 Russians who became statistics. Plus one more tank.
Adios, scumbag.
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Stanislav “Spaniard” Orlov, commander of Russia’s far-right 88th Brigade “Española,” was eliminated by his own side.
He was reportedly shot dead during an attempted arrest by Russian security forces. The unit is infamous for recruiting extremists and former Wagner fighters.
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— SAINT JAVELIN (@saintjavelin.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Ukraine brought more than 1,000 warriors home.
Who is more delusional? Trump or Putin?
Isn’t that nice of him?
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🥴❗️We are ready to consider ensuring the security of elections in Ukraine, at least by refraining from attacks deep into the territory – Putin.
Russia will demand that Ukrainians living on Russian territory be able to vote on the territory of the Russian Federation.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 7:32 AM
He must be very worried about losing Kaliningrad.
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⚡️ Update: Putin warns Kaliningrad blockade would trigger 'large-scale armed conflict' with Europe.
"Actions of this kind will simply lead to an unprecedented escalation of the conflict, taking it to a completely different level," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 19, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Australia delivers.
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Australia has completed the delivery 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The first 37 arrived in July, with the final 12 now in place after a global logistical effort. ADF crews spent weeks at sea and in Poland preparing the tanks for Ukrainian use, checking weapons, optics, and mobility systems.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 19, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Let’s check in on the Russian economy.
The Starlink war.
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1/ A shadow war is being fought over the Russian army's access to Starlink. The Russians face a constant battle with Starlink itself and Ukrainian hackers deactivating their terminals, and obstruction from the Russian customs service holding up grey imports of Starlink devices.⬇️
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— ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) December 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
2/ Starlink is banned from being exported to Russia, but can be obtained unofficially through grey imports from Central Asia and China. Most Starlink terminals used by Russian forces are obtained by volunteers and shipped across Russia's southern land borders.
3/ However, they are vulnerable to disruption by Starlink itself, which periodically disables terminals located in Russian-held territory, they are targeted by hackers, and the very slow and cumbersome Russian customs process holds up imports for long periods.
4/ Starlink terminals provided by the Russian warblogger Roman Saponkov were recently hacked and disabled, likely by the Ukrainians, cutting off the communications of Russian frontline troops. This has caused bad feelings towards Saponkov due to his team's security failures.
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Valentin Kaskov, CIO of the Special Systems and Technologies Group of Companies, provides more insights:
9/ "Starlink activations are a business. I've been monitoring this segment for over two years, and it never ceases to amaze me—how the pursuit of profit can blind us to investing in basic information security.
10/ "What happened?
Access to the mail server and (possibly) the data server, if there was one, was compromised. Although, most likely, all of Roman's critical information was stored in one bin.
11/ "1. Hacking the infrastructure.Yesterday, the system used by Roman Saponkov was hacked. Around 1,000 accounts he managed were compromised.
12/ "2. Vulnerable mail server.Roman's team used their own mail server with an open web interface. The hackers gained access to it and, consequently, administrative control over the accounts.
13/ "3. Credential theft.The attackers accessed clients' email addresses and changed the email addresses and passwords for their Starlink accounts. Essentially, the accounts were completely hijacked.
14/ "4. Attacks on Starlink equipment.Having gained access, the attackers began remotely rebooting the devices. The terminals were unable to enter operational mode and remained unavailable.
The second army in the world.
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1/ A Russian soldier says that only the "marginalised" – drug addicts, the homeless and the destitute – are joining the Russian army these days . He says that the war continues because people in Russia profit from it and that its aim is to "dominate and humiliate" Ukraine. ⬇️
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— ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 4:22 AM
2/ Former Wagner soldier Ruslan from Dagestan, who is now serving under contract to the Russian Ministry of Defence, tells a friend that many soldiers lack motivation because the goals and reasons for what's happening are unclear to them.
3/ "You ask questions that I don’t have answers to, because even when you ask yourself these questions, you ask yourself: why the fuck am I here? You're trying to find an answer in your head, but there's no answer."
4/ The only motivation, he says, is money. "This [job] is probably for marginalised people, right? You know, those from the provinces, alcoholics, drug addicts, and all sorts of people. Well, I don't know, I can't say. They're just in it for the money."
Switzerland needs to wake up and smell the coffee.
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Switzerland, a supposed bastion of neutrality and individual freedom, sentenced to 18 months in prison in absentia a 49-year old Swiss citizen Avi Motola who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a sniper through 2024, valiantly defending Europe from the Russian fascists.
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— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko.bsky.social) December 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
And finally …
