Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 21.22 A year ago, Russian troops had a significant advantage over the Ukrainian Armed Forces in artillery ammunition. However, in 2025, this gap has significantly narrowed. This was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky.
According to him, a year ago, the advantage of Russian troops in artillery ammunition was approximately 1:10. As of February 2025, this ratio has decreased to almost 1:2.
19:20 Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets published a video of Russian soldiers who were taken to the recent exchange on February 5. They spoke about the conditions of their detention in Ukraine.
In particular, the Russian military were asked whether they had been abused or beaten in captivity. They answered affirmatively that this had never happened. The occupiers were also asked whether they wanted to go back. The Russian army soldiers said no.
18:30 Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky announced new strikes deep into Russia.
"The range of DeepStrike's strikes deep into Russian territory has already reached 1.7 thousand km. We are preparing new long-range weapons, and they will be used," the commander-in-chief promised.
17:50 Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is preparing not for negotiations, but for a continuation of the war. In particular, the Russians are increasing the army by more than 100 thousand soldiers. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to him, the Russians are creating new divisions and developing new military production facilities.
17:25 President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed preparations for Ramstein and Ukraine's defense needs with the head of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo, who is visiting Ukraine.
16.55 Soldiers of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign destroyed a Russian Su-25 and probably damaged an enemy helicopter.
"An anti-aircraft missile unit of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade and the 57th Oblast Troops were set up in the vicinity of Toretsk. Igloi sent the Russian Su-25 to permanent parking. The Mi-8 helicopter tried to evacuate the pilot, but here too, there was a failure - our FV" and BBPS calculations did not allow him to do this," the brigade's press service said in a statement.
It is noted that the helicopter limped back and needs considerable repairs.
16:00 Soldiers of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign destroyed an enemy Su-25 aircraft.
"There is one less Russian attack aircraft in the Toretsk direction thanks to our air defense soldiers," the brigade's press service reported.
15.00 Ukraine has trillions of dollars worth of mineral resources, but "that doesn't mean we're giving them away to anyone, even strategic partners," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters .
14:00 Ukrainian military hit a command post in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. Officers from the armies of the Russian Federation and the DPRK were killed. This was reported by President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Reuters .
13.03 In the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a state of emergency was declared in one of the districts after a drone attack. This was reported by the Governor of the Rostov Region of the Russian Federation, Yuri Slyusar.
12:33 Russian war criminal Konstantin Nagayko, involved in the murder of 59 civilians in the village of Groza in the Kupyansk district of the Kharkiv region, has died. Craniotomy and other surgeries did not help him, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported .
12.15 A failure occurred in the Reserve+ mobile application. The reason was the high load on BankID. For now, it is worth saving the military document on your smartphone, the Ministry of Defense reported .
11:33 On Saturday morning, Russian troops attacked the Central District of Kherson. Houses and warehouses were hit. Three people were injured, the Kherson OVA reported.
11:00 Russians are preparing a provocation against the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, within the framework of which falsified documents will be distributed. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
10.35 On Saturday night, air defense successfully worked on Russian drones in Kiev. Debris fell in the Darnitsky district, KGVA reported . The facade of a residential building and windows were damaged. Debris also fell on a car. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
9:36 On Saturday night, Russian aggressors launched 139 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drone imitators at Ukraine. Almost all of them were either shot down or were subjected to electronic warfare, the Ukrainian Air Force reported . At the same time, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv regions suffered as a result of the enemy attack.
9:00 Over the past 24 hours, 123 combat clashes occurred on the front in nine directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report . The Pokrovsk direction and Kursk region remain the hottest – almost half of the combat clashes occurred there over the past 24 hours.
8:30 Ukrainian military destroyed the headquarters of the 35th separate motorized rifle brigade (OMSBR) of the Russian army in the temporarily occupied city of Selydove in Donetsk region. This was reported by TSN journalist Yulia Kiriyenko.
8:00 Over the past 24 hours, the Russian occupation army lost 1,210 servicemen killed and wounded on the front in Ukraine. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report . Our defenders burned almost 30 units of enemy armored vehicles, 35 artillery systems and two MLRS.
