Russian Lt. Gen. Fanil Saratov died in a car bombing in Moscow. It is unclear who did it, but it apparently was from a bomb attached to the underside of the car.
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⚡️ High-ranking Russian general killed in Moscow car bombing.
Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff's operational training department, was killed in a car bombing in Moscow on Dec. 22, Russia's Investigative Committee said.
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 22, 2025 at 2:59 AM
You would think that by now the Russian army would assign some expendable flunky to start the cars of generals.
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Over the past year, three Russian lieutenant generals were killed in Moscow car bombings: Ihor Kyrylov (RCB Protection Troops, Dec 2024), Yaroslav Moskalyk (Gen Staff, Apr 2025), and Fanil Sarvarov (Operational Training, Dec 2025). All were close to Putin and personally appointed by him.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 22, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Ukraine has reported that its forces, aided by locals in the Russian city more than 400 km south of Moscow, sneaked into a hangar and set two fighters on fire.
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🔥✈️ GUR conducted an operation at the Lipetsk Air Base taking out of action Su-27 and Su-30!
During the night of 20–21 December 2025, a saboteurs infiltrated the airfield and set ablaze a Su-30 and a Su-27, bearing tail numbers “82” and “12”, inside a protected hangar, then exited undetected.
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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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Russian milbloggers rage after Ukraine showed agents infiltrating Lipetsk-2 airbase, sitting in Su-27/Su-30 cockpits, setting them ablaze, and escaping untouched. They blame poor security, saying airbase staff were reassigned to infantry. “A slap in the face to Gen. Afzalov,” one wrote.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 22, 2025 at 8:13 AM
The leader of a notorious far-right brigade has been killed.
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💀 Stanislav Orlov, the leader of the Espanola brigade, known by the nickname Ispanets, was shot dead at his country house in annexed Sevastopol.
This was one of the most high-profile murders among Z-groups in recent times, ASTRA reports.
militarnyi.com/en/news/lead...
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— Militarnyi (@militarnyi.com) December 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Orlov created the Espanola Reconnaissance and Sabotage Brigade, under the auspices of which hundreds of far-right extremists and neo-Nazis fought, in 2022.
The unit is known for its brutality against prisoners of war and civilians. In particular, the Espanola called for the ‘removal of genitals’ and ‘cutting off the lips to expose the jaw’ of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and only those who cooperate with the Russian army are considered civilians.
Here’s a Moscow Time story on Orlov.
Espanola, an ultranationalist paramilitary group fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine, confirmed on Friday the death of its leader, Stanislav Orlov, under unclear circumstances.
Orlov, callsign “Spaniard,” founded Espanola in the spring of 2022, soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, as part of the Vostok Battalion in eastern Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region.
Espanola’s members, including Orlov, are far-right Russian soccer hooligans. Orlov himself was said to have fought alongside pro-Russian forces against the Ukrainian government since 2014.
Broadcaster RTVI, citing anonymous sources, reported on Dec. 10 that Orlov had been killed by return fire during an arrest on arms trafficking charges the previous day. His fate was the subject of online debates in the ensuing days until Espanola confirmed his passing.
It’s been a banner day for Russian scumbags to meet their inglorious ends.
According to the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, Averin and Khmarin were traveling to inspect a forest plot recently purchased by Averin. They set off from the Royal yacht club in Moscow toward the village of Pestovo on a hovercraft known as Sever, which Averin was reportedly operating. The channel said investigators are considering two possible scenarios, both treated as accidental: either the vessel turned and struck ice before capsizing, or it skidded while moving onto the ice, which then broke beneath it.
Ukrainian drones struck the port of Taman, which is on the Russian side of the Kerch Bridge.
Sweden allowed the Russian weapons transport ship Adler to leave Swedish waters.
Here’s an update on the tanker Qendil, which was hit by drones in the Mediterranean. It is following an erratic course near Greece. Still no word on whether Maj. Gen. Averyanov was killed on board.
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🚨🇷🇺🔥 QENDIL's route is no longer coherent with declared destination Aliaga 🇹🇷
Update :
🔸️ Putin confirmed death of Gen. Averyanov in the 🇺🇦 drone attack
🔸️ Spotted by radar on Dec-20 next to IBLEA (other shadow tanker... nice coincidence 👻)
🔸️ In the night of Dec-20-21, shows an erratic route: breakdown?
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— SONARROW (@sonarrow.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 4:19 AM
The way this clash is described sounds like shooting fish in a barrel.
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🇺🇦 Unmanned Systems Commander Robert Brovdi (Magyar) reports Russian forces attacked with mechanized and light vehicles, but Ukraine’s 1st Azov Corps, supported by other units, destroyed 24 armored vehicles and dozens of motorcycles/quads in about 100 minutes. Even horses were lost in the fight.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 22, 2025 at 8:07 AM
This will give Elon a sad.
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Here’s what The Counteroffensive is reading today:
NATO intel warns Russia is developing weapons that create clouds of shrapnel to target Ukraine's Starlink satellites, critical for military activity.
Experts say this could also damage Russia’s satellites.
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— Tim Mak (@timkmak.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Does one guy on a horse qualify as cavalry?
Does a bunch of rockets in a bike basket qualify as an ammo dump?
Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
Speaking of abandoning ship, here is the tanker Valery Gorchakov that was hit earlier in the port at Rostov.
Another Russian infantry column gets smoked.
In Sotnytskyi Kazachok it's a disaster. During the day, up to a platoon of soldiers was sent "in single file" to the settlement, where the only cover is a hole in the ground. The enemy is already savoring footage of artillery and drones tearing the guys apart.
