Today, there are interesting updates from the Kupiansk direction. Here, as Russian losses have officially hit an unprecedented 1 million count, the breaking point finally came, and the soldiers began turning their rifles on their own commanders rather than face certain death in futile assaults.

Three bullets on road to Nyzhnia Duvanka

In one of the most brutal recent examples of growing disorder within Russian ranks, several Russian soldiers near the settlement of Nyzhnia Duvanka in the Luhansk region turned on their own.

By shooting and killing the military police platoon commander and two of his barrier troop subordinates and running away, they sparked a frantic search operation by Russian authorities.

The deserters left their comrades to lie dead on the road while fleeing to save their lives from both Ukrainian and Russian fire.

Pischane funnel: Where men disappear

This violent mutiny did not emerge in a vacuum; it is directly tied to the hopeless bloodbath unfolding near the Kupiansk front, specifically at the Pischane funnel. For months, Russian forces have tried and failed to break through Ukrainian defenses here.

The Ukrainians have created a deadly trap by controlling the flanks, exposing any Russian assault to relentless drone and artillery fire from both sides. Yet commanders continue to send wave after wave of infantry into the funnel, hoping to drive a wedge through Ukrainian lines.

Every new wave knows exactly how it will end, as almost no one from previous groups returns alive. The systematic nature of these assaults has been likened to mass execution, with soldiers pushed forward not for tactical gain but to serve as human battering rams.

Mad Max cars and vanishing men

To make matters worse, Russian troops are being sent into combat in improvised Mad Max-style vehicles, like the Gaz-69, which entered production in 1952, the year of Stalin’s death, and regular cars fitted with rudimentary armor or even none.

Such improvised motorcycle squads and barely armored vehicles now lead the charge, only to be annihilated by Ukrainian FPV drones well before reaching the contact line. These desperate measures highlight not only material shortages but a total disregard for the lives of Russian troops.

Ukrainian surveillance drones ensure that almost no movement goes undetected, meaning most assaults are decimated long before they engage the defenders.

When running is not option

Despite the carnage, desertions in the Russian army remain surprisingly rare. The reason lies in the sheer brutality of the punishments for refusing to fight.

Soldiers who resist are subjected to medieval-style torture. Some are thrown into pits without food before being forced to fight each other to the death to earn the right to live another day.

In one documented case, soldiers were tied behind vehicles and dragged through the dirt, while other deserters were forced to bury each other alive as punishment and to serve as an example. In the Lyman area, a surrendering Russian soldier was spotted by Russian drone operators and targeted by his own artillery.

This highlights the impossible choice facing many: surrender and be killed or desert and be hunted. For some, turning against their officers seems to be the only escape.

This toxic atmosphere has bred a surge in violent retaliation. Russian soldiers, driven to the brink by the realization that dying in a pointless assault is their fate if they continue, are increasingly likely to choose to kill their commanders instead, as it is safer than being spotted attempting to surrender to the Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, commanders themselves contribute to the decay by labeling active soldiers as deserters to avoid paying their wages, denying them medical care, and forcing under-equipped men into combat.

A recent appeal by the families of men from the Russian 54th Motorized Rifle Regiment revealed horrifying conditions: soldiers were beaten and handcuffed, robbed of personal belongings, and left to die without evacuation.

Wounded men are forced to crawl back to safety, and the dead are simply abandoned, confirmed by footage showing bodies of dead Russian soldiers that haven’t been moved for months since the snow covered the fields.

Million-man grave and rot within

The downward spiral is accelerating. Russian military losses have just surpassed one million casualties, including killed, wounded, and captured.

Equipment losses are equally staggering, with 10,000 destroyed and damaged tanks and over 20,000 armored vehicles of various types.

Lacking armor, modern vehicles, or meaningful support, commanders now rely on sheer manpower and suicidal frontal attacks to advance the line ever so slowly. But the more men are lost, the worse morale gets, and the more inclined troops are coming to view their superiors as the enemy instead of the Ukrainians they are forced to fight.

Overall, such events create a vicious cycle.

The collapse of discipline and the dehumanizing tactics employed by Russian commanders will inevitably lead to more incidents where soldiers turn their weapons on their leaders.