7.25 As a result of an attack by Russian attack drones, a residential building was destroyed in Sumy. Rescuers extinguished the fire and partially cleared the rubble. There were no reports of casualties.
5.26 Explosions were heard in Starokostiantyn, Khmelnytskyi region, on the night of February 8. Air defense forces were operating in the region. This was reported by the local Telegram channel Starokostiantyniv 24/7 .
3.25 Ukrainian Defense Forces have advanced in Kursk region. This was reported by the Ukrainian monitoring project DeepState on Saturday, February 8.
0.25 Defense forces have indeed launched a new offensive in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. The relevant information was confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with Reuters.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] Since the beginning of the day, 123 combat clashes have occurred at the front.
The 1081st day of the Russian Federation's large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine has begun. In total, 123 combat clashes were recorded over the past 24 hours.
This is reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Yesterday, the enemy carried out 106 air strikes on the positions of Ukrainian units and settlements, dropping 169 KABs, and using 2,170 kamikaze drones. In addition, it carried out over five thousand three hundred shellings, 127 of them with MLRS.
The aggressor carried out airstrikes, in particular in the areas of the settlements of Pysarivka, Ploske, Basivka, Petropavlivka, Zeleny Hai, Pishchane, Siversk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, Kostyantynivka, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, Oleksandropil, Katerynivka, Rozlyv, Novosilka, Novodarivka, and Hulyaipole.
Over the past day, the Defense Forces' aviation, missile troops, and artillery have struck 20 areas of concentration of personnel and equipment, an air defense system, and an enemy artillery system.
In the Kharkiv direction, our troops repelled an enemy attack in the Vovchansk area.
Ten attacks by the invaders took place in the Kupyansk direction over the past day. Defense forces repelled assault actions near the settlements of Zagryzove and Lozova.
In the Lymansk direction, the enemy attacked 13 times. He tried to advance near Kopanky, Novoyehorivka, Novolubivka, and Yampolivka.
In the Siversky direction, the enemy attacked the positions of our defenders 13 times in the areas of the settlements of Bilogorivka and Verkhnokamyanske.
In the Kramatorsk direction, three clashes were recorded in the areas of the settlements of Chasiv Yar and Predtechyne.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy carried out ten attacks in the Toretsk area.
In the Pokrovsky direction, our defenders stopped 30 assault and offensive actions of the aggressor in the areas of Zelene Pole, Tarasivka, Myrolyubivka, Promin, Novooleksandrivka, Nadiivka, Andriivka, and Dachne.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the invaders attacked the positions of our troops nine times, trying to break through in the direction of Constantinople.
In the operational zone in Kursk, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine have repelled 28 attacks by Russian invaders over the past 24 hours. In addition, the enemy carried out 61 air strikes using 89 guided bombs, as well as 404 artillery attacks on the positions of our troops and settlements, 20 of which were from MLRS.
The enemy did not conduct any assault operations in the Hulyaipil, Orikhiv, and Prydniprov directions over the past day.
No signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups were detected in the Volyn and Polissya directions .
On the border with Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the enemy from the territory of the Russian Federation is actively using artillery, aviation, and strike drones in the areas of Ukrainian settlements.
Our soldiers inflict significant losses on the occupation forces in manpower and equipment, and actively undermine the enemy's offensive potential in the rear.
In total, the losses of the Russian invaders last day amounted to 1,210 people. Ukrainian soldiers also neutralized six tanks, 22 armored combat vehicles, 35 artillery systems, two MLRS, 102 operational-tactical UAVs, and 95 units of automotive equipment of the invaders.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, the units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of a territorial defence brigade close to Liptsy (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 30 troops, two motor vehicles, two artillery guns, and an ammunition depot.
The Zapad Group of Forces continued advancing to the depths of the enemy's defence. Russian troops hit manpower and materiel of four mechanised brigades, and an assault brigade of the AFU near Monachinovka, Kondrashovka, Zagoruykovka, Novaya Kruglyakovka, Zelyony Gai (Kharkov region), Novolyubovka (Lugansk People's Republic), and Dronovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 240 troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, including a U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carrier, a pick-up truck, and three field artillery guns, comprising two Western-made pieces. Four ammunition depots and an electronic warfare station were neutralised.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Russian units engaged formations of four mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, and an airmobile brigade of the AFU close to Zvanovka, Minkovka, Verolyubovka, Izhevka, Chasov Yar, and Dachnoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 190 troops, a UK-made Spartan armoured personnel carrier, two field artillery guns, including a German-made 155mm Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled artillery system.
