Russia has been selling off some of its gold reserves to finance the war, but even that desperate move won’t work forever. Russia’s central bank has about 2,330 tons of gold in its reserves (worth about $300 billion) and the National Wealth Fund held another 406 tons, although half of that has since been sold to the central bank.
This excellent analysis suggests that the end is near for the regime and he predicts it is doubtful Putin will make it another year in office before the oligarchs have no choice but to remove him.
This is where we have to understand that Russia is not a normal country. The reason nobody is up in arms about 1,000,000 dead is because the men who signed up for it and got paid high salaries and bonus payments knew what they were doing, and if they got killed, well that was their own fault. Russians are known for their zlorádstvo, their word for schadenfreude, but translated to ‘malicious gloating’. Inflation however isn’t funny and it’s getting at everyone. The government can’t let it get worse, which means it has to stop printing money. That means it has no choice but to sell the only thing it has left, its gold reserves.
There hasn’t been a better time to do it, prices are high, largely because China, pre-war Russia and private individuals have been buying up gold because its a solid fall back and in may ways portable if it needs to be. Its actually exceeded the stock market in terms of returns and that’s almost unheard of.
But who to sell it to? Sanctions make international sales impossible unless it’s done surreptitiously. But this is Russia, and it’s not a normal society, it’s a corrupt gangster state made up of multiple oligarchs who control vast swathes of the economy and they always have money, always. And the state doesn’t expect them to hand it over for nothing.
The oligarchs can feel the end is coming. They don’t give a damn about Russia, or Putin, but they do care about money and their lives. Gold is the ultimate way to hedge your bets. When the end comes they’ll need it to seize power in their regions, buy protection and potentially pay to fight for their lives or their power in a free fall environment, as the federation breaks up. So the government offers them gold and they buy it. Cash is returned to the state to keep financing the war. Many of them remember the 1990’s and the turf wars that raged around the new Federation – they expect much the same again – only this time more fundamentally diverse and complicated. If it can be put off by Putin’s war economy, so be it, but they know the writing is on the wall. When you have to sell your gold to pay the bills, things are tight – ask any pawn broker.
However for Russia it’s unwillingly signaling things ARE bad, things are very bad, and no amount of pretense will cover it up. What happens after the gold sale and even the Oligarchs can’t buy any more? Nobody else will. Nobody else can. Time is running out, fast. There’s no long term solution except to stop spending and end the war. Yet Putin has insisted he would rather fight to the last Ukrainian, only this past week. It leaves little room for any compromise.
The thing is it leaves no room for those who would remove him to do anything else other than kill him. It leaves them, as time goes on, to have no choice but to remove him. If he won’t negotiate in good faith and end the war – and he won’t because he simply can’t accept what that implies, then they have no choice. He has to go. The faster they remove him the more intact Russia will be, but the longer they take, the more complex it will become. Nobody wants to be the first to move.
The Russian soldier just stood there, surrounded by more than two dozen corpses, until the drone wasted him.
WARNING: Video is graphic.
Kazan is east of Moscow on the Volga River and is Russia’s fifth-largest city.
Why waste helmets and armor on meat being fed into the grinder?
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🪖 Russia is throwing “disposable” soldiers without helmets and armor onto the front.
The Telegraph, citing Ukrainian officers, writes that Russian occupiers often storm Ukrainian positions without basic protection. Most of them die before reaching the forest strip or trench.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 11:59 AM
It seems it was a successful test, although a .50-caliber is not going to take out a tank.
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Ukrainian ground drone armed with a Browning M2 machine gun engaged a Russian “turtle tank” in a direct frontal encounter on the frontline.
5th Separate Assault Brigade was conducting tests of the ground platform
on the front line when a Russian armoured vehicle unexpectedly appeared.
— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Another oil tanker in danger of sinking off the coast of Senegal in West Africa.
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A Turkish-owned oil tanker operated by Beşiktaş Denizcilik began sinking off the coast of Senegal
Media reports say that the vessel entered the Russian port of Taman in August,after which it headed to Africa&remained idle for a long time.There’ve been no official statements about the incident
— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 9:06 AM
It will make a nice coral reef.
Some FlexTape might cover those holes in the side.
The port at Novorossiysk is empty.
Ukraine hits a rail hub in the Kursk region.
Ukraine reports some success at Pokrovsk.
Russian Tu-22 bombers that had recently been moved from the Far East to the Olenya airfield in the Kola Peninsula went for a joy ride of sorts near Sweden’s Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea.
The Russian Defense Ministry released some interesting video of the flight.
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Three 🇷🇺 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers performed a more than five-hour mission from the Kola Peninsula, entering the Baltic Sea air space through the narrow corridor between 🇫🇮 and 🇪🇪, before turning north again after flying near the 🇸🇪 island of Gotland.
— The Barents Observer (@thebarentsobserver.com) November 29, 2025 at 6:34 AM
During the part of the mission that took place over the Baltic Sea, the Tu-22M3 bombers were escorted by Russian Su-35S and Su-27 fighter jets, the Defence Ministry’s video shows.
The Swedish Air Force scrambled JAS 39 Gripen jets, following the Russian military planes as they approached Swedish air space near the island of Gotland. No territorial violations were reported, and the Russian Defence Ministry said “all flights by Russian air forces are carried out in strict compliance with international airspace regulations.”
That statement is by far not true.
