Mid-month means Substack ads. Yes, you still have the chance to give up half a McDonald’s meal per month and become subscribers to Substack if you read what is written.
You never agree on everything but if there is more good than bad, all contributions are welcome – it takes a lot of time, nothing writes itself before I figure out how AI works.
Furthermore, it contributes to improved health – double win.
Now we are past the disappointment that Europe has not learned the 2025 war yet and that Poland’s attempt at “force posture” at the border with Belarus is just a bunch of FPV drone targets driving around. The fact that we haven’t bothered to learn is incomprehensible to me but apparently that’s how it is, and after I chose to tell the truth, more and more leaders in Europe are starting to follow my example and do the same, which is good. They all read the blog so it’s quite understandable that those with integrity can’t hold back any longer.
Then Poland wants all the equipment we should send to Ukraine, which is ridiculous, cowardly, and weak, but it is in line with how Europe has behaved throughout a whole war.
The damn Romanians escort a Russian Geran through their airspace until it turns back into Ukraine and its goal 😡
Then they sit and complain on social media about all the hate they receive when they have been complicit in aiding murder.
It took just one little test by Putin for Europe to completely embarrass itself, with the exception of a few sensible countries. The dangerous thing is that Putin could interpret this as us being cowardly and indecisive and consider increasing drone activity or completely misunderstand that we do not intend to defend the Baltics.
My self-image of Europe is shattered now because if there was something I believed, it was that we had used this time to learn the 2025 war so that when the drone attack finally came, it would be shot down 100m from the border. Not that 80% of the drones crashed due to running out of fuel 370km into Poland, and that Poland started cascading in tears.
Didn’t Ukraine stop shooting expensive robots at Geran a year ago?
Is it really the case that Europe’s leaders still do not understand that Ukraine stands between us and war with Russia – are they so poorly informed about this?
We have been saying this since 2022 and that is also the reason why many of us follow this war as intensively as we do because Ukraine is our bulwark and also the adults in the room.
We understood this already in 2022 but having missed reading Johan No.1 is not a valid excuse forever 😡
The likelihood of a full conflict with NATO is probably small at present and apparently not until 2028 according to all experts, but IF Russia were to get a feeling, every single one forgets their twilight mode plans from the Cold War that have surely been dusted off by 2025. It is never part of any discussion with those who want to argue with me that I am exaggerating – comments are pouring in on all channels now upset over my defeatism.
In these patriotic comments, the mechanized brigades roll towards Moscow and the heavy attack sweeps over the Baltic Sea – we tried this during a few summer months in 1940 with meager results at first, having prepared for the previous war and thinking that we are invincible.
And after the Cold War, Europe understood how much shorter notice they had than they thought, Russian GTD equipment was stored disguised as sheds near the western border. They had never had the warning when tanks rolled on the trains at the regimental sites, instead only 12-24 hours or something similar.
During the Cold War in Sweden, in a twilight mode, they would try to kill all the pilots, mine the runways again, and blow up as many Viggen aircraft as they could before the air force moved to road bases.
Then they hoped that only five aircraft would remain without missiles for they had been blown up in the mob depots.
The saboteurs were a mix of traitors, embedded Spetznaz, and previously infiltrated spies and saboteurs who had been living in the country. They would show up in home guard uniforms, police uniforms, and military uniforms they had stolen earlier.
They intended to set up ambushes at mob depots and have police cordons that caught those on their way to assembly points, in addition to blowing up as many depots as possible, of course.
They aimed to kill politicians and high-ranking officers, blow up power supply, bomb subways, train networks, and anything possible to create maximum chaos and delay our mobilization.
They planned to poison the water supply at regimental sites and if you remember, the defense forces tested it in Boden in the 90s, the whole regiment and half of Boden were at home sick. They were probably quite dismayed after that result and how easy it was to knock out a whole brigade, besides probably getting a good scolding 😀
In 2024, we issued 400,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens and everyone laughs at my “gangs are system-threatening” but they are mercenaries that can be hired – for the murders above, for example.
They are already in the country and before they do anything, they cannot be arrested – almost better than the spy rings during the Cold War.
Today, we have infinitely worse protection around our bases due to drone weapons, and if Ukraine could knock out 40% of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, Russia can do the same.
Below is my proposal for a twilight mode before full-scale war in Europe –
An attack on Europe will not be that on day one they roll over the border and we meet them with our mechanized forces and then combat the heavy attack targets throughout Russia so we win the war by day four.
