Malazan Empire: Werthead - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

According to Bloomberg, the Russian treasury reportedly ran out of cash in its main budgetary account in April and was forced to suddenly cut spending. The austerity plan cut non-military and unprotected spending by over 35%, crippling Russian infrastructure spending. Central government has informed non-military departments to prepare for additional cuts of 15%, including mass lay-offs.

A Russian journalist told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow now effectively has only two allies, North Korea and Iran, and asked: "How did we get to this point, how did we end up in such company?" Lavrov responded: "What's wrong with such company?" Well...

Germany will formally name Russia as being behind the attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport and will undertake extensive new sanctions in response. Some military support for Ukraine previously off the table may re-join the table (though Taurus seems unlikely, especially as Ukrainian capabilities are reducing the need for it).

Russia is now importing Jet A1 fuel from Egypt and (via third parties) South Korea to keep its aviation wing flying.

37 Ukrainians killed after a military storage depot next to a housing development was hit and exploded. The depot wasn't supposed to be there, prompting a furious response by Zelensky.

A French report that Russian officials have called the UK "our eternal enemy," was greeted angrily, with French commentators pointing out that the UK is France's eternal nemesis and Russia needs to get their own.

Ukraine has carried out a simultaneous decapitation strike on multiple Russian command posts, killing multiple Russian officers. Two generals, a colonel and 2 lieutenant colonels are reportedly among the seriously wounded.

Fedorov has accepted his new job, advising the Italian government on defence procurement and innovation.

Sweden is assigning troops and aircraft to Finnish command, and will reinforce the Finnish-Russian border with troops, aircraft and drones.

Two Tu-95 bombers at Engels Airforce Base were hit by Ukrainian drones, with one disabled by having its wing blown off. One of the aircraft was a trainer.

The Yaroslavl Refinery has been hit again and is ablaze, again.

Russian reciprocation attacks against Ukrainian retailer logistics have caused significant damage.

Ukraine used Patriot missiles to shoot down multiple Russian ballistic missiles overnight, indicating fresh deliveries had arrived.

Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow allegedly urged Moscow to peace talks and a reduction of support for Iran. Trump has denied it was in response to any imminent threat to the Baltics, Poland or the UK.

However, Lukashensko was apparently summoned to an "unexpected" meeting in Moscow. Give it 48 hours and see if he flies off to Beijing.

Storm Shadow/SCALP has some advantages over Ukrainian home-made weapons in reliability and target acquisition, but to be honest what Ukraine really needs is range, and their own drones and Flamingo missiles give them much greater range (and the ballistic missiles will give them more). Russia is just looking for some excuse to extend the conflict beyond Ukraine to scare NATO countries into backing down (which will not work).

Ukraine has fought its way back into Zapadne on the Kupyansk front and is trying to retake the whole settlement.

Reportedly CIA officials including John Ratcliffe are in Moscow for talks with the Russian government. One rumour is that the US government is reaffirming its commitment to Article V after Russia threatened attacks on Finland, the Baltics, Poland and the UK in recent weeks.

Ukraine is reportedly sitting on dozens, if not hundreds, of tanks that have not seen combat operations for months or even a couple of years. Some Leopards may be test-refurbished to be used as unmanned systems.

A small delivery of Patriot missiles has arrived in Ukraine. Zelensky estimates they need around 300 to defend against ballistic attacks during the winter.

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex construction site has exploded due to a massive gas leak. Apparently the site directors were alerted to gas smells two weeks ago but did nothing about it.

A Russian MiG-29 has been destroyed on the ground.

Ukraine nearly succeeded in eliminating Colonel Dmitry Shabaev, commander of Russia's 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade. His vehicle was hit by a drone about 80 km from the frontline near Huliaipole. Shabaev was seriously wounded and evacuated. The brigade took part in atrocities in Bucha in 2022.

Fire Point has completed field trials of the FP-9 ballistic missile and says it will make its combat debut shortly. Construction has also begun on Fire Point's new factory in Denmark.

Russia hit a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih with a double-tap drone strike, killing 14 people in total (including first responders in the second strike) and wounding over 100, including 11 children.

The Perm refinery is ablaze, again.

The Alexa Spatium jet-powered drone interceptor is now in active use by the Ukrainian military. The Spatium is also effective against helicopters.

Gelendzhik in Russia's Krasnodar region completely ran out of petrol overnight, causing chaos. St. Petersburg region has also seen its worst shortages to date, with the longest queues.

8,500 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia in recent days, with the expectation they will be deployed to border areas to free up Russian troops for frontline combat.

Ukraine has started hitting Ozon logistics hubs in addition to Wildberries. Ozon is the second-largest online retailer in Russia (though I believe it's older).