The Tsentr Group of Forces liberated the city of Dzerzhinsk (Donetsk People's Republic) which is the largest settlement of the Toretsk agglomeration.
Russian forces hit formations of a jaeger brigade, six mechanised brigades of the AFU, and the Lyut Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine near Shcherbinovka, Vodyanoye Vtoroye, Shevchenko, Kotlino, Uspenovka, Nadezhdinka, Zverevo, Slavyanka, and Andreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy lost up to 560 troops, a tank, five armoured fighting vehicles, including a U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier and a U.S.-made HMMWV armoured vehicle. Four artillery guns and two pick-up trucks were neutralised.
The Vostok Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. ? Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of two AFU mechanised brigades and two territorial defence brigades near Razliv, Novopol (Donetsk People's Republic) and Gulyaypole (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 135 troops, a motor vehicle, and four field artillery guns, including a French-made 155mm Caesar self-propelled artillery system.
The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces engaged units of three coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Nikolayevka, Tokarevka, Sadovoye, and Dneprovskoye (Kherson region).
The AFU lost up to 50 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, including a U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, and an electronic warfare station.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack UAVs, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged the oil and gas facilities, which supported the work of the Ukrainian defence industry, military airfield infrastructure, storage depots and locations pre-launching unmanned aerial vehicles as well as clusters of enemy manpower and hardware in 152 areas during the day.
Air defence units shot down a U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectile and 93 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 653 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 42,710 unmanned aerial vehicles, 592 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,254 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,514 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,397 field artillery guns and mortars, and 31,393 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
The Sever Group of Forces engaged formations of a tank brigade, a heavy-mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two airborne assault brigades, an infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Gogolevka, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Kolmakov, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Mirny, Nikolsky, Sverdlykovo, Sudzha, and Yuzhny. One AFU counter-attack was repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and artillery inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the enemy near Viktorovka, Guyevo, Dmitryukov, Zamostye, Pervy Knyazhy, Kositsa, Kruglenkoye, Kurilovka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Melovy, Novaya Sorochina, Rubanshchina, Staraya Sorochina, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Zhuravka, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka in Sumy region.
Within the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 320 troops, two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, a U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, four armoured personnel carriers, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, 11 motor vehicles, six artillery guns, five mortars, two 122mm BM-21 Grad and 220mm BM-27 Uragan MLRS launchers, a German-made Pionierpanzer 2, and three UAV command posts.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 58,550 troops, 350 tanks, 254 infantry fighting vehicles, 201 armoured personnel carriers, 1,810 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,864 motor vehicles, 418 artillery guns, 48 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 18 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 106 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, five air defence radars, 38 units of engineering and other materiel, including 18 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, a bridge launcher as well as nine armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:10 Russian Army liberated Figolevka
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian troops, after liberating Zapadnoye, Dvurechnaya and Novomlynsk, took the settlement of Figolovka.
19:59 Russian operator of a fiber-optic FPV drone was already approaching the target, when at the last moment he was able to recognize civilians and take the drone away, border area of the Kursk region –MAP.
19:38 UAV crew of the engineering unit of the North group of forces destroyed two hexacopters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the sky in the border area of the Kursk region.
17:57 Knowing your way around saves lives.
Military topographers of the "West" group of troops told about the tasks being performed. According to the servicemen, one of the most important tasks is training assault units in terrain orientation.
Every soldier must study the map for safe movement and high-quality target designation.
17:18 Zaporizhzhya direction. Drone operators of the RF Armed Forces met a moving Ukrainian pickup truck is on its way.
16:00 A drone operator from the Zapad group showed ingenuity by attacking a Ukrainian UAV in mid-air from a blind spot and spinning it, which allowed it to drop its payload and send the device to the ground –RIA Novosti.
15:28 Russian drone operators showed, how they worked on the positions, personnel and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the liberation of Dzerzhinsk in the Donetsk People's Republic.