Our deployed high-value aircraft will be fought with FPV drones, and when they are about to take off, the gangs with manpads are waiting. Only Sweden had the road base system, all others had some large air bases.
They will try to blow up our missile and ammunition depots that they can access, and today they are much more centralized and accessible than during the Cold War.
The fleets will run into underwater mines, sabotage groups with anti-ship missiles in the military sea lanes, submarines further out, and initially pure sabotage against the ships at the dock.
You don’t need to sink a ship, it’s enough if the engine is cut or the fire control system is damaged, right?
They will try to kill pilots, officers, and politicians with the gangs before they go into staff mode or mobilize. Everyone will get a visit from food delivery services, DHL, Postnord, who when they open the door, put a bullet in them.
I don’t know how it is with service weapons, but when I was going to join the home guard a year ago, which didn’t happen because they have no real missions on Zoom, you keep the weapon in the armory and not at home.
I was accepted, by the way – made it through this veritable needle’s eye for the elite of the elite. Another point on the list of the million things I almost did.
All our governments also try to disarm the citizens as much as possible, so our preparedness for a twilight situation is not exactly better than during the Cold War when the door-to-door salesmen would knock, right?
Since we are evidently reactive now, the first strike, IF it comes, will be from Russia, right? We will not preemptively clean up among gangs, Russians, and criminal clans in Europe as we should for several reasons.
I say like Churchill – never take a chance, strike first and hit damn hard 💥💥💥
A lot of wisdom from him over the years, and I have learned from them.
Russia is constantly scouting with hundreds of drone flyovers per month. Sabotage against our air forces, fleets, and war industry we already have, but not at all at the level required before a war breaks out in a twilight scenario.
The power grid will be sabotaged with extensive power outages, and key mobilization points will be targeted for bombings, such as T-Centralen, airports, train stations, and the railway network.
Is our railway network electrified?
Even before we attempt to mobilize, all airports and train stations will be closed.
And finally, mine the distances and have the drone screen deployed when our brigades are supposed to reach their assembly areas if it is in the Baltics after Russia has attacked first – which they will do because we do not intend to group before a conflict as we should according to the mission description.
Europe is absolutely not ready for any of this, I can almost guarantee that because our security services no longer secretly kill Russians to protect our democracies (I think 😶).
We barely have any home guard left and no mobilizable defense guard for high-value targets, and now the police are supposed to have a civilian function in case of war – no preparedness police either.
Looks the same all over Europe more or less.
Russia today has the same or even greater organization in Europe as during the Cold War, and they can operate almost undisturbed. Probably with better organization since criminal clans are infiltrated throughout civil society and can also be hired beyond the gangs’ “deadly-gun-for-best-price-bro.”
If they’re stingy, they can just place an order with the strawberry guy for 30 murders for a few bucks per murder.
I think this has completely disappeared from the debate, and mostly it’s just a lot of big words about how we will crush Russia if they try, but if you want peace, you should prepare for war.
This is something Europe has not done, except for Finland.
Now that we have only prepared for peace, we might as well get the war instead 😀
Something new, and I was wrong the first time in three years –
Ukraine shot down half of the drones flying towards Poland, whether they shot down Geran and let decoys pass, I don’t know.
So I was wrong in saying that Ukraine let them through.

Bloomberg has an article about Ukraine possibly going too far, and Europe getting upset with them. I thought Europe was on board…

Drone attacks, demonstrations in the UK (upcoming!), demonstrations in France, election influence in Germany are probably all attempts to influence Europe to try to limit Ukraine.
At this point, Ukraine stopped last time with the bombing of Russian high-value targets.
We’ll see what Europe’s leaders say and do in the future, it will be interesting, and I’ll keep an eye out. 😀
If Ukraine stops droning refineries and infrastructure before 100% is shot down, it’s because they’ve been stopped by Europe since they lack drones.
It is quite clear that Russia intends to increase the pace in the Baltics, probably best done with “Estonian partisans” and anonymous green men, as well as a lot of sabotage. They do not want to trigger NATO Article 5 and will try to go as far as they can under that.
We know what the USA plans to do if they can get away with it – nothing.
Europe is evidently deviating from the job description regarding the units that should be in the Baltics in the event of a conflict because the brigades should be there with an increased threat level and Zapad 25 and the drone cloud over Poland the other day.
