re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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The enemy of my enemy is my friend

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Russian warbloggers say that Russian army commanders are causing unnecessary problems for other units, and heavy casualties for their own men, by lying about their successes. This exposes the flanks of neighbouring units and causes men to be sent into unsupported assaults.

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The Russian army has had widespread problems with commanders falsely claiming to have captured objectives – a practice dubbed "taking on credit" – since the early days of the war in Ukraine.

False reporting often takes the form of sending a few expendable men forward to plant a flag on a building in a Ukrainian-held settlement, so that a drone can video it for a report of a successful capture to be sent to HQ. This is termed a "photo fact".

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This has very adverse effects for their men. As one soldier has said, "There is no preliminary reconnaissance, no preliminary artillery preparation, because they had already written off in advance that they had already taken [the target] and no one had given us shells."

Russian warbloggers reports that the line of contact shown on Russian maps is kilometres ahead of the actual line of contact on the ground, due to the extent to which false reports of battlefield successes have distorted senior commanders' assessments.

'Yuri Podolyaka' writes that despite steps taken to discipline officers for false reporting in the 25th Army, the practice of "padding" the line of contact has continued and in some respects got worse:

"Since these same paddings have already grown in some places to EIGHT kilometers (for which someone will certainly receive orders and titles, and the army and the country, respectively, senseless losses).

"And therefore ... I recommend asking the army command a question: why has our army aviation practically not been operating in its zone for many months? Only FABs [air-dropped bombs] are used "in depth".

"Despite the fact that the stormtroopers are literally groaning from the lack of fire support!!!

"Everyone in the army knows the answer to this question (and the command first of all). And I really hope that it will be asked to this very command (I would like to hear the answer).

"In the meantime, unfortunately, I have to state that in THIS SPECIFIC SECTION the enemy's maps lie much less than ours...

"And the "neighbours" of the 25th Army, swearing, go on the attack with uncovered flanks and ... suffer unjustified losses."

The author explains that private complaints about this practice go unanswered; only public denunciations appear to work: "Unfortunately, non-public requests on these topics will not be checked by us. Only publication gives progress to the matter."

"I simply have to do this to try to save the lives of hundreds of our soldiers who are being thrown into assaults without fire support by some of our military leaders (who are thus hiding their own lies)."

'Romanov Light' highlights a recent example. On 6 June 2025, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced the capture of Komar, a settlement near the border of the Donetsk region. The channel reports that this was false:

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"The settlement of Komar, contrary to the official statement of the Ministry of Defence, is not fully controlled by the Russian Armed Forces ... The 36th Army which according to the plan was supposed to take the northern section of the settlement, did not even enter it.

"But it made a false report to the top about the completion of the task, as a result of which the Ministry of Defence announced the capture of the settlement."

The DeepState map shows a sliver of Russian control in the settlement
with most of it as contested territory.

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The Russian claim was based on the raising of a Russian flag on an isolated building in the far south of the settlement, outside of the main population area, in territory which DeepState suggests is still under Ukrainian control.

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'Romanov Light' reports that "now they want to quietly send the 336th Brigade to do the work of taking the northern part, so that the report of the 36th Army coincides with reality. Without the participation of the 36th Army."

He asks whether anyone will be held accountable (unlikely) and recommends that the Russian MOD should create a unit for "checking the real line of contact on the ground for compliance with incoming official reports."

'Tactical Medical Courses' is scathing about the situation: "Shame on the 'commander' who reported to the General Staff that everything was taken. The price of this lie is the lives of the guys who will go to correct the situation."

"And I would really like to see such 'commanders' go ahead of the guys going to their deaths.

"Of course, you can say later that the [Ukrainians] knocked them out / took them / an information leak was made for regrouping and so on, but we all understand perfectly well that this was done so that the 'commander's' arse would not shake in the chair he sits on and…

…from which he can fly off (along with his position), well, and at the same time with the case, maybe also to hang another medal on his chest, or maybe someone else at headquarters.

"You know, I have already spoken about this many times, with the arrival of [Defence Minister] Andrei Removich Belousov, he noted the inadmissibility of lies on the battlefield and in the form of official reports.

"Remember his phrase: 'it is possible to make mistakes, but it is impossible to lie.' So, in some areas, this lie has become many times greater, because of the conventional [formulation] 'colonel cannot be wrong.'"

Roman Alekhine agrees about the problem, but points out that structures are supposedly already in place to resolve it in the form of headquarters representatives – who have been ineffective in dealing with many of the other critical frontline problems.

"Again a lie and again because of lies ordinary Russian soldiers will die . Moreover, most often because of lies the most effective ones die, because they are driven to correct the lies and mistakes of lying generals.

"Although ['Romanov Light's proposal] is a half measure, because, firstly, the General Staff, as we remember from August 2024 in the Kursk region, is not very interested in the truth and itself broadcasts things that are far from the real situation, secondly, the commissars…

…could study and report not only on the real line of contact, but also on the material support of units, on discipline, on the introduction of innovations, on the real effectiveness of what different services purchase under the guise of effective and innovative products.

"And this is already we are talking about something completely different, but also about what has already happened: about the representatives of the Supreme Headquarters."

'Yuri Podolyaka' corroborates the ineffectiveness of interventions by headquarters representatives, who he says are more interested in stopping leaks than fixing problems. After he publicly complained about false reporting, the 3th Army carried out three inspections:

"True, I don't know what the army command told them and how they convinced them (probably killed several more groups of soldiers to get a "photo fact"), but according to my information, this commission did not reveal the fact of "padding of successes".

"But even so, this result is obvious progress. When in the fall of 2024 I sounded the alarm about padding in the 3rd Army, the first two commissions, unfortunately, did not check the facts presented, but looked for my sources (information leaks).

"And only as a result of the work of the third commission, the heads of high-ranking liars flew, and 'in commercial quantities'. And the situation in the army immediately improved."

Even then, as he points out, it took only a few months for the situation to deteriorate again and become worse than ever. It highlights how much this is the product of Russia's military culture, not just individual corrupt commanders.

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Now we know the valid reason that 20,000 Patriot Missile proximity fuses were sent to Israel instead.

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Rarely is this actually true, especially in the history of the mideasst.

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