14:42 In the Kursk region, the fighters of the Northern Guard managed to intercept conversation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Radio intercepts showed that the 41st Mechanized Brigade is experiencing major problems with personnel, or rather, the lack thereof. Because of this, the militants have to remain in their positions for months.
13:49 Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group entered Seredina Buda in Sumy region –MAP.
13:03 Russian army storms Andreevka –MAP.
12:52 Russian fighters sent a KAMAZ truck loaded with explosives to Ukrainian Armed Forces positions –MAP.
12:31 The Russian army entered Yampolovka in the Krasnolimansk direction –MAP.
11:51 Ussuri paratroopers of a separate airborne brigade are restoring and modernizing equipment and weapons in the field in the border area of the Kursk region –Ministry of Defense.
11:06 The armored fighting vehicle with Ukrainian soldiers was heading towards the Severyan positions. No camouflage or protection was used, no electronic warfare was on the vehicle and there was no electronic warfare at all. FPV operator GV "Sever" without obstacles caught up targets with a kamikaze drone.
10:57 FPV drone crew of the Rubicon Center destroyed a heavy UAV Baba Yaga of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk direction –Ministry of Defense.
09:01 Caught the enemy by surprise and took two supports.
Russian attack aircraft are pushing back the enemy in the South Donetsk direction.
08:42 Ixovody GV "North"senta Lancet loitering munition aimed directly at the Tunguska anti-aircraft missile and gun system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sumy direction.
07:05 During the past night, air defense systems on dutydestroyedand 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted:
18 UAVs were shot down over the territory of the Rostov region;
11 UAVs were intercepted over the territory of the Volgograd region;
five were destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region and
two over the Krasnodar region.
07:04 FPV drone on fiber optics hit enemy 203mm 2S7 self-propelled howitzer Pion in Kursk region –MAP.
06:23 220mm BM-27 "Hurricanes" provide assistance for advance of motorized riflemen.
In the South Donetsk direction, Uragan multiple launch rocket systems regularly launch missile strikes on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions, ensuring the advancement of Russian motorized riflemen.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Dmitry Gubin
[REGNUM] The city of Dzerzhinsk in the DPR — which the Kiev regime calls Toretsk — was effectively liberated by Russian troops by mid-January. All that remained was to suppress individual pockets of resistance by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the northern districts of the city and in individual sections of the industrial zone. And now, finally, the Ministry of Defense officially reports the capture of the city.
If Donbass is the industrial heart of Russia, then now our troops have taken control of the heart of Donbass. After all, it was here, on the banks of the rivers Kazeny Torets and Krivoy Torets, that more than three hundred years ago the Russian state began mining coal.
THE VINE SPEAKS THE TRUTH
There are several versions of how coal mining began in the Donbass region. According to one legend, the mineral, which produces intense heat when burned, was first reported to Peter I in 1696, when the young tsar was conducting his second campaign against Azov.
The other is connected with esoteric practices, as they would say in our time.
On December 7, 1722, the first Emperor of All Russia issued a decree "On the search for coal and ores in the Don and Voronezh province." The sovereign's will was passed on to the authorities: first to the Berg Collegium (then the Ministry of Natural Resources), then to the first team of ore prospectors (geologists) created in Russia, and they sent "to the land" a dowser named Grigory Kapustin, originally from near Kineshma (today's Ivanovo Region)
The search for underground minerals, aquifers and other subsurface contents using a forked branch - a vine, a frame or something similar - is nowadays considered an activity that is questionable from a scientific point of view.
But if we are to believe the reports of the head of the ore prospectors Vasily Lodygin, the dowser Kapustin studied the banks of the Seversky Donets and the Verkhnyaya Belenkaya River “to find coal” – and found it, sending to the capitals “as many as three poods of samples”
Monument to the ore prospector Grigory Kapustin in Makeyevka
A monument to the discoverer of Donbass coal, ore prospector Grigory Kapustin, now stands in Makeyevka (DPR).
And then the process went on - Peter issued a new decree:
“To dig up the coal and ores that the clerk Kapustin announced, send a messenger from the Mining Collegium, and in those places dig that coal and ores three or more fathoms deep, and, having dug up five poods, bring them to the Mining Collegium and test them.”