They probably understand that if they face the war of 2025, there will only be decimated capability left, which is also why they have reduced troops in Ukraine unless guaranteed peace, but even the cowards barely dare that.
Europe has absolutely zero interest in risking our heavy equipment in war right now – it couldn’t be more obvious.
What remains then are our special forces in all their forms in Europe – a resource that is already better suited for the warfare of 2025 today and also provides the opportunity for “full deniability” while denying Russia the achievement of any of its goals in the Baltics.
Probably that’s where we will end up in the best-case scenario, as Europe already has quite a bit of capability sneaking around in the forests, and Russia will try to infiltrate its capability so that it becomes a hidden high-intensity war that both parties deny – because no one wants to activate Article 5.
It will be lively in the Baltic forests in the future; I don’t think Ukraine has anything to spare reasonably, otherwise, they wouldn’t want to miss it.
It will sort out the Baltics but not Ukraine at all.
Ukraine has done well so far, and down in Crimea, the droning now seems more like pre-emptive action, so there is some suspicion of a certain push 🧐
Did you see our weapons package to Ukraine the other day 🧐
Moreover, Russia has withdrawn its task forces from the Dnieper front, so it can hardly get any better than this.
The asymmetric warfare that we declared in 2023 would win the war before they were stopped can now be seen by everyone that it will win the war in the long run if they are allowed to continue.
This has been said a few times now – how Europe acts in the future will have a significant impact on how this goes. So far, Poland has completely messed up, but with a bit of luck, maybe it was a collective wake-up call that they embarrassed themselves?
As this develops now, Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, Siversk, and northern Luhansk will be abandoned over time, all else being equal, and Ukraine will retreat to its main defense line.
The time they buy is for the strategic drone war that harms Russia.
Ukraine may try to increase the pace with the “Azov thrust.”
If Russia attacks from Belarus or out of Transnistria, Ukraine will have problems.
They have handled worse than that, for sure, but we don’t really know how bad their ground troops are, as we have a positive bias.
At Kamyanske, they are also retreating

You can see Lyman for yourself

Kupiansk

RU is weak at the Dnieper now, which is an opportunity.

But at Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, RU has gathered a lot of capability and intends to advance. Ukraine has rushed in its task forces, and it will be bloody.
Can you win the war with a successful strategic drone war?
Did Ukraine surrender when all their infrastructure was bombed in the first year?
Then it remains to combine with a spectacular offensive at the fronts or increase the Russian pressure cooker, which Ukraine is now doing.
But Putin has shown to have the country in a good grip and China is filling in what is missing.
Ukraine has done what was required – in 2022 Putin threatened with piracy but promised that if the West let him back into SWIFT, there would be peace on the world’s oceans.
We were about to say yes and then Ukraine started sinking the Russian Black Sea fleet so it fled in panic to Novorossiysk.
The West didn’t want that either – Moscow probably managed to sink Ukraine because they saw it on the radar in the communications center in Wiesbaden and the Ukrainian liaison officer said he would take a quick smoke and WhatsApped the coordinates already in the stairwell.
The USA was furious about that move but it also tells us how much intel they have withheld from Ukraine.
We have reached a new level in the war – Ukraine is now fighting as they see fit and no longer listening to the USA and apparently Europe as well.
The USA has tried to stop this audacity but they can only go so far in their attempts even if they want to.
Europe is probably divided and Ukraine likely has Scandinavia and the Baltics at least on their side.
Poland has started to falter along with Germany.
The UK and France did not do that and they faced a government crisis and mass demonstrations.
The dark black no one wants to talk about – they are afraid of Putin as individuals.
Tomorrow we will discuss what is needed to win the war, which is a recycling of our battle plans from 2022 and early 2023 that Zelensky is actually still following, I receive a thank you on WhatsApp in between for providing them back in 2022.
By the way, remember all those who wanted to argue with me when I claimed that Ukraine is the world’s best shooter and they sat on their high European or NATO horse.
I think Ukraine has already shown it but there is also a tank that has hit targets 9km away.

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The war in Ukraine, Russian losses 2025-09-16
SLAVA UKRAINI
“The European Commission says the 19th sanctions package against Russia is still being prepared. Officials confirm work is underway with global partners, focusing on cutting Russian fossil fuels, targeting the shadow fleet, and countering sanctions circumvention.”
