Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Elena Kuleshova and Yuri Zainashev
[REGNUM] On the night of July 21, Moscow was hit by a record rainfall — the most powerful in the history of observations since the mid-19th century. Streets in some areas of the capital turned into rivers, and two bridges collapsed in the Moscow region. The authorities called on city residents to stay home if possible. Presumably, Muscovites called ambulances to their homes more often, and traffic police patrols were more often called out to accidents. On such days, weather forecasters do not want to remember their own predictions about “hellish heat.”
Muscovites were asked to stay home if possible, and to be extremely careful when outside, not to take shelter under trees, and not to park cars under them.
THE TRANSPORT WAS SINKING
Muscovites and residents of the near Moscow region posted numerous photos and videos online, showing flooding on the streets, with cars one-third submerged in water. For example, such a picture was taken in the city of Odintsovo.
Traffic was temporarily closed in some parts of the capital: on Volokolamsk Highway, on Admiral Kornilov Street, on Shelepikhinskaya Embankment and on Proektiruemy Proezd (Nagatinskaya Embankment).
City residents were advised not to use cars until the evening, when the intensity of precipitation is expected to decrease. Instead, it is suggested to use public transport, since it was generally operating normally. However, as an employee of the Regnum news agency was convinced, tram service in the area of the Danilov Monastery was also interrupted.
A total of over 130 flights were cancelled or delayed at the capital's airports.
THE REGION NEAR MOSCOW WAS FLOODED
A similar flood was observed in the Moscow region. More than 80% of the monthly norm fell in one day, said leading specialist of the Phobos center Evgeny Tishkovets. According to him, the heaviest downpours occurred in Kolomna, Nemchinovka and New Jerusalem, as well as at the Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. In the capital, 50 liters of water fell per square meter in one day, and the heaviest rains occurred in the northwest of the city - in the Mitino and Zelenograd districts, the forecaster added.
"A concrete bridge washed out and fell due to rain in the Naro-Fominsky district at night. Part of the village of Aleksino, SNT "Vereiskoye" and "Isma" were cut off from communication," said a representative of the emergency services. According to the source, they began to dismantle the old bridge and build a new crossing, to fill it. Moreover, the work was planned to be completed by midday. Rescue workers are now ferrying local residents by boat.
By mid-day, a second overpass in the Moscow region had also fallen — a road bridge in the SNT Yubileiny-110 in the Istrinsky District. "The bridge over the Pesochnaya River collapsed. Several houses were cut off from traffic," the agency's source said.
FREQUENT ROAD ACCIDENTS
Experienced traffic police officers say that accidents happen more often during floods. "On the one hand, there are traffic jams everywhere, the average speed drops. It would seem that there should be fewer accidents, but there usually aren't fewer of them, " a former traffic police officer tells IA Regnum. "The thing is that the psychological state starts to play a role. Drivers can get nervous, lose patience and step on the gas."
In addition, a factor such as aquaplaning affects accidents. "If a car gets into high water, and especially if it is in a rut, it floats a little on its tires and therefore loses control. Another point is that some drivers even in such weather indulge in speed, drive fast and end up covering oncoming or neighboring cars in traffic with a wave, flooding the windshield. And for some time the driver completely loses visibility," the former traffic cop notes.
According to some insurance company studies, the frequency of accidents in rainy weather increases by an average of 30%. Insurers cite five main reasons: slippery roads (75%), failure to keep a safe distance (64%), poor visibility (54%), distractions (47%) and drowsy drivers (40%).
LOTS OF AMBULANCES
"There are more calls in rainy weather, " Andrey Zvonkov, an ambulance doctor, tells IA Regnum. "Atmospheric pressure drops, and people's blood pressure drops as a result." Hypertensive patients - people with atherosclerotic vessels - react to this more acutely than those with elastic vessels and no autonomic disorders, the doctor explains.
"Imagine a situation where you take a balloon filled with air and place it in a room where the air is being pumped out. What happens? The balloon inflates until it bursts. A person's kidney problems may suddenly worsen - a blood vessel inside will burst. That's why people call the ambulance more often in hot weather or before a thunderstorm," says Zvonkov.
