"The Troops Are Already Starting To Go Hungry"
- 30.06.2026, 15:06
What critical problems is Russia facing on the front lines?
Russian mercenaries on the front lines in Ukraine are effectively being used as disposable forces to wear down Ukrainian FPV drone positions, where defenders physically cannot keep up with shooting down every drone that flies in.
Blogger and journalist Dmitry “Apostle” Karpenko explained “Channel 24” that the situation for the Russians will only get worse in the future due to the collapse of logistics.
The Russian offensive has completely failed. According to Karpenko, mercenaries are being used for suppressive fire or combat reconnaissance, sent out in groups of 20 to wear down Ukrainian positions using FPV drones—and they don’t even understand the commands they’re given.
“The Russians physically can’t keep up with shooting down everything that flies. The flights look impressive, but they’re not cheap: it’s one thing to fly for a video, another to show that it’s possible, and quite another to blow something up.” There’s no air defense left in Donetsk or Crimea,” the journalist explained.
Karpenko predicts that things will get worse—due to the collapse of logistics, Russian troops are effectively beginning to starve, and there is a shortage of gasoline, which is causing planned motorized assaults to fall through. Even strikes on a garage containing 500 liters of gasoline—which are economically unprofitable—are justified because the enemy won’t be able to get fuel anywhere else—at least for the next two weeks.
Russians who enter the 5-kilometer zone effectively have no chance of survival. According to him, the enemy’s actual advance—15–20 kilometers—lags behind the maps presented to the leadership, which systematically overstate their successes. This is precisely why Putin claims to have “captured” Zaporizhzhia or Kakhovka.
Karpenko noted that Russian casualties now exceed the number of reinforcements, causing their front line to begin collapsing—which gives Ukrainian troops the opportunity to counterattack. Even the mobilization of 500,000 people won’t provide Russia with trained assault troops—it will only allow them to patch up existing gaps on the front line.
“The south is falling apart right now.” For a soldier with an assault rifle, left without communication or electricity in a dugout, nothing will change—he’ll simply get the short end of the stick. And the result of these reinforcements will be a financial burden and significant additional expenses,” Karpenko explained.