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Russian stuff blowing up: Ukraine brings home 307 more prisoners [1]
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Date: 2025-05-24
Ukraine brought 307 more of its prisoners home.
x 🇺🇦 307 more Ukrainian defenders have returned home as part of the "1000 for 1000" POW exchange, Zelenskyi announced. Among them are soldiers of the Armed Forces, Border Guard, and National Guard. The exchange is set to continue tomorrow.
[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 24, 2025 at 9:19 AM
x Our Defenders have already called their families Dmytro was in captivity for more than a year,finally managed to hear his mother's voice.His young son is waiting for him at home According to ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets,the oldest person released from Russian captivity is 61yrs old,the youngest is 25
[image or embed] — Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 6:56 AM
x Relatives of Ukrainian Defenders in captivity are holding photos and shouting their surnames, hoping to learn at least some information. 📹: hromadske
[image or embed] — Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Going in the other direction are 70 quislings. Good riddance.
x ⚡️ Ukraine hands over 70 collaborators to Russia in May 23 prisoner swap. These included Oleksandr Tarnashinskyi, a former associate of pro-Kremlin oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, or ex-Security Service of Ukraine officer Vitalii Vasiliev.
[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) May 24, 2025 at 7:42 AM
It’s all about him. Always.
x 🇺🇸❗️🇺🇦 “Trump wanted to be the first to break the news about exchange,” a Ukrainian official told POLITICO. “Trump’s rushed post did not have any effect,” the official said. “But we usually do not report on the ongoing exchanges, as you never know with Russians. Our boys were too close to the enemy.”
[image or embed] — MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Russia launched a mass attack on Kyiv.
x Ukraine: Massive Russian attack happening on Kyiv. Upwards of 70 drones and missiles.
This is debris of a Russian missile shot down by air defense, possibly a 1.5 ton Iskander ballistic missile with a ~700kg warhead, falling from the sky over Kyiv.
[image or embed] — Igor Sushko (@igorsushko.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Bavovna!
Note how much trash is strewn about this Russian outpost.
Lgov is in the Kursk area.
x ☠️ Yesterday's HIMARS strike on Lgov killed three Russian servicemen, wounded 9 more, - ASTRA ❗️4 vehicles belonging to the Russian Armed Forces were damaged.
[image or embed] — MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 8:47 AM
This video reviews Russian attempts to break through Ukrainian lines southwest of Pokrovsk.
Russia is claiming today that it has captured Odradne in this are of the front.
x YouTube Video
Ukraine struck a chemical plant in Novomoskovsk, Russia.
And he admits he looted French china from the house.
x “People lived a normal peaceful life. They didn't bother anyone.” - says a Russian soldier as he walks through the yards of abandoned Ukrainian homes his country destroyed.
[image or embed] — Natalka (@natalkakyiv.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Meanwhile, out on the Kinburn peninsula.
The post says Kinburn Spit, but there are no buildings or trees on the spit.
x 🇺🇦 On the Kinburn Spit, Ukraine’s 801st Special Marine Detachment units struck and destroyed Russia’s newest electronic warfare system "Black Eye," recently adopted into service.
[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Time to boycott Mazda.
x DESPICABLE: Japanese car manufacturer Mazda has returned to the Russian market after pulling out in 2022.
New cars are already available at Mazda dealership showrooms in Russia and come with a factory warranty.
[image or embed] — Igor Sushko (@igorsushko.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 9:43 PM
A Russian blogger dodges the censors by referring to North Koreans as hobbits and makes some observations about Russia’s allies.
x 1/ North Korean "hobbits" are "passionately fond of chocolate, foreign films and pictures of naked women," have trouble telling Russians and Ukrainians apart, and have a habit of stealing and vandalising things, according to a Russian warblogger. ⬇️
[image or embed] — ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
2/ Using a euphemismistic analogy to avoid Russian censors, "Platon Mamadov" writes: 3/ "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived hobbits. One day they had a big fight among themselves, right up to a civil war. As a result of which the Northern and Southern Hobbitons were formed, divided in half by a carefully guarded border. 4/ "Southern Hobbiton was famous for its gentle young singers, who conquered millions of girls' hearts all over the world from the stage. And they also filmed historical TV series, built excellent ships and drank a lot. 5/ "In Northern Hobbiton, they lived a little poorer, but they always marched in formation and greeted each other in chorus.One day, the Emperor of Northern Hobbiton sent an expeditionary force to a neighbouring country, to someone else's war. 6/ "Old people say that these expeditionary northern hobbits were short. Thin. Wiry. Dressed, equipped and armed according to the standards of the 70s of the last century. In short, quite fairy-tale soldiers. 7/ "It seems that the Emperor paid them a fair amount of money by the standards of Northern Hobbiton. And in years of service, a year was considered two.They shot very accurately. Not only at soldiers, but also at mechanical birds, of which there were quite a few in that war. 8/ "They didn't understand the local language, so it wasn't easy to command them. Especially since there was one interpreter for every hundred and fifty. And Google Translate, the bitch, was as dumb as a scumbag and gave out some kind of wild nonsense. …. 15/ "Hobbits almost never surrendered to the enemy. There were no deserters among them either. Perhaps because they had nowhere to run in the middle of a huge foreign country. 16/ "And the hobbits were passionately fond of chocolate, foreign films and pictures of naked women. Especially films and pictures. In their Northern Hobbiton there seemed to be a shortage of this, but here the little ones got their hands on sweets.