However, during rainy seasons, unfounded calls are more common, which also "spoil" the statistics. "Give me a full check-up, I don't feel well," but the real reason is that I just don't want to go to the clinic in such weather," Zvonkov complains.
"We were recently called to the 11th floor, the elevator broke down, and the ambulance was walking up, with tongues on their shoulders (all equipment was taken with them, according to orders). And the patient was waiting for us with a phone in her hands - she was recording on camera how the team was "slowly" arriving at the call. The woman was given a referral, but on the same day she called again, saying that she "lost the paper", - the doctor is indignant.
WHERE IS THE "HELLISH HEAT"?
The previous heavy rainfall hit Moscow and some areas of the Moscow region on July 15. Then, in a few hours, a month's worth of precipitation fell, and some areas were flooded.
In mid-spring, the Hydrometeorological Center did not rule out that July and August would become record-breaking hot and the thermometer would often exceed +35 degrees.
It is risky to make such long-term forecasts; seasonal forecasts are not distinguished by their “falsifability” at all, Alexander Shuvalov, a weather forecaster and climatologist, told IA Regnum.
He believes that "the location and intensity of rain can be predicted only 24 hours in advance, storm warnings - several hours in advance. More general forecasts are in the range of 3-5 days. Personally, I very rarely undertake to predict the weather for a month. A week is possible, no more."
However, according to the climatologist, predictions for 10 years ahead can be made more confidently.
"If Muscovites are now walking ankle-deep in water, then in ten years, perhaps, they will be wading knee-deep after such downpours. Over time, both the frequency and intensity of downpours will increase. A flood does not depend on the amount of precipitation, but on precipitation per unit of time. There are very short "take-offs" of half a bucket per square meter in just 10 minutes. And such "take-offs" form a wave, which then forces us to walk ankle-deep," the scientist explained.
"The downpour passed through the central region of Russia: yesterday it affected Lipetsk, Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets. Today - Moscow. But this zone of precipitation has finished its reign over Moscow, " the weather forecaster predicts. "Gradually, its most active part is moving to the northwest. But there is still rain in Ryazan, the train of which is moving towards the capital."
According to his forecast, the rains will continue until Thursday, and on Friday the weather will improve, warming up to 25-27 degrees.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Almost a third of the Russian assaults took place in the Pokrovsk direction. There, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are repelling attacks in the areas of nine populated areas.
Since the beginning of the day, 101 combat clashes between Ukrainian units and Russian invaders have occurred on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report on Monday, July 21.
Thus, in the Severo-Slobodskoy and Kursk directions our soldiers repelled 10 enemy attacks. Three more clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kupyansk direction, two attacks were stopped in the areas of Golubovka and Zeleny Gai.
In the Liman direction, 16 armed clashes occurred near the settlements of Novy Mir, Karpovka, Kolodyazy, Yampolivka, Torskoye and in the direction of the settlements of Serebryanka, Sredneye, Shandrigolovo, Grigorovka. Seven armed clashes are ongoing.
In the Seversky direction, the enemy attacked twice in the Serebryanka area.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy advanced six times in the area of Belaya Gora and towards Predtechnoye. One combat clash is still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, the invaders attacked eight times in the areas of Dilievka, Romanovka, Aleksandro-Kalinovo and in the direction of Katerinovka and Pleshchievka. Two clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsk direction, battles of varying intensity began 29 times near the settlements of Udachnoye, Novoekonomicheskoye, Lisovka, Zvirovo, in the direction of Novoukrainka, Pokrovsk, Dachnoye, Mirnograd, Mayak. Two enemy attacks are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the aggressors tried to advance nine times in the areas of the settlements of Zvezda, Poddubnoye, Mirnoye, Dachnoye and in the direction of the settlements of Aleksandrovograd, Voskresenka. Five clashes are still ongoing.
In the Orekhov direction, the occupiers attacked three times in the Kamenskoye area.
