UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 527 - AUGUST 2, 2023

A dispute between prominent voices in the Russian information space shows how sensitive the Kremlin is to Russian coverage of setbacks on the Crimean peninsula in particular and possibly in Ukraine in general, exposing further fault lines within the milblogger community.

A war-supporting milblogger accused other prominent war-supporting milbloggers, who had been critical of Russian military tactics on August 2, of being "idiots" who would support "provocative publications" and "hectic criticism of the [Russian Ministry of Defense]", because those milbloggers had posted images allegedly showing the aftermath of recent Ukrainian attacks near Sevastopol and on the Chonhar Bridge, which some sources believe irresponsibly spread panic. A notorious pro-Russian Ukrainian blogger supported by the Kremlin also accused one of the attacked critical milbloggers of stealing funds intended for the Russian armed forces. These two accusations have drawn attention from other Russian commentators who support the war, many of whom support the critical channels that were attacked for their coverage of the Crimea attacks.

One of the milbloggers notes that the core of the problem lies in the fact that these two channels are posting images of alleged Ukrainian attacks on the Crimean peninsula, but emphasize that the original images come from Ukrainian Telegram channels. Another prominent milblogger claims that the dispute over the publication of images of attacks on the Crimea became so intense that it attracted the attention of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Crimea and the head of the Crimea occupation, Sergey Aksyonov, likely because these entities are interested in preventing panic in Crimea.

The top ranks of the Russian military may have instructed the milbloggers to remain silent on issues that can be directly attributed to the Russian military leadership.

On the night of August 1-2, Russian forces carried out a drone attack that destroyed port infrastructure in the Odesa region, including 40,000 tons of grain.

The complete Russian Offensive Update 527 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

UNDERSTANDING WAR