There is a lot happening right now, a bit of a mixed bag.
Anyway, I’m curious why FSB (of all people…) sent in a costly hit team into high-risk Ukraine to kill a GUR colonel.
Feels almost like a spywar?
Ukraine, being as law-abiding as they are, has prosecuted and sentenced war criminals in this war, and this could be a revenge for that?
Or that operation at the nuclear silos that failed within seconds after the first flash?
Or something else, wasn’t an FSB colonel recently freed in an exploding car accident?
Because even FSB doesn’t waste expertise unless it’s important, and here they probably wanted to show that causing harm to what the GUR colonel was involved in should hurt – to intimidate.
Historically, security services usually have some kind of truce since full-on spy wars get too messy and create a stressful work environment for employees.
It’s easier to agree not to kill the opponent’s security service personnel in exchange for keeping your own safe so that you can calmly plan murders and subversive activities aimed at the opponent’s civil society, whose politicians may not be fully aware that those tasked with protecting them have entered into a truce to protect their own skin.
Right now, it doesn’t feel quite like that between Ukraine and Russia, and there’s probably a lot happening that we’re not aware of, and RU will likely come out as the losers there.
Mossad has taken a few pages from Ukraine’s playbook, and Ukraine has probably received some insider tips from Mossad – they have become a security service to be feared, plain and simple.
If nothing else, the inner circles in Russia are probably starting to worry about all the killed (freed) military personnel and others involved in the war and when judgment will fall upon them.
Then we have the FAB usage, if I remember correctly, they peaked at 240 kills/day and 4000/month, hitting one target when Ukraine never had the ability to shoot them down due to Biden and a sleeping Europe.
Since they essentially broke the back of the artillery, FAB replaced the Russian artillery and managed to maintain balance on the fronts.
RU has been experimenting with doctrine and for a while now has been running – send unwanted children to identify firing positions, place FAB in firing positions, cover the area with drones, and swarm skilled shooters from competent units.
It has worked well and makes defense costly, with FAB being the backbone of that tactical pivot.
Now they are down to 70 kills/day, and according to previous reports, Ukraine’s EW is so effective that they have to shoot down 5-6 to hit each target.
So, efficiency must have decreased significantly, and RU has nothing to replace it with.
Every night there are huge drone mats from RU over Ukraine, but UA combats them with artillery-LV and electronic warfare (EW), for example, yesterday 108/136 drones were combated, 47 of them with EW.
Electronic warfare is here to stay for months now, and it’s reasonable to assume that UA heavily disrupts FAB as well.
Ukraine has also significantly deployed anti-drone drones, link from MXT on johanno1.se
We have been discussing that for a long time, and there is a plethora of capabilities in that area, which is one of the pillars in the ongoing whack-a-mole.
First, they were shot down with very expensive LV robots that cost 30 times what a shahed costs, and now they are combated with AI-controlled artillery-LV or anti-drone drones that cost a fraction of a shahed.
I give you – Russians who can’t move among all the drones, and there are countless accounts of that.
VS.
Ukrainian tank and PTGB advancing a few hundred meters from a Russian position in Kharkiv and blasting explosives into bunker openings.
This tells us that the Ukrainian drone threat is significantly wilder than the Russian one.
Then there’s the AN124 that Ukraine flew out from Kiev, RU’s radar coverage is probably poor…
Everyone has probably seen Grok’s rise and fall 😀
Russia has already been caught manipulating AI on a large scale to drive their narrative, a quick Google search will show you that.
Other AI applications are now coming from China.
Qanon became a wildfire that was hard to extinguish, so one can guess what the impact of AI will unfortunately result in…
Only those who have reached an age where they have a clear understanding will be able to see through this, and given the aggressive tone in, for example, our domestic politics, how many do you think can withstand thousands of younger ones who will champion narratives they don’t understand are coming from Russia?
Cancel culture entirely controlled by Russia and China in a country near us soon, or already.
Russia is unsettling just with this, and now they have a tool that far exceeds Cambridge Analytica or Facebook and in some cases is made in China.
The remedy is extremely simple – our politicians must realize that tough times are ahead and start doing their job properly, but considering the ridiculously high pitch in Swedish domestic politics and how it looks in, for example, the UK, I find it hard to see that responsibility will prevail, and then there is a lot of ammunition for the Russians to use.
Yesterday we discussed what Ukraine should do, and there is one more option – that node of all oil pipelines in Tatarstan (I think it is) – if you blow it up, you drain Russia, sort of.