In the Pridneprovsk direction there was one clash with the occupiers, who attacked in the direction of Pridneprovsk. The enemy had no success.
Let us recall that in the course of 24 hours on July 20, Russia lost almost 1,200 fighters killed and wounded. The total number of losses of the enemy army is approaching 1.1 million people.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 20:09 Ministry of Defense RF:
UAV crews of the Southern Military District destroy the enemy in camouflaged fortifications in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
Reconnaissance and strike units of the Southern Group of Forces destroyed two enemy weapons in the Donetsk People's Republic.
Operators of attack UAVs of the "East" force grouping hit enemy transport in the South Donetsk direction.
20:01 Special operation. Situation and maineventson July 21.
The Russian Armed Forces carried out a group strike at night, using it against Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises and the infrastructure of military airfields, the Ministry of Defense reported.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 1,260 servicemen in one day.
Three Patriot air defense missile launchers and a multifunctional radar were destroyed, the military department reported.
Overnight, 74 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian regions, including 23 over the Moscow region, 15 of which were flying to Moscow, and another 33 during the day, the Defense Ministry reported.
18:26 Servicemen of the 40th Separate Guards Krasnodar-Harbin Twice Red Banner Naval Infantry Brigade of the Pacific Fleet of the North group continue to carry out tasks to create a “security zone”, –video.
17:16 North Scouts detected the advance of a Ukrainian Armed Forces pickup truck from the village of Russkaya Lozovaya (Khar'kov region) in the direction of Liptsy, where, as a result of our firepower, the enemy began to experience a shortage of manpower.
The coordinates were transmitted to the FPV operators of the Ostrog Group from the 11th AK, who tracked down and destroyed the enemy pickup.
16:29 Crew of the T-72B3M tank of the 29th Combined Arms Army of the "East" group of forces destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Zeleny Gai in the Donetsk People's Republic.
16:19 In the period from 12.20 Moscow time to 15.00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed and intercepted 19 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type
Six over the territory of the Bryansk region,
Five over the territory of the Moscow region,
Four over the territory of the Oryol region,
Two over the territory of the Kaluga region,
Two over the territory of the Smolensk region.
16:15 Krasnoarmeyskoye direction. Advance of assault troops within the boundaries of the village of Zverevo, –MAP.
15:32 Destruction of equipment of the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement Novoselovka, –video.
15:08 Ministry of Defense RF:
In the Krasnoarmeysk direction, strike drone crews left the enemy without communications, destroying antennas, repeaters and heavy drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units.
In the Orekhov direction, UAV operators accurately hit a Ukrainian Armed Forces bunker.
14:26 North group Scouts discovered the location of the Ukrainian Armed Forces tank, camouflaged in a forest in the Sumy region.
The coordinates were transmitted to FPV operators from the 40th Naval infantry Brigade, who carried out several targeted strikes on the Ukrainian T-72 tank.
14:08 On frames: arrival of the LMUR on the PVD and PU of the UAV of the 102nd Territorial Brigade (local levies) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Chervone.
14:07 Konstantinovskoye direction. Assault aircraft of the Russian 4th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade are advancing in the area of Belaya Gora, –MAP.
13:50 Konstantinovskoye direction. Fighters of the 33rd Motorized Rifle Regiment are advancing in the plantings north of Yablonovka, –MAP.
12:33 In the period from 8.30 Moscow time to 12.00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed 14 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type:
Eight over the territory of the Kaluga region,
Two each over the territories of the Bryansk, Tula and Oryol regions.
12:31 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation as of July 21, 2025
Tonight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike with high-precision long-range air, land and sea-based weapons, including Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, as well as strike unmanned aerial vehicles, against enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and the infrastructure of military airfields.
The strike target has been achieved. All designated objects have been hit.
Units of the North group of forces improved their tactical position. Manpower and equipment of the mechanized, airborne assault brigades, airborne assault and assault regiments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Pavlovka, Varachino, Sadki and Kondratovka in Sumy Oblast.
