A Ukrainian strike in occupied Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov coast has killed 51 Russians in a special forces brigade.
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Commander Magyar confirms an overnight strike by Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Drones of the 1st Separate Unmanned Systems Center hit a command post and troop concentration of Russia’s 14th GRU Special Purpose Brigade near Berdianske, Donetsk Oblast, reportedly killing 51 and wounding 74 more.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 28, 2025 at 4:20 AM
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According to intelligence data, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) carried out a strike on a deployment site of a special forces unit of Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU).
militarnyi.com/en/news/ukra...
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— Militarnyi (@militarnyi.com) December 28, 2025 at 8:30 AM
According to the CyberBoroshno project, drones struck five buildings, with one of them hit twice. Ukrainian-made FP-1 and FP-2 drones were used in the attack.
If confirmed, the losses would represent the largest single incident in the history of both the brigade and the GRU overall.
For comparison, total GRU special forces losses during the first and second Chechen wars were estimated at about 320 personnel.
In a single night of fighting in Ukraine, the brigade may have lost nearly half that number.
Everyone who participate in this atrocity deserves to burn in hell.
Ukraine and Russia agree to a temporary ceasefire at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to allow for repairs.
Ukraine hit the Syzran refinery once again plus a warehouse for Shaheds.
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⚡️Russia's Syzran Oil Refinery under attack by Ukrainian drones, media reports.
The refinery was attacked multiple times in the night, residents claimed. An electrical substation in Syzran was also hit, causing blackouts in the city.
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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) December 27, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Air travelers in Moscow were inconvenienced. What a shame.
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✈️❌ More than 270 flights were delayed on arrival and departure at Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports in Moscow during the restrictions.
69 planes were diverted to alternate airfields, and 42 flights were canceled.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 27, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Trains were also inconvenienced.
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Rail link between Russia and Crimea disrupted after a freight train derailed in Rostov region overnight. 20 trains delayed, 7 heading to occupied Crimea, waits up to 4.5 hours. Moscow just put up 143 billboards advertising New Year holidays on the peninsula.
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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 4:55 AM
A Russian radar designed to detect drones gets taken out by, you guessed it, drones.
The Valday Multi-Role Radar System is equipped with a three-dimensional (3D) X-band radar, along with optical and electro-optical tracking modules.
The system also includes equipment for detecting and direction-finding UAV control links and can be integrated with electronic warfare (EW) systems. This significantly enhances its capabilities for countering drone threats.
The core component of the system is a 3D surveillance radar operating in the X-band, with a wavelength of approximately 3 centimeters.
Russians on Chinese golf carts go on a suicide charge across an open snow-covered field. It ends badly.
A Russian tank gets swarmed by a hungry pack of drones.
Stand still like a statue so the drone can hit you better.
2/ As Svyatoslav Golikov puts it, the tactic reflects "the instructor sect of witnesses of freezing, which gave birth to the heresy of the pillars of salt, [which] is now also churning out dead possums…
3/ "If soldiers have been frozen like statues on a postcard time after time for months, it means they were fed a single instruction: freeze if you see or hear a kamikaze. Regardless of any circumstances whatsoever. Just freeze.
4/ "Most likely, this instruction was reinforced with tales about the operator's peripheral vision and the poor picture quality from the kamikaze cameras. I wouldn't be surprised if there's also a story about the kamikaze reacting to motion sensors."
5/ Andrey Filatov explains this in terms of rapid technological development and the economics of Ukraine's drone capabilities. He comments that in early 2024 he wrote that freezing might help to avoid drone operators spotting a target, but that doesn't work now:
6/ "Humans are physiologically designed to constantly scan for movement. If you're moving, and the operator hasn't yet seen you, they might notice movement in their peripheral vision and then focus on you.
7/ "But when I wrote that, firstly, there weren't many birds [drones] around. Secondly, their cameras were truly very poor. This calls for a crash course in economics and the free market for our useless colonels in charge of training, who for some reason can't even think of it themselves.