Like not taking out Putin on May 9 when he sat there in the sunshine looking completely satisfied, Ukraine still has rules they must adhere to.
Israel seems to disregard such things actually – I came across information I didn’t save that they tried to wipe out the entire Iranian leadership when they regrouped to the bunker they had been positioned to through some spy, but there was an emergency exit after they closed the entrances they knew with JDAMS.
I think it’s true because Israel has tried to force a regime change in Iran, but Trump managed to barely avoid it if one were to guess.
Now Merz has managed to embarrass himself again – Taurus was not excluded a week ago if RU didn’t stop terror bombing Ukraine and would be on site within weeks.
Now in the Economist, they say no to Taurus.
It will never be credible to issue threats that you then back down on as soon as Putin violates them, we’ve been doing this for over three years now, and Putin has a pretty watertight record of exactly what the consequences will be for him.
The only unknown is perhaps Trump because he is so unpredictable, but I think Putin feels he has him figured out.
For those of you who believe that new weapons contracts will win the war for Ukraine, I can inform you that China is scaling up equivalently or how…
Sometimes in my dark moments, I feel that the West wants this war for all sorts of reasons and that the highest priority has not been to end it at all.
Putin is so sure of himself that he didn’t even play along with a Chamberlain, he just completely ignored Starmer, Merz, and Macron’s peace mediation efforts that they thought were legitimate because Trump did.
But we know Trump by now, right?
But the victory perfume is epic, you smell like a winner.
Just North Korea helping Russia is more than what the West has helped Ukraine, and then we also buy Russian dirty oil and don’t actively stop exports to RU, so we are probably helping RU ourselves more than we are helping Ukraine – with such friends, you hardly need any enemies 😀
If we take a step back, the EU will face retaliatory tariffs before Russia, and in those 50 days, there is a risk that our (EU) 18 sanction package will be delayed – we don’t want to escalate with Russia now when we are supposed to negotiate peace in 50 days.
I will return to the fronts tomorrow, it’s not exactly uplifting reading but it may need to be gone through.
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Russian losses:
1230 KIA
3 Tanks
6 AFVs
52 Artillery systems
2 MLRS
245 UAVs
122 Vehicles and Fuel tanks
Glory to Ukraine
https://bsky.app/profile/matsextrude.bsky.social/post/3lty65gpxik2m
Inga Tomahawk..
“Trump considered sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but for now they have been removed from the list, The Washington Post reports. However, the missiles could be approved later if Trump decides to tighten the screws on Putin.”
“Another attack has been reported on the military plant Energiya in Yelets, Russia. This plant has already been the target of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. It is known for producing batteries for missile guidance and correction systems.”
“Yelets, Lipetsk Region, today Energy JSC was re-attacked.”
https://bsky.app/profile/babayagafella.bsky.social/post/3ltyczw6xwk2r
Russian stock exchange seemed to appreciate Trump’s statements yesterday.
“Here you can see what MOEX is doing in response to Trump’s press conference (it’s still going on)”
https://bsky.app/profile/prune602.bsky.social/post/3ltwpw4ssyc25
“The volume of Russian federal bonds in circulation as of October 25, 2025 has increased by 2.75 trillion rubles since the beginning of the year.
They probably decided to cover the entire deficit by increasing domestic debt and using the National Welfare Fund to bail out state monopolies.”
https://bsky.app/profile/evgen-istrebin.bsky.social/post/3lty4ff223s2u
Tatarigami about Trump’s statements.
“This is clearly far from what is needed and is unlikely to deter Putin from his current course. That said, it is a significant step from “Zelensky is a dictator who needs to pay back billions” to the US selling weapons to Europe for immediate help on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
https://bsky.app/profile/tatarigami.bsky.social/post/3ltxosy367c2d
⁉️If it is so that there is immediate and unlimited sales to Europe that can immediately and unlimitedly send weapons to Ukraine for immediate and unlimited use, it is of course a decisive step! In that case, the ball is in Europe’s court. Is this something we can proceed from here and now?
I don’t really dare to believe it until I see it.
Of course, I hope that they will fully open up the exports, except they probably won’t send just anything, for example those that can strike really deep or where they don’t have large quantities, or contain technology they don’t want the Russians to get hold of).
This sounds almost like a joke considering Grok’s free play the other day. Thought Musk was ostracized?
“The US Department of Defense is set to start using Elon Musk’s controversial AI model Grok, the company stated in a post on X. ‘Grok for Government,’ as the product is called, is a major step for Musk’s AI initiative – which hopes to challenge Chat GPT’s market dominance, as reported by Politico. The contract is worth up to 200 million dollars and involves language models specifically developed for security issues.”