In the Khar'kov direction, units of the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Volchansk and Melovoe in the Khar'kov region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 190 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, nine cars and four artillery pieces.
Units of the "West" group of forces improved their position along the front line. Formations of two mechanized, assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Torskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic and Kupyansk in the Khar'kov region.
The enemy's losses amounted to more than 230 servicemen, 14 vehicles and a field artillery gun. Four electronic warfare stations and six ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the "Southern" group of troops occupied more advantageous lines and positions, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, mountain assault, airmobile brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Konstantinovka, Ivanopolye, Dronovka, Zakotnoye and Seversk of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost up to 140 servicemen, three combat armored vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, five cars, two artillery pieces. An ammunition depot and three supply depots were destroyed.
Units of the "Center" group of forces improved their tactical position. Formations of two mechanized, two assault, airborne brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a National Guard brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Artemovka, Oktyabrskoye, Krasnoarmeysk, Udachnoye Novoekonomicheskoye and Poltavka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to 425 servicemen, a tank, three armored combat vehicles, 12 pickups, and three artillery pieces.
Units of the "East" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense. The manpower and equipment of two mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and two territorial defense brigades were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Iskra, Zeleny Gai of the Donetsk People's Republic, Novogeorgievka of the Dnipropetrovsk region and Novoselivka of the Zaporizhia region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 215 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, eight cars, two field artillery pieces and two ammunition depots.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two territorial defense brigades in the areas of the settlements of Antonovka, Belozerki in the Kherson region and Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhia region.
Up to 60 servicemen, seven vehicles, three artillery pieces, six electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots were destroyed.
Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted damage on ammunition depots, an assembly shop for unmanned aerial vehicles, a territorial center for manning the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as temporary deployment points of Ukrainian formations, nationalists and foreign mercenaries in 142 districts.
Three Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers and a US-made AN/MPQ-65 multifunctional radar station were destroyed.
Air defense systems shot down a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and 397 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed:
664 aircraft,
283 helicopters,
71,463 unmanned aerial vehicles,
622 anti-aircraft missile systems,
24,287 tanks and other armored combat vehicles,
1,577 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems,
27,667 field artillery pieces and mortars,
38,522 units of special military vehicles.
11:03 FPV drone operators of the 83rd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 69th Motorized Rifle Division of the Leningrad Military District provide our units with reliable protection in the skies of the Khar'kov region.
On frames: objective control of the destruction of three heavy enemy copters shot down by our UAV crews in the area of the village of Ambarnoye.
09:46 Our scouts arrived in a timely manner discovered the location of the self-propelled artillery unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and FPV drone operators of the 30th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 44th Army Corps carried out a targeted attack, destroying the Bogdana self-propelled artillery unit.
08:28 During the past night, from 23:20 Moscow time on July 20 to 7:00 Moscow time on July 21, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 74 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles:
23 UAVs over the territory of the Moscow region,
14 UAVs over the territory of the Kursk region,
12 UAVs over the territory of the Rostov region,
10 UAVs over the territory of the Bryansk region,
10 UAVs over the territory of the Kaluga region,
Four UAVs over the territory of the Tula region,
One UAV over the territory of the Lipetsk region.
07:33 Changes to map over the past 24 hours:
Settlement of Belaya Gora was liberated;
Advance in the area of the settlement of Rusin Yar.
⚡️🇷🇺Footage of an assault on a powerful fortification — a brick factory in Malaya Tokmachka, Zaporizhia Front by an assault group from the 🇷🇺42nd Guards Division.
Note one of the BMPs was hit early on but dropped off the infantry and provided fire support pic.twitter.com/rKQ0tcQTNS
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The third round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine may take place on July 23 or 24 in Istanbul. This was reported by the Independent Türkçe publication, citing sources.
"A meeting of Russian and Ukrainian delegations is expected in Istanbul this week. The talks could take place on Wednesday or Thursday," the publication says.
Information about the place, time and composition of the delegation is not disclosed.