To prevent this, the officers are only doubling down on cruelty, inventing new, more barbaric punishments. This internal rot may not only undermine Russia’s ability to continue the war, but it could also ultimately sabotage its war effort from within.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Today, there are a lot of interesting updates from the Kupiansk direction. Here, along the Oskil River near Kupiansk, Ukrainian special forces just carried out one of the boldest operations of the war.

In a surprise helicopter raid deep behind Russian lines, they landed undetected and tore through dugouts, safe houses, and staging zones, shattering Russian preparations before their offensive could even begin.

Hidden danger of Kharkiv Oblast town

The Russian forces in this area maintain a very thin bridgehead on the west bank of the Oskil River, where the control of the town of Dvorichna allows them to accumulate and deploy forces across the river.

Russians plan to use this bridgehead to tactically outflank Ukrainian forces in Kupiansk from the north, as well as to use it as a launching pad to link up with their other offensive in Kharkiv.

The Ukrainians understand that the Dvorichna bridgehead will be a key staging ground for the Russian summer offensive in Kharkiv, and know that they must act quickly to undermine any future Russian effort here.

The flaw in the river

The primary Russian weakness here is that their forces must cross the Oskil River by boat to reach their bridgehead on the western bank, which significantly complicates their logistics. This prevents them from deploying large numbers of heavy weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles or MANPADS.

The lack of man-portable air defenses makes the Russian bridgehead highly vulnerable to any aerial operations that the Ukrainians could conduct.

Subsequently, the Ukrainian special operations forces command devised a daring and unconventional plan, to conduct the first air assault operation in the war in over three years.

They planned to fly over Russian lines and deploy several teams of special forces in the rear of the enemy, where they would conduct raids, gather intelligence, and direct fire onto concealed Russian deployment points.

Ghosts in the trees

The Ukrainian Special Forces involved in this operation were deployed using American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, flying low to avoid being detected by the Russians.

Penetrating deep behind Russian lines, the helicopters were able to land and dismount several dozen Ukrainian operators before returning safely to friendly territory.

Once on the ground, the Ukrainian troops moved quickly and with purpose. After reaching their targets, they launched a series of highly effective and deadly raids against Russian forces. They cleared forest belts and residential areas of enemy soldiers who had been preparing to cross the river.

Russian troops were caught completely off guard, never expecting an attack from their rear. Several dugouts were quickly encircled, and numerous Russian soldiers were captured in the confusion.

Taking full advantage of surprise and terrain, Ukrainian operators concealed themselves in forested areas, waiting for small Russian infantry groups that were either sent to find them, or were moving to new positions completely unaware.

These ambushes were swift and lethal, as the Ukrainians eliminated enemy soldiers at point-blank range using small arms, all while remaining undetected in the dense cover of the forest.

The escape corridor

The high level of coordination and preparation of the Ukrainian forces included several armored vehicles, meant to arrive near a designated exfil point to quickly evacuate the operators. This point was chosen carefully, as it had the least amount of frontline activity, and no Russian bridgehead, making it the safest route for the job.

The Ukrainians moved through the dense forests behind the Dvorichna bridgehead and avoided areas with larger concentrations of Russian soldiers.

The Ukrainian special operators, with intelligence gained from captured Russians, enabled the Ukrainian drone operators to identify large Russian strongholds standing in the way of the Ukrainian exfiltration.

Artillery crews and heavy drone bombers were deployed, leading to the decimation of these Russian troops.

This focused fire established a corridor for the Ukrainian special forces to safely traverse the forests and reach the western bank of the river, where MaxPro armored vehicles awaited to exfiltrate them back to safety.

Operators left behind: the shadow war begins

Overall, the Ukrainians achieved the impossible, carrying out the war’s first air assault operation in over three years, allowing them to strike deep into Russian-held territory, inflict serious losses, and gather critical intelligence.

Notably, it is highly likely that not all Ukrainian operators exfiltrated from behind Russian lines.

According to special forces doctrine, these operators will be able to gather intelligence, set up and train further resistance networks, and conduct a deadly guerrilla warfare with sabotage and liquidations of top Russian commanders.

Russia is going to go all-in this summer, and the Ukrainians are positioning themselves to take every advantage they can to repulse it.

In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.