Satellite photos show the extent of the damage to the plant Ukraine hit earlier this week.
x Hi-res satellite photos from Yelets in Lipetsk, show plenty of damage to an electrical engineering plant. The Energiya factory was hit by drones the night before last. It's Russia's largest enterprise specialising in the production of chemical current sources.
[image or embed] — Tim White (@twmcltd.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Russia is pushing the envelope with Finland.
x ⚡️Russian jets violate Finnish airspace, defense ministry says. Two Russian military aircraft are suspected of violating Finland's airspace, the country's defense ministry reported on May 23.
[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) May 23, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Good riddance to another 1,130 Russians dead/wounded.
Plus 11 tanks.
I think two years is probably correct, but not much longer.
x ⚠️ Russia has enough "manpower and metal" to sustain its war effort for at least two more years, says U.S. European Command chief Gen. Christopher Cavoli. Despite heavy losses, Moscow retains the capacity to continue the fight at its current pace.
[image or embed] — NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) May 24, 2025 at 3:26 AM
This is a very long but interesting thread analyzing the state of the Russian economy.
x Let’s talk about the Russian Economy! I want to try give you an overview of some to the choices Russia has in some basic terms, and without pulling out too much reference material, so hopefully it will be easier to comprehend. (So the opposite of usual, but you know how I love a reference) — Prune60 (@prune602.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 6:24 PM
So let’s start with some basic facts: The Russian government is struggling with income. And, believe it or not, this isn’t new, but things got much worse. Back at the other place, I did a giant thread that outline the different phases of the Russian Economy since 2022. Phase 1: Russia is running on the things they stockpiled for the war, and their old soviet stock piles. Minimal costs incurred. Phase 2: Russia has to start investing on buying new things to sustain the war. Either in upgrading remaining Soviet Stockpiles, or buying drones from Iran or ammunition from North Korea. Much More expensive. It was around this time that Russia really had to start searching for funds. Phase 3: Secondary Sanctions. This really packed a punch, and although Russia still manages to evade sanctions often, it means that it often comes at much higher costs and often lower quality goods & longer time to acquire it. I’m going to say we’re now in Phase 4: Biden’s farewell sanctions + Trump. Remember that the Russian government has really been searching for income since Phase 2, and they’ve been accomplishing much of that from taking bigger cuts of the non-oil & gas sectors. Now oil & gas is taking a dive. There’s a lot of problems here, and they’ve been somewhat hidden.This entire time, new sanctions have continued to roll out. More sanctions mean more increased cost. On top of that Russia has been trying to do whatever is necessary to continue the war. So they’ve already been making huge cut backs to spending (not that things were in good shape before this) and they’ve been sucking the value out of the regular economy for some time.
The thread then discusses the possibility that Russia might let the ruble fall to about 130 to the dollar in order to help with its budget woes. But that would drive up prices of imports.
Russia doesn’t make as much stuff as they would like people to believe. In fact, a lot of stuff is very barely made in Russia, but still called domestic. And, as I warned you last year, Russian agriculture is in a lot of trouble. There are very few things I’ve seen the Kremlin worry about, and food prices are one of them. Russia has already essentially exhausted their stockpiles of the previous year’s harvest. They’re relying on imports for a lot of basic foods and food is a big portion of an average Russians budget. So, by further STRENGTHENING the ruble, Russia can provide *some* relief on those costs, or at least try to make the pain slow down. Thus, if they say that “official” inflation is improving, it may just be because of them manipulating exchange rates. So, does that make sense? Russia can choose to keep the ruble very strong to try to contain high costs on imported foods and thus perhaps make their “official” inflation numbers better than they should be OR Weaken ruble, and refill the governments budget from oil & gas sales. But not both.
There’s been enough mulling for the last three years. Time to just do it.
x ⚡️EU mulls cutting over 20 Russian banks from SWIFT, banning Nord Stream in new sanctions, Bloomberg reports. The new measures under consideration would also include lowering the Group of Seven oil price cap on Russian crude exports from $60 to around $45 per barrel.
[image or embed] — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) May 24, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Necessity is the mother of adaptation.
x Russia has improved its ballistic missiles, so it's more complicated for Patriot systems to shoot them down, said Yurii Ihnat, head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of the AFU. "It is about firing radar decoys, which each missile can fire when it approaches the target.
[image or embed] — Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Russian soldier: You can’t see me.
Ukrainian drone: Yes, I can.
Russian soldier: No, you can’t. I’ve engaged my cloaking device.
x Russia’s anti-drone cloaks are useless—and troops keep sticking their heads out Drone footage shows Russian soldiers visible to thermal sensors as faulty gear and poor training leave heads and limbs exposed. euromaidanpress.com/2025/05/24/r...
[image or embed] — Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
War orphans being cared for.
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