According to the publication, the parties will discuss humanitarian aid, prisoner exchange, and ensuring infrastructure security.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the first negotiations between Moscow and Kiev after a three-year break took place in Istanbul on May 16. The parties agreed to present their vision of a possible end to the conflict. The second round of negotiations took place in Istanbul on June 2. At this meeting, representatives of the Russian delegation handed over to their Ukrainian colleagues a draft memorandum with the terms of a peaceful settlement of the crisis.
Zelensky discussed with the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov the preparation of another exchange and a new meeting with the Russian side in Turkey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations will hold a third round of talks in Istanbul this week. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 23. He said this in an evening address
According to Zelensky, today he discussed with the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov the preparation of another exchange and a new meeting with the Russian side in Turkey.
"Umerov reported that the meeting is planned for Wednesday. There will be more details tomorrow," he noted.
As reported, according to Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Moscow has confirmed its interest in holding a third round of negotiations with Ukraine.
Let us recall that on June 2, the second round of negotiations between the delegations of Ukraine and Russia took place in Istanbul . Following the meeting, the parties agreed on further exchanges of certain categories of military personnel and the exchange of bodies of the dead. Kiev also handed over a list of several hundred Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
For their part, the Russians handed over their so-called “memorandum” and stated that they were offering Kiev a temporary ceasefire in certain areas of the front.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Gregor Spitzen
[REGNUM] Videos of forced mobilization (or “busification” or “mogilization”) have been regularly appearing on social media and news reports from Ukraine for a long time, at least since mid-2023. How do Europeans react to them? I haven't posted videos or news about press gangs since they began two years ago because it is simply Ukraine fighting total war against Russia; it was unnecessary, IMO, to put it on blast, as young folks say. No different than press gangs in 19th century England.
We had enough stories about such things in the early days — and the Russian sources mentioned it from time to time, so it was clear this was not a short term issue. No need to belabour it.
Unfortunately, in Germany, the self-censorship mechanisms of the mainstream media work like clockwork, and therefore the majority of Germans, accustomed to believing in the printed word and getting their news from the evening bulletins of the state television channels ARD and ZDF, are still convinced that only highly motivated “volunteers” are fighting on the front lines for Kyiv.
The truth about the realities of the Bandera-style recruitment is gradually seeping into German society at the level of rumors. However, actual footage of what is happening on the streets of Ukraine is a real shock for most citizens.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
By mid-2023, the most passionate part of Ukrainians and foreign “soldiers of fortune” who expressed a desire to fight and die under the Ukrainian “trident” and banners with near-Nazi symbols were already at the front.
However, the notorious “counteroffensive”, designed to at least return the lost territories of Zaporozhye and Kherson, and then - who knows! - maybe even aim for Crimea, demanded more and more portions of cannon fodder from the Ukrainian leadership.
By that time, skepticism about the military prospects of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had already begun to grow in Ukrainian society. In direct proportion to this, the determination of potential recruits to don a military uniform and go into the trenches began to decline. Moreover, bad rumors had already begun to circulate in the rear about the frankly brutal treatment of soldiers by the command staff, delays in salary, officers' extortions from privates, and the ingrained practice of writing off soldiers killed in battle as missing in action in order to avoid compensation payments to their relatives.
In the conditions of a massive shortage of infantry, the Kyiv authorities resorted to an extremely unpopular, but necessary measure - forced mobilization.
The monstrous footage of how “recruiters” from the TCC, spitting on the law and human rights, break the necks of unfortunate wretches on the streets, who were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is truly shocking.
Why is it that in Germany, where the constitutional rights of citizens are so reverently treated, footage of forced mobilization in Ukraine has not yet become publicly available?
There are several reasons for this.
CENSORSHIP AND SELF-CENSORSHIP OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN GERMANY
Public opinion does not exist in a vacuum. It is shaped by the media.
Approximately 95% of the media market in Germany is controlled by television channels and publishing concerns, which can be conditionally classified as part of the political mainstream.
