Maybe something? Maybe nothing?
Putin fears another coup as Russia finally begins to buckle
Panic in the Kremlin as it runs out of cards to play just as Trump turns the screws
Melissa Lawford, the article’s author, highlights that in October, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky and members of the Russian Anti-War Committee, accusing them of plotting a violent seizure of power and creating a terrorist organization.
“Putin appears to once again see Khodorkovsky as a threat,” she writes.
Khodorkovsky has dismissed the charges as false. Experts, meanwhile, interpret the move as a clear sign of Putin’s growing vulnerability....
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-fears-coup-as-russia-sinks-into-debt-drone-strikes-rise-and-sanctions-bite/ar-AA1PdBAO
Putin is ready to consider the concept of ending the war in Ukraine proposed by the White House, — Lavrov
Lavrov did NOT say that Putin is ready to accept the concept of ending the war in Ukraine proposed by the White House (stopping at the current front line).
He said that Putin, during a meeting with Trump in Alaska, said he was ready to accept the US concept previously offered to him by Vitkoff, which is significantly different from Trump's current demands.
Russia still demands to be given the entire Donetsk region.
Remember that area the Russians have been pushing in and getting wiped out? Well, why not throw more at it and see if the results are different. Nope.
Six-hour tank assault, 29 armored vehicles, zero breakthroughs: Russia’s biggest autumn push fails near Volodymyrivka
Hoping to exploit poor drone weather, Russian forces launched a two-wave assault near Donetsk Oblast’s Dobropillia—and ran straight into mines, bombs, and ambushes.
Ukrainian forces stopped Russia’s largest autumn mechanized assault so far on 27 October, wrecking tanks and armored vehicles and striking fleeing infantry with drones near Dobropillia, Donetsk Oblast. The 1st National Guard Corps "Azov," and the Army's 33rd and 93rd separate mechanized brigades shared videos of the attack and reported the details of the failed Russian push, which involved 29 armored vehicles and lasted over six hours. Russian vehicles operated in small groups from different directions, possibly trying to adapt their infantry small-groups infiltration tactic for mechanized assaults….
https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/10/28/six-hour-tank-assault-29-armored-vehicles-zero-breakthroughs-russias-biggest-autumn-push-fails-near-volodymyrivka/
A map of the area / attack mentioned above. You can see where the vehicles were obliterated. Note the two tanks on the right side and the highlighted POWs taken symbol. The blue one bottom left are Russian being taken prisoner also (not sure why it is blue). And no, these are not the same incidents from the last map, this is new, just almost exactly the same.j
At this point, it is certainly looking like the best of the Russian attacks (this is their focus point) against the best of the Ukrainian defense (Azov battalion etc), come out with the Russians losing. The progress of technology (drones) has very much worked to the Ukrainians advantage. If we were truly back to WWI capabilities (Infantry and artillery), the Russian could easily overwhelm the Ukrainians with shear numbers. Currently the Ukrainians can have very sparse lines (as in miles between troops) and still effectively control the lines with drones (and have time to reposition, or flood more drones in, if needed).
The Belgorod dam burst (Likely a Ukrainian action) and is causing issues for the Russians:
Water from the Belgorod reservoir washed away roads and significantly complicated the logistics of the Russian army in the Vovchansk direction.
Also, some sort of large drone attack in the Moscow area (or Moscow). Not sure what they were targeting, but the Russian claim evidence of a Flamingo being used (there is a grainy video), but the shape seems right. Not sure why they would point this out, but I suspect it's along the lines of "you attack us with some new weapon?" "This means WAR!!!".... uhm... yeah
Russians are posting a video showing, according to them, the flight of the FP-5 "Flamingo" missile during the attack on Moscow on the night of October 27.
Belgium vetoed using Russian assets to pay for weapons (fear legal attacks later). So the EU has another option:
The European Commission is pushing EU member states to use frozen Russian assets as a €140 billion “reparations loan” to Ukraine, according to Politico. Member states are warned that if they refuse, they must either raise funds independently or tap joint debt instruments. Final decision is set for December.
Some of these I think are the same as the previous map, but you can see a number of new ones. The Russians have made a push towards Pokrovsk and Myrnograd (lower left,which have been in a bit of a sticky situation for quite a while now). They are claiming they are surrounded, but that seems unlikely from this map.
India’s HMEL energy company has decided to suspend further purchases of Russian oil due to the latest sanctions, Economic Times reports.
US intelligence sees no signs of Russia's readiness for compromise on Ukraine, and Putin is now, more than ever, determined to continue the war, — NBC News
I am surprised that more anti drone machine guns in small caliber have not been developed. Something scaled down from those anti missile units used on ships that shoots maybe .22LR. Or is it just the case of having yet one more type of ammo to carry around?
In reply to Noddaz :
Having a mini Phalanx system on a vehicle would certainly be nice, and you absolutely don’t need a 20mm round to take down an FPV drone!
The primary issue I would see is developing the tracking system required. There may also be some challenges with the environment. Driving around in the trees or around buildings is a contrast from the open ocean or a fixed position (where you typically see a CIWS system used)
One of those absurd rate of fire, laser like 20mm machine guns (you know, the ones that would cut a car in half, I don’t know the name of one) might be useful, but as noted, ammo might be an issue.
On the subject of: I am not entirely sure what is going on.
There are rumors the US is ready to strike within Venezuela, which… sounds a bit like an act of war to me…
I know Venezuela is an absolute S-show economically and politically, but, that normally is not a reason to attack. If it’s drug related, Mexico should probably be under full invasion.
My suspicion is it's a lot of bluster. Along those line, the US is saying it will restart nuclear testing. Not sure the point of that (other than bluster). Not like we need more or better (oh no, they can blow us up 1000 times over rather than 100 times). Probably not a bad idea to know if they still work in a practical test, but I don't think anyone should really be intimidated.