“Ryska sabotörer förklädda i civila kläder försökte infiltrera Yampil, Donetsk-regionen, för sabotageoperationer i bakre områden. Vissa gömde sig i hus och källare, använde civila som mänskliga sköldar. Ukrainska styrkor genomförde anti-terroråtgärder, neutraliserade grupperna och återställde kontrollen.”
As I have written a few times, Zelensky’s rhetoric has changed recently.
Now he says outright what he thinks. He has realized that he won’t get anywhere by acting submissively or flattering Trump and trying to appeal to his vanity.
“❗️Putin is trying to deceive Trump. He came out of isolation, took a photo with him and got a public dialogue, – Zelensky. He called on Trump to take a “clear position” and take “resolute personal measures” to stop Putin and end the war in Ukraine.”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lywmqoh7pk2u
https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-warns-putin-is-trying-to-trick-trump/
Almost pitch black today Johan, almost sounds like it’s just as well for Europe to give up, we don’t stand a chance against Russia!
Don’t share the view but as usual completely agree that Europe should have done much more and much earlier.
We are like the colossus on clay feet that was joked about long ago when it came to the Soviet Union. Everything takes too long.
Lucky that you’re coming with the victory plans tomorrow, maybe there’s a light at the end of the tunnel?
Also lucky that we have Ukraine defending Europe, completely agree with the praises of them!
Johan, in the thread from yesterday you bring up this link as evidence that Ukraine was prevented from attacking oil refineries and depots:
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4017977-cinc-syrskyi-urges-us-eu-to-provide-more-air-defense-and-allow-strikes-deep-into-russia.html
It states that they do not receive enough long-range weapons from the USA and Europe (ATACMS and Taurus) and that they want to avoid restrictions on these.
Not a word about them being forbidden to strike deep with their own weapons, or that they are not allowed to strike refineries and depots.
Of course, they may still have been forbidden to do so, but I cannot find anything proving that in the article.
“More medium- and long-range missiles, including American ATACMS and German Taurus systems, would allow Kyiv, provided restrictions on their use were lifted, to slow down Russian weapons production by targeting infrastructure that manufactures missiles and drones, the newspaper writes.
“The availability of any missile weapons is in itself a deterrent. I hope that thanks to President Trump’s position, this process will be much easier and … we won’t have any of the difficulties we had before,” Syrskyi added.”
Off-Topic – USA
Below we have four news stories where we see examples of:
“The Trump administration orders that images and information about slavery in the USA be removed from several national parks, reports the Washington Post citing sources.
The decision has been made in response to Trump’s presidential order to eliminate information that reflects a ‘harmful ideology’ that denigrates historical Americans. The directives have been interpreted ‘broadly’ and at the US National Park Service, it is being adapted to everything related to racism, sexism, slavery, and LGBTQ rights, writes WP.” https://omni.se/bilder-och-information-om-slaveriet-tvingas-bort/a/63LJgQ
“Federal authorities in the USA have begun work to map what they describe as left-wing organizations that finance or support hatred or violence against conservatives after the murder of debater Charlie Kirk. This is reported by government sources to the New York Times and Washington Post.
According to the sources, it is still undecided what the mapping will be used for once it is completed.” https://omni.se/kallor-myndigheter-i-usa-kartlagger-vanstern-efter-mordet-pa-kirk/a/KMo4o4
“USA’s President Donald Trump is suing the New York Times for $15 billion, equivalent to 140 billion kronor, for defamation and libel, he writes on Truth Social.
In his post, Trump calls the newspaper ‘one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in our country’s history.’ He alleges that it has become a mouthpiece for the Democrats, complains that the newspaper supported Kamala Harris in the presidential election, and accuses the newspaper of lying about him and his family.”
“‘The New York Times has been allowed to lie, slander, and defame me for far too long. Now it’s over.’ https://omni.se/trump-stammer-new-york-times-pa-15-miljarder-dollar/a/4BMkVE
“Donald Trump has ordered the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee to put an end to an alleged crime wave in the city. The President himself describes the operation as a copy of a similar operation in Washington DC earlier this year.
‘It’s very important because of all the ongoing crime,’ says Trump during a press conference on Monday evening, Swedish time.
