1/ Russian soldiers in the occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky may be going hungry along with the civilian population. Russian warbloggers are blaming the unpopular and apparently corrupt head of Russia's Unmanned Systems Forces, Yuri 'Toilet' Vaganov, for the situation. ⬇️
2/ Oleshky, a town on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson region, has been heavily damaged by the war but is still inhabited by up to 6,000 Ukrainian civilians living without water, electricity, or gas.
3/ An unknown number of Russian soldiers are also present, some of them likely flying drones against the nearby city of Kherson. It's widely believed that the Russians are using the Ukrainian civilians as human shields to discourage the Ukrainians from bombarding Oleshky. 4/ The Russians claim that Ukrainian attacks have blocked their attempts to bring food into the town. They say that the Ukrainians are "bombard[ing] the settlement and humanitarian aid convoys with artillery and drones" and have posted photos of destroyed trucks. 5/ However local residents say they have not been supplied with any food and have instead been forced to eat weeds and whatever vegetables they can grow themselves. It's likely that any food that has been brought in by the Russians has been reserved for their own troops. 6/ With mounting international attention to the plight of Oleshky's residents, the Russians have announced a local ceasefire to allow civilians to leave. Warblogger Vladimir Romanov calls it "a consequence of the complete loss of control and advantages in the small skies." 7/ He writes: "The enemy, remaining behind the Dnipro, was able to completely isolate a specific (very large) settlement. Even the unmanned ground vehicles, so advertised by personnel from the rear areas, turned out to be powerless in the matter of supplying the settlement." 8/ "The Ministry of Defence spends truly enormous sums on purchasing them casually. Without a solution to the issue of stable communication and control, it is simply a pile of expensive metal. 9/ "A very specific group of people, led by a very specific character, is behind our technical and technological lag behind the enemy in the "small sky" sector: Yuri "Toilet" Vaganov [Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Russian Armed Forces]. 10/ "He was the one who artificially restricted the development of, and access to procurement for, various technical equipment and "low-altitude airspace" products, promoting only "his own" suppliers, whose products, to put it mildly, were not distinguished by high quality or relevance. 11/ Now that the Department of Military Counterintelligence have got Vaganov by the balls [likely referring to an ongoing corruption investigation], Toilet's patron, Krivoruchko, is blocking them from carrying it out, using colossal administrative resources. 12/ "And all of this is the consequence. For which a very bloody price is being paid. A solution to this problem, with an asterisk, is absent. Because the "managerial majority" are either business partners or relatives—and it is not uncommon for them to be both at the same time. 13/ "For this reason, an order has been issued to the Russian Armed Forces to cease fire. For now, only in this sector.” 14/ Vaganov is a controversial figure. Appointed in November 2025 with no prior military experience, he is a former plumbing salesman – from which he earned his unofficial and derisive callsign 'Toilet' – who became a monopoly supplier of drones to the Russian army.
15/ He was caught up in a major corruption scandal earlier this year, in which he is accused of sending drone operators to their deaths unless they gave glowing reviews to drones made by Vagonov's business allies. bsky.app
1/ The commander of Russia's Unmanned Systems Forces, Lt Col Yuri 'Toilet' Vaganov, has reportedly been caught in an apparently major corruption scandal by a federal sting operation. His career now faces being flushed away. ⬇️
16/ Andrey Filatov blames 'Toilet' for having "done a lot to contribute to our army's technical backwardness. But he was so good at spinning a load of crap that big shots wouldn't turn him in for the simple reason of not looking like idiots." 17/ "I know several very smart people who were hypnotized by Little Yuri. He's a masterful schemer. Admitting you’ve been duped isn’t something a real man would do. 18/ "And so, dozens of high-ranking officials don’t talk about their screw-ups—not out of fear, but simply because they don’t want to look like fools... 19/ After all, when Toilet was telling them about "antenna polarisation and PPPC," the decision-makers nodded sagely and handed over projects to him for management... I'm not at all sure the situation is improving now. 20/ "Just as a stopped watch shows the right time twice a day, Toilet would sometimes "hit" the right time and something would work. 21/ "And if now in his place sits another "technically talented" but cowardly "just in case something happens" person?... then there won't even be any movement in the direction of "where it needs to be"... We'll see." 22/ Alexey Sukonkin agrees, and says that Vaganov is far from unique: "You simply can't imagine how many similar characters screw those at the middle level, with meagre budgets. Yes, some are caught red-handed and even dragged into court for embezzlement and fraud." 23/ "But... they're mushrooming, because the prize is so high, and there's practically no accountability." /end Sources: 🔹 t.me 🔹 t.me 🔹 t.me 🔹 t.me