Update on Tomahawks:
BREAKING: The Pentagon has cleared the transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, leaving the final call to Trump. Despite initial approval, Trump held back after a call with Putin, citing concerns over US needs and Russia relations. The missiles remain on standby, awaiting a political green light.
In case you thought the US was not helping in the war:
Russia purchased American Swiwin engines for jet Shaheds, — The Insider.
In 2025, SW400PRO and SW240B engines worth about $300,000 were delivered to the Russian Federation from China.
Customs documents indicate that the company "Angar-22" acquired them for research and development work — disassembly and study, i.e., reverse engineering.
Does not appear to be intentional though of course.
Some more bluster:
So we will sit down with Putin, make a decision, and hit with Oreshnik. So don't provoke us, — Lukashenko
Translation: don't make us hit you will a missile designed for nukes that is only OK at delivering conventional warheads, and 1000 times the cost of other methods (and probably sets off every nuclear launch warning around the world).
Flamingo" has been used 9 times in real operations: it is the best existing Ukrainian cruise missile, — Le Figaro citing Zelensky
Latest Russian attacks. They apparently are focusing on energy and gas infrastructure (probably some revenge for Ukrainian attacks sewn in there):
aircooled said:
In reply to Noddaz :
Having a mini Phalanx system on a vehicle would certainly be nice, and you absolutely don’t need a 20mm round to take down an FPV drone!
The primary issue I would see is developing the tracking system required. There may also be some challenges with the environment. Driving around in the trees or around buildings is a contrast from the open ocean or a fixed position (where you typically see a CIWS system used)
*SNIP*
I was thinking more of a rooftop mounted gun, or a portable gun on a stable platform that could be parked. And it would be manually aimed. brrt, brrt, pop! Drone shot down.
Russia want to mobilize occupied territories:
Russia is starting the mobilization of Ukrainians living in the occupied territories — the enemy has officially included the captured territories into its Southern Military District, reports National Resistance.
Thus, the occupiers want to mobilize from 50,000 to 100,000 men for the war against Ukraine, specifies the military "Osman." At risk are men aged 18-55, as well as conscripts who have "voluntarily" expressed such a desire.
More not good for the Russian Oil industry (and yes, Ukrainian attacks continue):
Türkiye is increasing purchases of non-Russian oil following new Western sanctions on Moscow, Reuters reports. STAR refinery, previously reliant on Russian crude, has shifted to Iraqi and Kazakh supplies for December. Tupras is also reducing Russian imports at one refinery to maintain EU fuel exports, while continuing to process Russian oil at another.
Also, it seems like the Russian generals may have stepped in it a bit. They told Putin that they have the Ukrainians surrounded in Pokrovsk and he used that "fact" in one of his speeches. The Ukrainians very much do not appear to be surrounded. The Russian are in Pokrovsk and pushing the Ukranian's back there, but no indication of encirclement. A comparison map for the previous map is shown below, with a close up of Pokrovsk to show the Russian progress there.
As you can see, the big attacks in the upper right of the map have stopped and seem to have resulted in them actually loosing ground. The real progress of the Russians is in Pokrovsk (perhaps taking advantage of the Ukrainians concentration in defending the Volodymyrivka area). What is going on in the lower area below? I suspect there are not a lot of Ukrainians there (mostly defended by drones, hopefully). You have to expect this area will collapse at some point... at a HUGE cost (over the time it took to take it) to Russians of course.
aircooled said:
What is going on in the lower area below? I suspect there are not a lot of Ukrainians there (mostly defended by drones, hopefully). You have to expect this area will collapse at some point... at a HUGE cost (over the time it took to take it) to Russians of course.
Isn't this pretty much the game for the Ukrainians? Just destroy as many troops and as much material as possible while slowly retreating, and hope the strikes against oil/industrial production/logistics make the war too costly, either over time, or all at once, for the Russians?
Hasn't Russia been conscripting troops from the occupied territories for a while now? Relevant story from le Monde below:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/10/22/hundreds-of-thousands-of-ukrainians-are-forcibly-conscripted-by-russia-s-army_6746688_4.html
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
Yeah, I am not sure what the difference is here. Being incorporated into the Southern Military District has some notable effect apparently.
Here is very interesting documentary of the fighting in the area shown above. I have to guess the start of this doc is from about a year ago. You will see on the maps they show near the beginning, that the Russian have yet to capture the two towns they talk about (but are close at this point). I have not finished it, but it gets into the realities on the front (artillery unit, not infantry, which would probably be too dangerous) including supply, pay, moral and of course drones (there is a part about the usefulness of shotguns). There is a section that would likely be very familiar to Vicky and other aid workers dealing with evacuees. It is almost two hours long, but is well done.
Edit: The later part of the video has a lot of content on two drone units they visit within the city and how they operate. One thing they seem to be doing is they have a Range Extender role and that appears to be a drone that acts as signal repeater / concentrator to the attack drone. They also note that 70% of drones are either defeated or malfunction miss, but they are still very useful because of the low cost.
aircooled said:
There are rumors the US is ready to strike within Venezuela, which… sounds a bit like an act of war to me…
I thought you had your continents mixed up, because the US administration is also talking about taking military action in Nigeria.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
Honestly I think the US probably has a lot more justification for Nigeria (which has been going on for a while and seems to be generally ignored, because, well…), for humanitarian reasons. Likely a logistical nightmare and a potential (yet another) quagmire. I suspect US actions are rather unlikely beyond some potential air strikes, which would probably not be very effective anyway.
Clearly something that the UN should be taking care of, but the UN… well…
…to use a quote from Monty Python, “it is a silly place”