The Republicans are increasingly divided over how the Trump administration has handled the Jeffrey Epstein case. For the first time during his term, Donald Trump’s loyal Maga movement seems to be turning its back on him – but high-ranking party colleagues in Congress are rallying around when it comes to the future of Attorney General Pam Bondi, writes Axios.
HD unsurprisingly gives Trump the right.
“Donald Trump has been given the green light to dismiss around 1,300 people from the Department of Education. According to a ruling from the Supreme Court, news agencies report. Trump wrote on social media that the decision was a “great victory”.”
https://omni.se/a/0VRqpG
EU’s response to the initial 20 percent tariffs. We’ll see what happens if there are additional 30 percent.
“Boeing planes, cars, and Bourbon whiskey are included in the European Commission’s list of the next package of retaliatory tariffs against the USA, reports Bloomberg, which has obtained the 206-page document. Also included are machinery products, chemicals and plastics, medical devices, electronics, wines, and agricultural products. However, military products are not included.”
https://omni.se/a/3MAe4X
N Slobozhansky-Kursk 20💥↗️
S Slobozhansky 5↘️
Kupyansk 6
Lyman 27💥💥
Siverskyi 11💥↗️
Kramatorsk 4
Toretsk 6↘️
Pokrovsk 55💥💥💥↘️
Novopavlivka 23💥↘️
Huliaypillia 0
Orikhivsk 2
Dnipro/Prydniprovsky 9💥
Thank you! 👍
“Russia deliberately targeted rescuers in Kherson with a drone as they arrived to deal with a fire from a Russian strike. Thankfully, the rescuers reacted quickly, were able to hide and were not hurt by the Russian drone.”
https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3ltydou3yck23
“Voronezh was also attacked this night, locals reported a fire in the Pioneers house area.”
👀!!
““We can if you give us the weapons,” President Zelenskyy reportedly told US President Trump in response to a question about why Ukraine isn’t targeting Moscow, The Washington Post reports.”
https://bsky.app/profile/united24media.com/post/3ltyctynkbg2t
“5 killed, 53 injured in Ukraine as Russia strikes hospitals, residential areas across country”
“Ukrainian startup says its drones could work on their own by year’s end, thanks to AI
“The software itself is more or less agnostic and it’s easily transferable from first-person-view to a fixed wing and from fixed wing even to a missile — and that’s what we intend to do,” said the founder of the AI drone company.”
https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-startup-says-its-drones-could-work-on-their-own-by-years-end-thanks-to-ai/
The only way the Russian Ukrainian war comes to an end is when the US puts it’s weight behind NATO and Ukraine. It’s Putin’s nightmare. Kudos to Trump for acknowledging who the real aggressor in this war is. The Ukrainians are good fighters. They will finish it if they have the ammunition to do so.
— 🇺🇸 Nikki Haley (Rep)
👍 She has probably been on the right side all along when it comes to Ukraine.
Hopefully more Republicans dare to speak their minds (now that Melania has gotten Trump to start waking up)!
Melania
https://x.com/sergonaumovich/status/1944832607772156264?s=46
Isn’t that AI but for real Melania would have been president instead!
Grok is trying to launch her. Programmed by Elon who has an agreement with Melania since his time in the White House*. …
*If anyone wondered about the yacht
🇺🇦🇺🇸 During one of the conversations with Zelensky, Trump wondered why Ukraine had not yet struck Moscow. Zelensky replied: “We can if you give us weapons.”, – WP
Trump said that Ukraine should put more pressure on Putin – not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg.
https://x.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1945010103586890043?s=46
There, Max’s profile picture fit perfectly as an illustration! 😂
👍
🇺🇸Drone Warfighter
🔴 BREAKING: The U.S. Army now has a weapon that can instantly fry entire drone swarms. It’s not a laser. It’s not a missile. It’s Leonidas — a microwave cannon that sends out a pulse and melts electronics mid-air ⚡
No ammo. No reload. Just pure energy.
One blast = 50+ drones down. Built for the wars of the future. 🇺🇸
📡 Meet the weapon that makes air defense look like science fiction:
https://x.com/defence_index/status/1944887484631965821?s=46
Interesting! Just make sure not to have any of your own drones in the air at the same time!
Recharge time is interesting here because that is a big goal.
Can they shoot incessant “automatic fire” – perfect.
Need the “battery” to recharge in three minutes, fired immediately.
