Family praises Dutchman who died in Ukraine: 'Sad, but for us he is a hero' A Dutchman was killed in Ukraine. It is a 28-year-old man from the village of Nieuwland, in the Utrecht municipality of Vijfheerenlanden. The mayor confirms that he died in the war. The man's death is confirmed by both a family member and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the family member, the man would have died in early June. It is unclear exactly how that happened. According to a Telegram post by a pro-Russian war blogger, the Dutchman would have traveled to Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion and would have given military training to Ukrainian civilians there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot confirm this. It is unclear whether the man has military experience. "We can confirm that it is a 28-year-old Dutchman from the province of Utrecht," reports a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs. "We are in contact with the family and provide consular assistance. However, the possibilities for this are limited by the war in Ukraine." The spokesperson cannot say anything about possible repatriation of the body of the fallen Dutchman. The family member cannot say anything about it either. The family member calls the death of the Dutchman 'intense'. He is said to have gone to Ukraine in 2022 quite anonymously. "We know that many people have an opinion about it," the family said in a statement. He went to Ukraine to fight against injustice and to fight for democratic values. We are very sad, but for us he is a hero. We have always respected his choices." According to an acquaintance of the family, the man was back in the Netherlands for a few months at the end of last year, beginning of this year to assist his incurably ill father. He was also at his funeral. 'War even closer' Mayor Sjors Fröhlich of Vijfheerenlanden says in a response that he sympathizes with the man's loved ones. "A horrible message that brings the war even closer than it already was. I can only wish the family a lot of strength. RIP, you're a hero to all of us in here.
A blog post about the emerging use of AI on the battlefield. One point it makes is that the American officer who prevented a worse massacre at My Lai would not be a person but a drone if that war happened today (or maybe more accurately in 5 years.) Not to editorialize, but how much do you trust Trump and Hegseth to handle this transition with nuance, intelligence, and foresight? https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/06/ai-on-the-battlefield-and-at-the-peace-table
The Caspian fleet is more important than you think - the Caspian is shared with Iran for starters and the other states have to be kept in line if you're "a Great Power" - and in any case, wouldn't it make more sense to send a naval officer to the artillery than frontline infantry? Simply nutty personnel deployment
Russia has been sending low level sailors to the front for years now, but it's unusual (or at least seems to be) to send a professional. However, if there are no mines there's no need for a minesweeper. Maybe the ships can do other duties (for whatever reason they seem to be the go-to ship type sent by North Sea European nations to stop a Russian ship doing something illegal) but Russia has a surplus of small patrol ships so I don't think so. Certainly it's a desperate and nutty move, but Russia's already been shanghaiing tourists and giving murderers pardons for serving at the front. Those seems even nuttier. Maybe it's reductionist, but hearing about any new form of Russians making other Russian lives more terrible for no good reason is just Russia being Russia to me.
Ukraine has now inflicted over 1 million casualties (dead + wounded) on Russia. Putin doesn't seem to want to stop soon either. I don't know how they are going to maintain 30k-40k monthly voluntary recruits for more than a year without mobilisation.
That's just the thing -- this ends in mobilisation. Remember it's not 30-40k they need to sustain. Desertions, illness, ageing out...it all adds up. I imagine the rate is north of 100k/month they need to replace.
After Operation “Spider Web,” the Russians are reported as having relocated their Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers to the Far East, to Kamchatka to be precise (Risk players will remember its location). Launching X-101 cruise missiles now requires flights of up to 12,400 km to reach the launch zone, which translates to 20-23 hours in the sky. Apart from sending an gigantic SIGINT and radar signal for opposing intelligence services, this is going to stress the airframes, engines, etc. to the limit. These planes are as old as the venerable B-52s, which are kept in service by the USAF's excellent maintenance. Excellent maintenance is not a feature of the Russian air force, or anything else in Russia
Today is Russia Day. In honour of the occasion, the Ukrainian Air Force sent greetings to a group of Russian visitors. The Ukrainian Armed Forces used air-dropped bombs to destroy a building where Russian troops were stationed in one of the directions.The occupiers were storing valuable electronic warfare, signals intelligence equipment, and other assets in the facility. pic.twitter.com/ylZPw8rLlV— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) June 11, 2025
Am I misremembering or is this a signal that the air theater is changing in Ukraine. I recall videos of air to ground strikes on front line forces. But this is apparently air dropped bombs behind the front lines. We also had the Su 35(?) shot down last week. I haven’t been following closely enough to say this is a change, but a severe degradation of Russian early warning capabilities as a result of spiderweb last week would explain ukraines ability to reach further into the airspace over Russian controlled territory
Oh my.. It would be hilarious if true, but it is Igor Sushko.. But a video shows a two Su-25 formation, then the lead airplane banking after launching unguided rockets, at which point, one of the wings breaks off and the plane crashes. Sadly, the pilot does eject. Sushko claims the trailing SU-25 hit its wingman, but it could just be shoddy maintenance. https://bsky.app/profile/igorsushko.bsky.social/post/3lriw5o6vnk2s
It really seems like Ukraine is making FPVs for everything.. I would think radar assisted AA guns would be more efficient, but FPVs to take out Shaheds works? https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com/post/3lrj2dh5dyc2o
Footage of the shot down Su-25's final impact yesterday has just been released 1933890532297642205 is not a valid tweet id
Evidentially the test for this tactic went really well, and in just the two weeks of the recent barrage of drone attacks one unit brought down Shaheds numbering somewhere in the low hundreds.