This guy just ducked his head to avoid the drone’s first pass, then he just casually walks away while the drone hits him from behind.
These guys didn’t freeze when the drones hunted them down. Running didn’t work either.
This report says Ukraine is preparing for a counter assault at Pokrovsk.
Kupiansk is still looking good and Hrabovske is still looking bad.
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‼️ ~100 Russians entered Hrabovske in Sumy region, they squeezed in only at one specific point, — Trehubov
"Russians are not trying to cut off our logistics, because the distance there is only 1 km from border."
👀 Russians are surrounded in Kupyansk with no prospects of deblockade.
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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Speaking of Kupiansk, it is a kill zone for Russians, who claim Ukrainian drones are so plentiful that 17 drones were sent to take out one guy.
Seventeen? I doubt that. But let the Russians think there are 17 drones out there waiting for each of them.
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A Russian war blogger says assault troops on the Kramatorsk sector now “enter” positions one by one on foot, guided by a lone Mavic because “the whole sky belongs to the enemy.” In one case Ukrainians sent 17 FPV drones at a single soldier; Russian units there have no drones.
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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 6:15 AM
The concentration of enemy drone operators in this sector is off the charts. Yesterday evening the enemy launched seventeen FPV drones at a single soldier at once. All reached their target. After the first FPV hit, the soldier began giving himself first aid with our medkit. But then another sixteen arrived immediately. This happened while the soldier was crossing a small river - most likely he will never be found.
ISW predicts another year of Russia grinding it out.
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NEW: Russian forces are currently unable to build out a strategic reserve and will therefore likely be constrained to grinding, slow advances at their current rate and scale in the coming year.
Read the full Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment: isw.pub/UkrWar122725
Other Key Takeaways ⬇️
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— Institute for the Study of War (@thestudyofwar.bsky.social) December 27, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Another 1,200 Russians plus five tanks.
Adios, au revoir, hasta luego, ciao, do svidaniya.
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☠️ Another propagandist and war correspondent from Samara has been eliminated in Ukraine. The so-called director and photographer, Oleg Rakshin, while on a combat mission, has permanently stopped lying and glorifying Russian murderers.
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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 7:45 AM
The burial business is booming.
The BBC has a good story about how Putin politically neutered Russia’s oligarchs with a combination of punishment for opposing the war and big profits for supporting it.
The story cites banker Oleg Tinkov, who criticized the war on Instagram as “crazy.” He was forced to sell his bank for only 3% of what it was worth.
The run-up to the invasion was very bad for Russia's billionaires, and so was its immediate aftermath.
According to Forbes magazine, in the year to April 2022, their number fell from 117 to 83 because of the war, sanctions and a weakened rouble. Collectively, they lost $263bn - or 27% of their wealth each on average.
But the years that followed showed that immense benefits were to be reaped from being part of Putin's war economy.
Lavish spending on the war spurred economic growth of more than 4% a year in Russia in 2023 and 2024. It was good for even those among Russia's ultra-rich who were not making billions directly out of defence contracts.
Good grief.
Well … it beats muddy puddle water.
The process of installing and maintaining anti-drone netting over roads is explained.
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Near Pokrovsk, combat engineers restore anti-drone net tunnels every day — shielding supply routes,medical evacuation,troop rotations under constant FPV drone threat.
The enemy keeps striking these lifelines:nets are torn apart, supports collapse.Repairs are carried out under
📹7corpsDSHV
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— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) December 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Belarus dictator Lukashenko decided to play hockey. Other than being old, slow and overweight he is ready for the NHL. The only thing he might be good for is crushing an opposing player against the boards.
I hope No. 68 didn’t get arrested.
Fortunately she is still too young to understand the loss.
Santa and his eight tiny drones deliver presents to children.
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Ukrainian military personnel perform difficult and dangerous missions every day. However, even under these conditions, they find opportunities to care for others. This time, they cared for children, for whom holidays remain important despite the war💙💛
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— UNITED24 (@u24.gov.ua) December 28, 2025 at 8:38 AM
A triumphant return to the stage.