Translated: “The situation in the Russian coal industry continues to deteriorate, says Deputy Energy Minister Dmitry Islamov, as reported by RBC. Already, 51 companies have closed or are on the verge of closing. Losses at the end of 2024 exceeded 112.6 billion rubles, the situation in 2025 looks even worse.”
Veteran Andrew Cuomo does not want to throw in the towel after losing the Democratic nomination in the New York mayoral election to the upstart Zohran Mamdani, reports AP.
Cuomo now announces that he will run in the November election as an independent candidate, accusing Mamdani of having “catchy slogans, but no solutions.”
Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the primary election in June, and I intend to win in November, he says. 33-year-old Mamdani, who calls himself a democratic socialist, caused a political earthquake in the USA when he clinched the Democratic mayoral nomination at the end of June.
https://omni.se/a/zApey
It will be an interesting election for the Democrats who have not recovered since the presidential election.
Mamadani, representing the far left, managed to be nominated instead of Cuomo. Mandani has been involved in leftist racist contexts and holds almost communist views.
What do the voters want?
How will it affect future nominations?
Will the Democrats adjust their policies depending on the election outcome?
Curious, what is it in his politics that is “closest to communist”?
He wants to have the equivalent of our municipal property companies to lower housing costs.
A bit more unusual is that he also wants the state to run five grocery stores, one in each disadvantaged neighborhood to push prices down.
In addition, he wants free bus rides, free childcare up to school age, raise taxes for companies, etc.
A bit funny that you list the same questions that the Left Party is pushing, a party that recently removed the communists from the party designation 😉
You provided the answer in your question.
Do you think you need to read up on what communism entails, if you see any commonalities with the Left Party as a definition of it.
Another (albeit small) example of how well the train is doing in Russia.
“Russian Railways cancels the commuter train Tomsk-Novosibirsk.
It will be replaced by a long-distance line Novosibirsk-Novokuznetsk with a stop in Tomsk. However, ticket prices will increase by 60%.”
https://x.com/SibirPost/status/1944652458870845543
The EU countries are “very, very close” to reaching an agreement on an 18th sanctions package against Russia today. This is stated by the Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas according to Reuters.
The proposal for the 18th sanctions package was already presented in June and includes measures targeting Russia’s energy sector, banks, and defense industry.
Are Hungary and Slovakia still in the game?
Then it can’t happen within 50 days because that would mess up Trump’s path to peace 👍
’50 days is a very long time’ — EU welcomes new US action on Ukraine, hesitant on timeline, Kallas says
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also criticized Trump’s 50-day deadline, saying he does not understand the reasoning behind it.
“On the one hand, I’m happy about the wave of support from the U.S.,” Klitschko said during an appearance on the German ARD talk show Maischberger. “But on the other hand, I do not understand why Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is being given 50 days.”
“In 50 days, many more people could be killed in the capital and throughout Ukraine, many more buildings could be damaged,” he warned. “Therefore: Why such a delay?”
Klitschko said he believes Trump may still hope Putin will stop the war voluntarily, but he himself is skeptical. “Putin only understands strength,” Klitschko said.
https://kyivindependent.com/eu-welcomes-new-us-action-on-ukraine-is-hesitant-on-timeline-kallas-says/
Trump understands exactly what he is doing
🇪🇸 A top 🇷🇺Russian defense official’s son allegedly bought 8 properties in Spain’s northeast using funds linked to the Troika Laundromat money laundering network.
Dmitry Artyakov is the son of Vladimir Artyakov, vice-president of Russian defense firm Rostec.
The homes were initially purchased by Dmitry’s grandmother, who then sold the properties to her grandson, court documents say.
Investigators say the grandmother acted as a front, receiving at least 14 million euros from a shell company tied to the Troika Laundromat network.
https://x.com/occrp/status/1945032915764589010?s=46
Spain has made a total pivot towards Russia and China, if that government remains in power they will become a similar problem as Hungary and Slovakia.
Have you also noticed that they want to get rid of European tourists but now welcome Russians – nice.
Rejoice, Spaniards, when the city centers are filled with quality tourists, Russians. The concerns they thought they were experiencing will multiply at least tenfold then.
⚡️ Since the start of the full-scale war, the level of business activity in Russia’s manufacturing industry has plummeted to record lows. In response, Putin instructed the government and central bank to “prevent” a decline in production in 2025.
Measures typical for the Russian economy are being proposed, including “cluster platforms,” “industrial mortgages,” and support for “priority projects.” These statements are yet another populist attempt to calm the population and create an illusion of control.