Nineteen winners and 53 losers.
Pretty good shooting.
Russia attacked this apartment building in a northern suburb of Kyiv. At least one death and 19 injuries are reported.
Russian drones now drop cluster bombs on cities before striking their targets.
Russian ambush drones getting blown up by grenade-dropping drones.
Ukraine is falling behind in the drone war.
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❗️Russia gains the upper hand in the battle of drones. Ukrainian logistics and drone units are now suffering greater losses than infantry (!) on the front line, — WSH
▪️They outnumber Ukrainian UAVs in key areas of the front.
▪️The new unit of Russia “Rubikon” gathered the best Russian drone pilots.
— The Ukrainian Review (@theukrainianreview.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Another 1,160 Russians plus five tanks.
Their husbands and sons are being fed into a meat grinder at Pokrovsk so naturally they make a video because surely if the authorities in Moscow knew what was going on they would leap into action and fix it.
So how’s that 28-point plan going?
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🇺🇸🇺🇦 US wants to close all territorial disputes with Ukraine today so it can hand over plan to Putin on Tuesday – Axios
▪️Today, Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner will participate in the negotiations from the US side.
▪️Russia expects Witkoff to arrive in Moscow by December 4-5.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Ukrainians and Americans meeting today in Florida.
Driscoll’s only qualification for this job is that he is JD Vance’s old friend.
It is hard to see how Zelenskyy could go along with ceding territory and remain as president.
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🇺🇦 The Armed Forces of Ukraine will not withdraw from Donbas, even if a corresponding order is received, – as NBC News writes, this was stated by Ukrainian soldiers stationed in this direction.
Ukrainian military sees Trump peace plan as capitulation, not peace they seek.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 6:57 AM
This is a realistic way for the war to end.
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⚔️ Frozen War or a War Until One Side Falls
🇺🇦🇬🇧 Zaluzhnyi believes that the most realistic way the war may end is a multi-year freeze, and he stresses that clear victories rarely conclude modern wars and the WW2 is rather an exception
Read more 👀⬇️
theukrainianreview.info/frozen-war-o…
— The Ukrainian Review (@theukrainianreview.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Production of 35 mm ammunition for Germany’s Skynex air defense system.
Makes a great gift for the entire family. Order yours now for Christmas delivery.
Yet another Ukrainian town razed by Russia.
A striking new mural in Ternopil.
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A new mural has appeared in Ternopil, dedicated to children killed in Russia’s attack.
The artwork, showing a child shielding her toys from a Russian missile, was created by artist Andriy Yermolenko. He described it as “a cry for help to the global community.”
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This might actually qualify as good news.
Let’s check in on the Russian economy.
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Norilsk Nickel’s revenue has been declining every year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The company posted a 13% drop in revenue and a 37% decline in net profit in 2024. Compared to 2021, Norilsk Nickel’s profit decreased fourfold.
— The Barents Observer (@thebarentsobserver.com) November 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM
The Russian Academy of Science proposes building a pipeline from the Arctic north to Donbas to bring water to the occupied territories.
First, it would take twice as long and cost twice as much (at least) than suggested. Secondly, where is Russia going to find the cash?
He estimates that construction of a pipeline from the Pechora river basin and the Northern Dvina will take five to seven years. The idea includes setting up gas-powered generators to pump the water through the pipelines.
The distance from the Pechora river to Donbas is about 2,000 kilometres. From the upper Northern Dvina (Kotlas), the distance is about 1,400 km.
However, pipelines do not have to be that long. What is needed, the scientists outline, is to pump water from the northern watershed into rivers that flow south. In European Russia, that means building pipelines from the north to the Kama and Volga rivers. And then another pipeline from north of Volgograd to Donbas in occupied Ukrainian territory.
Russia wants to spend billions on a water pipeline but can’t seem to heat homes.
He’s bound to be disappointed where Trump’s America is concerned.
A toast to those who have fallen.
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Thank you all for kind words of support . As we do in Ukraine, went and got a drink for our fallen friend . We usually just leave it stand on a table while we remember them. Sometimes we put bread on it.
If you having a drink today, you can join me and remember our friend . He was brave, he fought
— Margo Gontar (@margogontar.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 10:39 AM
A Ukrainian IFD — Improvised Feline Device
Animals suffer from fright too.
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Every night, people and animals alike hide in shelters, basements, or hallways from russian attacks. While we humans understand what is going on, it’s impossible to explain to pets as they tremble in fear at the sound of explosions and shaking walls.
Help stop the terror: u24.gov.ua/nafo-dark-ni…
— UNITED24 (@u24.gov.ua) November 30, 2025 at 10:14 AM
The General deserves some rest.
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The General is through his 3rd operation in a month. Sleeping on my chair, he is absolutely exhausted. He survived 2014, again Russia’s full scale invasion in 2022, lost his house in Mariupol and is still fighting now at 16 years old.
Hail the General, 🫡🇺🇦
— Shaun Pinner (@olddogua.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Despite the nightly attacks Kyiv plans to celebrate Christmas.
And finally ….
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Shchedryk is a Ukrainian Christmas carol known and loved all around the world. This time, Shchedryk sounded during everyday city life, turning an ordinary moment into a Christmas miracle.
Check out the performance by the Ukrainian vocal-symphonic group Legendary Rock Voices.
— UNITED24 (@u24.gov.ua) November 30, 2025 at 11:20 AM