"IN THAT GULLY, THERE IS COAL UNDERGROUND, IRON"
While there is some debate about how exactly coal mining began in the future Donbass, it is known for sure where exactly they first started digging “black gold”.
In the Skelevataya ravine, a long and wide ravine that today separates the main urban development of Dzerzhinsk and the Zabalka district (which was a long-term support base for the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the recent January battles).
This type of “ravine” terrain is typical for this part of the DPR, and the name Skelevataya or Skelevaya (i.e. Rocky) ravine is used by many ravines where ancient rocks of the Donetsk Ridge come to the surface.
But perhaps, thanks to the “engineering and geological surveys” of the dowser Kapustin, it was in this Skelevata ravine, 25 versts, or 26.6 kilometers, from Bakhmut, that coal mining began in 1721 at the outcrops of the seams on the daylight surface.
As Donetsk regional historian Mikhail Kulishov writes, the supply of coal to the empire began under the control of the commandant of the Bakhmut fortress, captain of the Izyum Sloboda Cossack regiment Semyon Chirkov and Nikita Vepreisky, a landrat (adviser from the nobility) of the Kiev province, who managed the Bakhmut Sloboda and, at the same time, the salt mines.
The last position of Mr. Vepreisky is mentioned for a reason - Russian people began to extract salt on the Torskie Lakes near today's Slavyansk back in the 16th century; it was a long-standing and powerful industry in this Russian borderland.
As for the new “national project” for coal mining, its significance can be judged by a document called “ A reliable land map of the borders of the Dnieper and Donets rivers at distances from the mouth of the Samara to Izyum and Lugansk stanitsa...” for 1749–1750.
Apparently, this is the first topographic and geological map of Donbass in Russian history. Between the rivers flowing into Krivoy Torets, a ravine is marked with the inscription "earth coal", on a copy of this map from 1750 it is written more precisely: "in this ravine there is coal underground iron".
During the reign of Anna Ioannovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, more than one geographical description of Skelevata Balka was made, as well as many reports on the extraction of fuel almost at the daylight surface.
The first mention of a settlement on this site dates back to the time of Paul I, in 1800: part of the population of the Zaitsevo settlement moved to the Shcherbinovsky farm.
In 1827, mining engineer and future Minister of Public Education of the Russian Empire Evgraf Kovalevsky mapped 25 mineral deposits known to him and actually came up with the concept of the “Donetsk Coal Basin” and outlined the boundaries of this largest storehouse of “black gold” in European Russia.
A little later, the miners' farm Shcherbinovsky and neighboring farms united into the village of Shcherbinovka - a future city that would change its name several times.
And “earth coal” in the vicinity of Skelevataya continued to be mined in modern times - next to the ravine is the “Central” mine of the “Toretskugol” enterprise, in Soviet times - the Dzerzhinsky mine.
RUSSIAN PEASANTS - MINE OWNERS
There was a lot of documentary evidence about Shcherbinovka in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most detailed of them was left by the future academician Alexander Skochinsky in 1917.
In his report, “Explosion in the Dvoinoy Seam of the Shcherbinovsky Mine,” he examines not only the disaster at the mine in December 1915, but also provides an analysis of the development of the village, where three coal mines and two industrial enterprises operated.
“The total number of workers in December 1916 per shift was: 600 during the day, 400 at night. In particular, in the Dvoyny layer, there were 70-75 people in the day shift, and 30-40 people in the night shift in each wing.”
Writers of the populist movement did not pass by Shcherbinovka either.
Thus, the owner of perhaps the longest full name in the history of Russian literature, Nikolai Elpifidorovich Karonin-Petropavlovsky, left very detailed notes about his visit to the mining region. From the notes published in 1899, it turns out that the subsoil was actively developed by peasant "small business":
"In Shcherbinovka, in Nelepovka and in many places, the land containing coal seams belongs to peasant societies. In most cases, the peasants lease this land, under various conditions, to large owners and companies, but in some places, like in this Shcherbinovka, the peasants, in addition to leasing it out, have tried and are still trying to develop coal themselves.