Critics argue that the action undermines states’ self-determination and pushes the USA in an authoritarian direction.” https://omni.se/trump-skickar-nationalgardet-till-memphis/a/MnOGMR
“❗️🇺🇦Ukrainian military from the SIGNUM unit continue to destroy 🇷🇺Russian logistics in the Liman direction”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lywrlzrof22e
79%
“❗️During the night, 🇺🇦Ukrainian military shot down 89/113 🇷🇺Russian UAVs”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lywqiflsjs2e
“More Russian channels admit the Sumy “buffer zone operation” has stalled. Milblogger Two Majors says advances near Yunakivka reach only 14 km at best. He also notes growing pressure near Oleksiivka, where Ukrainian flank attacks and drone strikes are threatening to cut off the Russian salient.”
An example of what Johan writes, that one is afraid of Putin.
“Romanian President Nicușor Dan said Bucharest “rather does not support” imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, warning it would mean entering the war with Russia. He noted the position could change depending on future developments.”
https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lywq4sszok2q
“A Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 crew shot down Russian Shahed-136 and Geran drones with onboard machine gun fire during one of the latest air attacks.”
https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lywq3csols2q
https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lywpqgkffs2q
“At night, the Russians attacked rescuers in the Kyiv region while they were extinguishing a fire. In particular, as a result of a Russian drone attack, a fire broke out in the parking area of a shopping center. However, the Russians struck again while rescuers were already on the scene.”
“This is a ridiculous idea. Trump is using the cover of Russian sanctions to make the EU join his trade war against the rest of the world. This would – first and foremost – leave the EU isolated and vulnerable to more US tariffs.”
Regarding Bessent’s statement:
“⚡️ Europe must ‘do their share now before US slaps China tariffs over Russian oil, Bessent says. “I guarantee you that if Europe put on substantial secondary tariffs on the buyers of Russian oil, the war would be over in 60 or 90 days,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.”
https://bsky.app/profile/kyivindependent.com/post/3lywnsxheps2p
It could be interesting considering that Zelenskyy has raised the tone. By the way, I wonder if he will ignore the suit this time.
“❗️Trump may meet with Zelensky in New York next week, says US Secretary of State Rubio”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lywobwikvk2e
“Not that 80% of the drones crashed due to fuel starvation 370km into Poland, and that Poland started to cry cascades.”
“Ridiculous,” said Bill. Bull added something that didn’t contradict Bill.
>>~^~^~🇵🇱 ~^:>>
😄
Out of 208 reported conflicts, 187 were distributed along the front as follows. S Slobozhansky (Kharkiv, etc.) continues to push upwards. The same goes for Siviersk, which has ended up level with the Lyman front, which is also somewhat calmer than it was this summer. The pressure in the triad Toretsk-Pokrovsk-Novopavlivka is still as it has been for most of the summer.
👍
Now I am not religious, but I believe that you can probably put 1+1=2 together when you see what my idol is saying!
https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxbw646woCYo2WtDS48uEHM8GxSN5sqMDZ
Now it’s only lies and what is seen on the Internet that counts! No ethics and morals in the USA anymore!
Russia has probably never had it and Xi is trying to create a control like God?
👍
Confirmed results of attacks on Russian occupiers’ command posts
It has been confirmed that enemy personnel, including officers, have been affected.
We remind you that on September 8, 2025, units from the Ukrainian defense forces carried out a comprehensive fire attack on Russian forces’ command posts in the temporarily occupied area in Donetsk oblast.
Using missile forces, artillery, air force, and unmanned systems from the Ukrainian defense forces, in cooperation with other parts of the defense forces, the command posts of the troop grouping (forces) “Center” and the 41st General Army of the Russian Ground Forces were hit. It is these military formations that are acting in the Pokrovsk direction.
Before that, on August 28, the Minister of Defense of the attacking country, Andrei Bilousov, visited the Russian forces’ command posts in this area. Shortly after his visit, the specified locations of the occupying army’s command were successfully hit.
💥🔥👍✊ Now there are reports that the Saratov oil refinery has been attacked for the second time tonight!
It was also attacked on August 10, so it was probably appropriate that it was targeted again.
Hopefully it will be as I wrote earlier, that they will make another round to all refineries now that they are probably finishing up the repairs.
“The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that on the night of September 16, 2025, units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in coordination with other components of the Defense Forces, struck the Saratov Oil Refinery.” https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3lywug7ek522f
“❗️FIRMS map shows fire traces on the territory of 🇷🇺Saratov oil refinery” https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lywuhgqu7k2e
https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-strike-sets-russias-saratov-oil-refinery-ablaze-military-reports/