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Russian stuff blowing up: Trump's rough beast slouches toward Moscow [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-17

Remember just a few days ago when there were reports that Trump was coming to the conclusion that Putin was the obstacle to peace?

Yeah, that didn’t last long.

Trump says now that he will talk to Putin on Monday morning.

x Macron says Trump plans to contact Russia “in the coming hours or days” to discuss next steps in the war on Ukraine. While Europe coordinates with Kyiv in real time, Trump wants to “find out what happened.” Still no pressure on Putin. www.eurointegration.com.ua/news/2025/05...



[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM

Witkoff was supposed to present the US/Europe/Ukraine 22-point ceasefire plan to Putin in a meeting but Putin rejected it out of hand and now Witkoff has called off the meeting.

x Trump: I have a great relationship with Putin. We'll likely make a deal; I'm tired of endless meetings. Steve Witkoff did an incredible job, but I’m the only one who can handle this. Putin’s tired, looks bad, wants to seem strong. If his tanks didn’t get stuck, he’d be in Kyiv.



[image or embed] — WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 3:12 AM

A Ukrainian drone hits a Russian KA-52 helicopter.

x Ukrainian SSO fighters, Bombus Balista unit, hit a Russian Ka-52 helicopter with an FPV drone using remote detonation in Sukhinovka, Kursk Oblast. The aerial detonation occurred on approach to the target.



[image or embed] — WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 12:35 PM

Russia wants peace so badly they bombed a civilian bus and killed nine people.

x Russian forces struck a passenger bus near Bilopillia with a Lancet drone. At least 9 people killed, 4 injured. Rescue operations are ongoing.



[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM

Who could have guessed that Russians would hide in a distillery and wave to the recon drone?

x A gaggle of katsaps hiding in a distillery in #Guevo, #Kursk Oblast, Russia experience the receiving end of a couple French-made AASM HAMMER A2G precision-guided bombs. #OSINT



[image or embed] — OSINT Intuit (@urikikaski.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Strike three.

This article claims that Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian refineries and energy infrastructure have only put a small dent in Russia’s oil production. It says Ukraine could change that by changing targets.

x Footage of Ukrainian long-range drones blasting Russian oil refineries is spectacular -- but they reduced production by only 10%. But there is this one target that could potentially change everything: the irreplaceable German-made cracking units.

euromaidanpress.com/2025/05/17/h...



[image or embed] — Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 5:45 AM

That could change, however. If and when the de facto moratorium finally ends and the refinery raids resume, a small change in tactics could significantly raise the cost to Russia. “To enhance the effect of the strikes, Ukrainian troops should conduct regular attacks on large unique cracking units at modern Russian refineries,” Frontelligence Insight advised. Cracking units are complex systems that break down crude oil. Precision-milled in Germany and other Western countries, the units are delicate and expensive. They’re hard for the Russians to repair, and even harder for them to replace under the current sanctions.

Maybe there is a good reason why Russians keep making these video appeals to Putin, who just ignores them — it is the only vehicle to publicly criticize the war without getting thrown into prison.

x 1/ Officers in a Russian rifle regiment are said to be labelling soldiers as deserters to avoid paying them, beating them, denying medical care, forcing female medics into sex, and sending men into assaults without equipment while telling them to scavenge it on the battlefield. ⬇️



[image or embed] — ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM

2/ The wives, mothers and sisters of men serving with the Russian 54th Motorised Rifle Regiment have published an 'appeal to the Tsar' complaining that their "husbands, sons and fathers are subjected to illegal actions by inhuman beings endowed with power," i.e. army commanders. 3/ One of the mothers says that in the unit, soldiers are illegally labelled as deserters – even when they are still serving – to deprive them and their families of wages and compensation. They are also denied treatment when they are wounded. 4/ "The fighters are not given medical care, but are handcuffed and beaten. When they leave for a combat mission, the fighters are robbed of their phones, maps, personal belongings, and then all of this is simply lost and disappears.” 5/ "The guys are practically not evacuated. If the guys are wounded, they crawl to the designated place, bleeding. Dead soldiers are not evacuated. …. 9/ According to the relatives, men are sent into assaults with little equipment and are told to scavenge what they need on the battlefield, presumably from the corpses of those who were sent before them. …. 17/ According to a text message reportedly from a soldier in the unit, "A medic girl was sent away because she didn't give [sex] to the battalion commander, so he immediately sent her to zeroing." 18/ "That poor thing sat in the trench, hid from the attacks, shook, and then walked back on foot through the minefield. She miraculously survived."

This is encouraging news but it won’t stop the war anytime soon.

x ⚡️Russian economic growth slowing down, Rosstat reports. Russia's economy is slowing down, according to governmental statistics agency Rosstat. GDP only grew by 1.4% in the first quarter of 2025 – a sharp decline from 4.5% growth in the previous quarter and 5.4% in the same period last year.



[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) May 16, 2025 at 10:26 PM

Italy steps up.

x Italy has agreed to send 400 M-113 tracked APC's to Ukraine. The Italian military replaced the M-113's, which are being decommissioned, with the Italian-produced "Dardo" IFV built in Rome by the Iveco Fiat Oto Melara Syndicated Company. #OSINT



[image or embed] — OSINT Intuit (@urikikaski.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 4:47 AM

Belgium steps up.

x 🇧🇪🇺🇦 As part of the annual aid package, Belgium will transfer 20 Cerber air defense systems, about 100 trucks and 5 unmanned sea vessels to Ukraine. 👀❗️ In the fall, developments were underway to create mobile air defense systems for shooting down UAVs; this is probably what we are talking about.



[image or embed] — MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 11:30 AM

Drones continue to get deadlier and countermeasures continue to evolve.

x 🤬 Russia has upgraded its Shahed drones, making them harder to shoot down: ▪️200+ km/h;

▪️fly up to 3 km high,

▪️can dive at 400 km/h;

▪️resist GPS jamming;

▪️carry 90 kg warheads.



[image or embed] — MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 10:11 AM

x Ukraine’s Fulltime Robotics unveiled the SlimBeam laser turret (1.5 kW) to neutralize drones up to 1 km. Specs: 1080 nm wavelength, 20-800 m range, 30 min runtime, 50 kg weight. Can blind drones at 2 km.



[image or embed] — WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 12:21 PM

x ‼️ Russia invests as much in drones in a year as it did in nuclear energy in six years, - The Insider 📌Initial garage startups have turned into some of the largest businesses in the country, attracting about $2.4 billion in investments and receiving no less than $1.6 billion in annual income.



[image or embed] — MAKS 24 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 5:43 AM

Daily Russian casualties drop below 1,000 for the first time in a while.

x Russian losses per 17/05/25 reported by Ukraine's General Staff +910 men (it has been a long time that daily numbers were under 1K)

+6 tanks

+7 AFVs

+34 artillery

+1 MLRS

+155 UAVs



[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 17, 2025 at 12:08 AM

And they’re willing to throw another 50,000 into the meat grinder if necessary.

x Russia lost 50,000 troops trying to take a Ukrainian town with 48 residents—but still failed Ten months, 50,000 casualties, and still no breakthrough in Toretsk. euromaidanpress.com/2025/05/17/r...



[image or embed] — Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 9:38 AM

Russia could lose 100 times their losses from Afghanistan and Putin wouldn’t care.

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