Heavy losses due to another commanders' stupidity.
An update from the Sumy region.
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A quick update too from Sumy region, and that border crossing by Russia around Hrabovske.
The territorial map shows a little more grey zone, which was expected after a Ukraine commander admitted a partial withdrawal. But Russia does not have control there.
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— Tim White (@twmcltd.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Another 1,120 Russians who became statistics. Plus three tanks.
Orban is going to have to work harder to steal the election.
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💥📉 A fresh bombshell poll in Hungary by a reputable pollster shows Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz trailing opposition leader Péter Magyar’s TISZA, 36–53. Despite throwing everything at Magyar in recent weeks, the gap has only widened.
Just four months to go until Hungary's parliamentary election.
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— Szabolcs Panyi (@szabolcspanyi.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Maybe Russia could have pulled this off four years ago, but how “rapid” would their invasion be if they sent infantry on crutches backed by Chinese golf carts, donkeys and scooters?
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Russia could attack Estonia through rapid invasion to capture Narva or a hybrid Crimea-style annexation with disinformation and special forces, European Council on Foreign Relations reports. Both scenarios would end in strategic disaster for Moscow.
ecfr.eu/publication/...
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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Flamingo missiles aren’t ready for prime time, according to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
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People's Deputy and fifth president of Ukraine Poroshenko commented on the FP-5 Flamingo missile, saying, “They exist, but they don’t hit targets. They look impressive on launch, but rely on old limited engines. Flamingo only works effectively when paired with Neptune; on its own, it misses.”
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 21, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I’m waiting for the day that the Kremlin has to be covered in drone nets.
More than 200 pets, many of them from Mariupol, found dead at a Russian animal shelter.
The “Forgotten Hearts” shelter is run by local activist Tatyana Makarova, who has previously collected donations for animal welfare and given media interviews. In one such interview, she said that following the start of the war in Ukraine, by July 2022 she had taken in around 100 animals evacuated from Mariupol and other settlements in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, The Insider reported.
Earlier, it was reported that Russian forces started employing animal carcasses as makeshift explosive devices, delivering them by drone to block terrain or strike specific targets.
Images shared by Militarnyi indicate that explosives are hidden inside the bodies of wild animals, with the charges wrapped in fabric and deliberately positioned within the remains. The devices are then mounted on drones and dropped onto designated areas.
I have zero sympathy for De Wever.
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🇧🇪👀 Belgium PM Bart De Wever clashed with Politico after being labeled "Russia’s most valuable asset":
"Now I have to go to my dacha in Saint Petersburg, where my neighbor is Depardieu and across the street is Assad. […] If you write about it, be sure to say I was joking and you laughed."
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— Savchenko Volodymyr (@savchenkoua.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Macron also did his part to torpedo Merz’s proposal.
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❗️A quiet rift is deepening between Berlin and Paris: Chancellor Merz's plan to use €210 billion in frozen Russian assets for a major "reparations loan" to Ukraine failed at the EU summit due to blocking by France (Macron), Belgium, and Italy over legal and financial concerns.
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— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@militarynewsua.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Lindsey Graham likes to talk tough, then do nothing.
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US Senator Lindsay Graham on the question what happens if Putin does not stop the war:
„If Putin says no, we need to dramatically change the game, including giving Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine to hit the drone and missile factories that exist in Russia. I will go all-in if Putin says no.“
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— (((Tendar))) (@tendar.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Additional proof (as if any is needed) that JD Vance is an asshole.
This is obscene.
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The russians have opened ticket sales for the Mariupol Drama Theater — the same place they bombed in 2022 w/ hundreds of people inside.
The first performance is scheduled for Dec 25. On the bones of Ukrainians, they plan to stage a "fairy comedy" titled A Gorgeous Wedding.
Via: Mariupol council.
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— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Another Ukrainian Christmas tradition.
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Ukrainian traditions on Christmas Eve.
Many have faded over time,
but some are slowly returning, like the Didukh (I even bought one instead of a Christmas tree this year).
Sunday Letter (please like or share, posts with links reach fewer people): www.patreon.com/posts/sunday...
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— Yaroslava (@strategywoman.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Preparation for Christmas began long before the holiday itself. During the harvest, families set aside grain to make the Didukh (a traditional Ukrainian Christmas symbol made from wheat or rye sheaves). The Didukh was made from the first or the last sheaf of the harvest and carefully preserved until Christmas. It symbolised the harvest, the continuity of life, and the presence of ancestors within the home.
Families also sewed new clothes and sometimes bought new dishes for the holiday. In many regions, twelve days before Christmas Eve, the hostess saved firewood day by day; this wood was later used to light the oven with a "living fire," believed to be sacred.
On December 24, people traditionally fasted all day, and the Holy Supper began only after the first star appeared in the sky, symbolising the Star of Bethlehem. Quarrels were forbidden, nothing was lent out, travel was avoided, and it was important for the whole family to be together. Spending the night away from home was believed to bring a year of wandering.
As evening approached, the table was covered with hay, garlic cloves were placed in its corners for protection, and sometimes a metal chain was wrapped around the table legs − a symbol of unity, strength, and protection from illness.
A tree of hope.
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Kremenchuk, Poltava region, Ukraine. The Christmas tree is powered by a generator, so when a neighborhood loses power, people gather with their children in the city center in the evening. The tree and decorations haven't changed, everything is just as it was before the 2022 full-scale invasion.
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— Katerina Horbunova (@blue-eyed.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Just a couple of Kombat Kitties.
