Ukraine struck a huge blow to Russia’s gas exporting LNG terminal at Ust-Luga, which is west of St. Petersburg, and setting off a truly massive fireball.
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Ust-Luga is key for the Russian export of oil and gas via the Baltic Sea.
It is reported that the main damage from the drone strike was inflicted on the cryogenic unit for deep hydrocarbon processing, where gas condensate and natural gas are fractionated. It is a critical part of equipment.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) August 24, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Russia said the fire was caused by …. you guessed it …. Falling Debris.
Russia says infrastructure near its Kursk Nuclear Power Plant was struck by a Ukrainian drone.
Russia’s defence ministry said at least 95 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted across more than a dozen Russian regions on August 24, the day that Ukraine celebrates its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Kursk nuclear power plant, just 60 km (38 miles) from the border with Ukraine, said that air defences shot down a drone that detonated near the plant just after midnight, damaging an auxiliary transformer and forcing a 50% reduction in the operating capacity at reactor No. 3.
Radiation levels were normal and there were no injuries from the fire which the drone sparked, the plant said. Two other reactors are operating without power generation and one is undergoing scheduled repairs.
The refinery at Novoshakhtinsk is still burning after four days.
But don’t worry because Russian authorities say there are no air quality issues.
And the refinery at Syzran was hit again.
Rail infrastructure remains high on the target list.
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Last night, the AFU conducted a long-range UAV strike on an electrical substation in the Millerovsky District, Rostov region, RF, which powers the electrical traction system for the adjacent railroad. At least 36 trains are currently delayed due to the outage.
(49.11351, 40.50378)
#OSINT
— OSINT Intuit (@urikikaski.bsky.social) August 23, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Here’s an update on the situation on the ground in the salient northeast of Pokrovsk.
This village is east of Izium.
The former mayor of Kherson was among 146 released in a prisoner swap today.
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🇺🇦 Zelensky: Today, our people are returning home. Soldiers of Armed Forces, National Guard, State Border Service and civilians. Most of them have been in captivity since 2022.
We are returning home journalist Dmytro Khylyuk, who was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) August 24, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Sunday was Independence Day in Ukraine and Zelenskyy made a point of honoring two Trump associates.
Another 910 Russians, but no tanks.
Those ‘’concessions’’ are horse shit. And this coming from the same JD Vance who said in the same interview that WWII ended with a negotiation.
Vance said a bunch of other shit. You can look it up if you like.
Oh, and Lavrov was on the same show and he lied out his ass.
This is some good news from the procurement front.
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🇺🇸🇺🇦 US administration this past week approved the sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition air-launched missiles, or ERAMs, which are set to arrive in Ukraine in about six weeks, – WSJ
The $850 million arms package, mostly funded by European nations and includes other items.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) August 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Let’s check in on the Russian economy and see how it’s doing.
Agricultural machinery industry
Production of farm machinery has collapsed by 27%. Farmers don’t have the money for new combines, loans are unaffordable, and old machines are reaching the end of their service life. Rostselmash and other manufacturers are also switching to shortened work weeks.
Meanwhile, the fields are seeing the harvest of a “compact (poor) crop.”
Agriculture
For the second year in a row, southern regions are experiencing a record-low harvest. Russia may lose up to 25% of its grain crop. May frosts and drought devastated the crops, while the high Central Bank rate and rising fuel prices have made farming unprofitable. Russia is now importing butter from the UAE and potatoes from Mongolia.
Construction
After a brief surge in late 2024-early 2025, growth rates fell to 2.6% in March 2025. Almost no new projects are being launched, and the production of building materials and metals is stagnating. Why? Because there’s no demand, while wage arrears at construction companies are increasing.
The chicken-shit Trump Administration strikes again. This reportedly applies to ATACMS.
Despite being bombed on a near-daily basis, Kharkiv can still find reasons to celebrate.
NOTE to any RSBU readers from Mississippi: It might soon be difficult to follow this thread.
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Users with Mississippi IP addresses can no longer access the Bluesky app. Mississippi’s new age verification law for social networks “would fundamentally change” how it operates, and it wouldn’t be possible to comply with its small team and limited resources. bsky.social/about/blog/0…
— Kevin Rothrock (@kevinrothrock.me) August 24, 2025 at 9:09 AM
And finally, winter is on its way.