In reality, the sanctions imposed on Russia are gradually draining its economy: the country is losing key markets and facing numerous technological and financial restrictions.
Meanwhile, the high key interest rate makes active lending impossible, and attracting investments is becoming increasingly difficult.
It is telling that similar rhetoric was already heard from Putin last December regarding the coal industry — but after loud promises, the situation only worsened.
The Kremlin is directing all resources towards its aggressive war against Ukraine instead of addressing economic issues. As a result, the Russian economy continues to decline, and these loud statements remain nothing more than empty words.
https://x.com/cforcd/status/1945027529699455028?s=46
Sounds good!
😍😍
Thank you for wise words Johan!
Thank you for diligent work Mats!
Thanks for nothing Trump!
#fcktrmp wants a weak and divided EU.
– Historically, he has said that the EU is “worse than China” (regarding trade).
– He likes bilateral deals, not multilateral agreements.
– By threatening with tariffs, reducing military aid to Ukraine, and playing on the EU’s internal divisions, he weakens the union.
– This is cynical power politics (nothing new in history) but unusually brutal between allies.
Withholding sanctions against Russia to “avoid escalation before peace talks” is exactly what both Russia and Trump benefit from, but the EU’s long-term security is harmed.
EXACTLY Senhor – this is what I’m trying to argue that Trump has an endgame to weaken the EU.
Or maybe it’s the USA’s endgame that he is pursuing, who knows…
There is probably a legal basis for breaking agreements with ryzZand/ryzka companies without “risk” in a legal sense? Especially when sanctions have been imposed or Russia is classified as a terrorist state. This should be fixed immediately! Terminate all business!!!!
This is where reality clashes with tough rhetoric.
As far as I know, only Finland and the Baltics have been hit really hard.
Rich Russians are still buying properties all over Western Europe, for example.
Trump is getting way too much space, he has taken us on a journey back to yesterday to give Putin the space he needs.
Europe fell asleep.
I think we have to accept that he has 4 years, but nothing says that Europe needs to follow this, right?
It’s clear that he is also trying to weaken the EU, and that is something we ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT tolerate.
How is it in the bullfighting heat in Svedala?
Here in the Caribbean, it’s hot and humid but that was to be expected when taking the job, bought a new beach shirt with a new floral pattern 👍
Jodå, 19 degrees, pouring rain and thunder in the Stockholm archipelago. In the capital of the climate catastrophe, the heat refuses to arrive.
Endure the heat, important to drink a lot 👍👍
Wait now, rain and 19 😶😶
31 degrees in the shade here in the southernmost part of northern Norrland. But when the residential house is almost 100 years old, there is a lovely cool basement to sleep in.
You don’t need to go on vacation to the Iberian Peninsula to get sun and warmth ✊✊😀😀
Apparently heavy rainfall in Malmö while here in the south it has been beach weather all day.
I’m not complaining!
Does the weather seem to be changing significantly in Sweden this week?
25 degrees in the shade at the back of the house, 29 on the patio (with a roof but partially in the shade), a bit too hot actually, and that’s even with slightly hazy weather, it’s likely to get warmer if it clears up.
Be careful, that heat can be deadly 🙏
Offt(r)opic
Good opportunity to get rid of the rats in the New York subway?
https://www.dn.se/varlden/stora-oversvamningar-i-new-york-stanna-inne/
Maybe it was a planned rat extermination?
30 degrees in Norrbotten, disgusting!
🤣🤣🤣
A bonus could well be that it doesn’t turn into a mosquito year, that they boil away?
It is indeed a bit wet in Moscow too.
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3ltywhbbw2s2z
“❗️The armed forces of China and Serbia are planning to hold their first-ever joint military exercises to deepen ties between the countries.”
Where exactly is the question then?
“❗️🇱🇻Latvia has delivered the first batch of new Patria 6×6 armored vehicles to Ukraine”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3ltyvtbl5mc2d
Mariupol:
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3ltz3y7cchc
One good thing about warm weather is that you don’t feel like eating heavy food or drinking yourself senseless.
On one of the warmer days, we took the family out for a proper fine-dining experience in Portugal, at the local Chinese buffet.
Not the kind that serves yesterday’s food again and doesn’t have fish in the sushi, but the one with slightly better quality even though it was a few euros more expensive.
Didn’t really go well with the hot weather, so we ended up having a lot of daily soups with something small afterwards.
I’m sitting and looking at the fronts and it’s not very fun over by Pokrovsk, if a counterattack comes soon, it will probably be there.