If we leave aside media that are considered frankly marginal (like the “right-wing” magazine Compact, which the German Interior Ministry recently even tried to close for “political extremism”), there are only two more or less popular media outlets left in the German media field that dare to publish materials from time to time that partially contradict the all-German narrative in the context of Ukraine: the newspapers Junge Welt and Berliner Zeitung.
But even in them, the authors, with all due respect, try to avoid the most sensitive topics that could lead to accusations of “pro-Russian propaganda” and “spreading Putin’s narratives.”
As for other popular media, it is quite obvious that since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, their editorial policy in the context of Ukraine is coordinated from a single center.
This is clearly demonstrated in the case of the coverage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike on the center of Belgorod on December 31, 2023, which killed many civilians. At that time, all German media were plunged into deathly silence for several hours, interrupted only by a couple of short lines of news from the Tagesschau website about two people killed after the Ukrainian attack.
After this, a calm settled over the German information space for several hours, and then the leading media of the first echelon began to issue their versions of events one after another. By some incomprehensible coincidence, the language, the formulations, and the accents used in the publications of the German media, of course, justifying the Ukrainian side, were similar, like twin brothers.
This usually happens when all media outlets get their information from a single source - such as a press release or a news feed from a news agency - or when they tacitly decide, for whatever reason, to stick to a single version of events.
Apparently, a similar decision – to hush up the events as much as possible and ignore reality – was made in the unified German media coordination center regarding the forced mobilization in Ukraine.
GERMANS' SACRED FAITH IN DEMOCRACY AND FREE MEDIA
If you talk to the average citizen about the media market in Germany, you can be truly surprised at the fairy-tale world in which the average German lives.
The idea that there are no state media in Germany and that all top-tier newspapers and television channels adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards in their work could be laughable.
However, the Germans believe in these dogmas quite seriously.
Not long ago, the author conducted an experiment with one of his German friends, a 50-year-old lawyer, a member of the Die Linke party and a city council member, living and practicing in one of the seaside towns in East Germany.
Showing him the July 5, 2025 Spiegel article “ Russian Generals and Their End,” the author asked him to read the excerpt about the terrorist attack against Zaur Gurtsiev and to point out the primitive manipulation techniques used by the Hamburg journalists:
"In June, the governor of Stavropol Krai reported on Telegram about an incident in the city of the same name. Former commander Zaur Gurzhiev died in an explosion. The 33-year-old veteran was awarded military medals for his part in the bombing of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Thousands of civilians are estimated to have died in the Russian attacks on the city."
As predicted, an educated person with a degree in law considered the material absolutely correct. And only after an explanation "on the fingers" was he able to discern the manipulative technologies.
In the FAZ publication, which tells of the alleged systematic rape of 60-year-old Ukrainian grandmothers by 20-year-old Russian soldiers, the respondent also initially failed to discern the blatantly Goebbelsian propaganda narratives and more or less saw the light only after a detailed academic explanation.
The same person was sincerely convinced that dozens of videos of forced mobilization in Ukraine, which the author sent him on WhatsApp, were filmed at Mosfilm and were textbook examples of the lying technologies of Russian propaganda.
Only after the article about the forced mobilization in Ukraine being not entirely a myth was published in the “handshake” newspaper Die Welt, the German comrade reluctantly agreed to admit that the video with cases of “busification” of unfortunate Ukrainian recruits could be true.
A link to a publication in Russian media is considered unreliable by default. Just like a link to, for example, an American media outlet that challenges the media mainstream. Fox News or The New York Post are also not authoritative for the average citizen.
DID YOU READ ABOUT THIS ON TELEGRAM?!
Telegram has been stigmatized in Germany since the coronavirus pandemic as a social network for terrorists, drug dealers, anti-vaccinationists, and conspiracy theorists. Therefore, any information published even in a verified Telegram channel with several hundred thousand or even millions of subscribers is perceived by the average German with great skepticism.
In Germany in 2021, the German intelligence services and the Ministry of Internal Affairs even raised the issue of a legislative ban on Telegram, but fortunately, things never got to that point.
However, a link to a Telegram channel in Germany is still considered a sign of bad manners, unworthy of a serious discussion with pretensions to academicity.
In more traditional social networks with strict moderation and pro-Ukrainian attitudes of the administration – Facebook*, WhatsApp, Instagram*, X (former Twitter), popular in Germany – the publication of such content is simply not possible.
EVEN IF IT IS TRUE…
However, even if the Germans were convinced that the footage of forced mobilization on the streets of Ukrainian cities is the holy truth, they still have one last argument left in their arsenal:
"Yes, but they don't have enough soldiers at the front... If Germany were attacked, perhaps the same thing would happen to us... After all, according to opinion polls, only 19% of Germans are ready to defend the country with weapons in hand in the event of an enemy attack... Is this right? I don't know..."
So the shock of the Germans from the “busification” by the Kyiv regime of the unconscious citizens of Ukraine who do not want to become “heroes” is nothing more than an insignificant episode that will soon be pushed out of the news agenda by more significant news.
Germans generally prefer not to think about topics that are not very pleasant for them.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The collector of criminal cases reports that two more criminal cases are being prepared against the former deputy defense minister of the Russian Federation, Timur Ivanov, in addition to the ones already established. The Investigative Committee of Russia is preparing to officially present former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov with two new charges as part of the criminal case brought against him in 2025.
This is reported by TASS with reference to law enforcement agencies. It is noted that the new charges against Ivanov are related to the testimony given by businessman Sergey Borodin, who concluded a pre-trial cooperation agreement. Earlier it was reported that investigators opened a new case against the ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Defense of Russia Pavel Popov.
What a versatile person. The number of cases continues to increase, as does the amount of damage caused to the state during the war.
PS. According to Popov. The Investigative Committee intends to bring new charges against the former Deputy Minister of Defense, General of the Army Pavlo Popov, for receiving bribes, writes "Kommersant".
According to the newspaper, the first episode is related to Popov's free living from 2014 to 2024 in an apartment on Frunzenskaya embankment near the Ministry of Defense building. This apartment was given to him by a representative of a contractor engaged in repairs in the department where Popov had an office.
Experts estimated the cost of renting similar housing in this area and came to the conclusion that the material benefit of the official amounted to about 14 million rubles. The second episode of the criminal case concerns the provision by the same contractor to Popov of a Lexus LX 570 SUV for trips. That's a nice ride.
According to experts, if the general had rented this car on a general basis, his expenses would have been about 30 million rubles. Thus, it is precisely this sum that the investigation considers his illegal benefit. Popov himself did not deny the use of the apartment and the car, but he claimed that he did not do this on a regular basis.
According to h. 6 Art. 290 of the Criminal Code (taking bribes) threatens Popov with 8 to 15 years of imprisonment. As Kommersant writes, new episodes in Popov's case became known after the Investigative Committee sent to the prosecutor's office, and then to the court, materials concerning his accomplices — former director of Patriot Park Vyacheslav Akhmedov and ex-deputy head of the Main Department of Innovative Development of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Vladimir Shesterov.
PS. Shesterov recently received 6 years in prison. "Repression in the army" intensified.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] The report about the production of "Geraniums" in Tatarstan made a lot of noise. I was lucky enough to visit there when everything was just getting going and they were assembling up to 25-30 drones a day, not hundreds like now. This was probably the most vivid impression of the development of the domestic military-industrial complex.
The management of the FEZ did a colossal job, pushing through and implementing this project, which turned a simple clone of the Iranian "Shahed" into a permanent problem for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NATO in Ukraine.
Of course, the enemy tried to disrupt the deployment of production in Tatarstan, because it continues to scale. There have already been drone strikes and even a couple of flights to the territory of Alabuga (one flew into a dormitory with foreign students). But this, of course, did not stop the production of "Geraniums". Now the production has increased many times. At the same time, both the quantity and quality are growing, and the strategy and tactics of their use are improving.
One can only dream that in our country large and medium quadcopters are produced at the same rate.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