The land containing coal, like all other peasant lands, is divided into souls, and each soul gets, for example, a fathom (of course, a fathom of surface, not depth), and these pieces are then put into development.”
Among those who directly dug coal in the Shcherbinovo mines (and workers came here from all over the empire) was the future Russian and Soviet writer of Tatar origin, Sharif Kamal (Baigildeev).
According to him, at the turn of the century in Shcherbinovka there already existed, as they would say now, a compact settlement of internal migrants - a Tatar community headed by a mullah.
Unlike the owners of the “peasant lands”, the future classic of socialist realism and holder of the Order of Lenin did not have the brightest memories of working at the coalface.
“A miner is an earthworm. For him, neither day nor night exists. He is always digging in the ground, getting as deep as possible. For what? Of course, he, like an earthworm, needs to be satisfied, ” Kamal wrote in 1910. “ A miner cannot enjoy the beauty of nature… almost all of his hard life is spent underground, hundreds of fathoms below the beautiful, bright world.”
Be that as it may, at the same time, by the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, the oldest coal mining center of Russia became one of the important "valves" in the industrial heart of the country - along with Yuzovka, which arose nearby, but much later, the future Donetsk. In Shcherbinovka, there were three coal mines and two industrial enterprises, including a coke plant founded under Alexander III in 1890.
So Shcherbinovka did not meet the February and October revolutions with a plough.
TWO LIBERATIONS FROM NAZISM
The new government, to its credit, used the base laid by the "old regime" to the fullest. Even after the destruction of the civil war, in 1923, local miners were able to produce 1 million tons of coal, and by 1936 the local trust was already mining 9 thousand tons daily.
In the same year, Shcherbinovka, which until then had been considered a workers’ settlement, received city status and a new name: Dzerzhinsk.
The Great Patriotic War came here in October 1941. The Nazi occupation (the first Nazi occupation, if we don’t forget about the Ukrainian Armed Forces) lasted until September 1943, when the city was liberated by the troops of the Southern Front during the Donbass Operation. Among the notables were the 63rd Rifle Corps under the command of Major General Petro Koshevoy, a native of the Kherson region, the future Marshal and Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.
On December 30, 1962, Dzerzhinsk received the status of a city of regional subordination - by that time, about 50 thousand people lived here. Most of them worked at enterprises that were built, as usual, by the entire Union (primarily, of course, with the participation of the RSFSR): a coke plant, a phenol plant, an acid-proof products plant, a processing plant were in operation... A mining technical school trained specialists for six coal mines. The city "graduated" its doctors and music teachers. Of the events of the late Soviet era, the city residents best remember Vladimir Vysotsky's concert in 1977.
By the early 2020s, only three of the six mines were operational, and the factories had closed. This was the price of Ukrainian independence.
The 1991 choice in favor of "independence" brought privatization with bankruptcy and an ongoing socio-economic crisis to the residents of Dzerzhinsk. And at the same time, forced Ukrainization, which was especially painful in a city where 87% consider Russian their native language (according to the 2001 census).
It is not surprising that in May 2014, Dzerzhinsk, having expelled the Ukrainian government, made a choice in favor of the independence of the DPR. The forces of the defenders of Donbass, alas, turned out to be insufficient to hold the city, and already in July 2014, Dzerzhinsk was occupied by the "ATO forces"
For Kyiv security forces, the city has become a staging area aimed directly against Gorlovka, a city under DPR control no more than 15 kilometers away in a straight line. Donetsk, located to the south, is about 43 kilometers away. Ukrainian artillery has been shelling Gorlovka from positions in Dzerzhinsk for years, including during the "Minsk process" that began in 2015.
Then, in 2015, in the order of decommunization, the city council renamed the city Toretsk, in honor of the Krivoy Torets River, that is, it gave it a name that it never had.
The battles for the liberation of Shcherbinovka-Dzerzhinsk began in June last year. Part of the heavy fighting in this direction was the operation to take one of the suburbs, which became known by its name - the Donbass New York.
The battle for the city of Dzerzhinsk itself has been going on since the summer, it was especially difficult, considering that the enemy had fortified itself in multi-story buildings built in Soviet times and on waste heaps. Of course, after months of intensive assault actions, the city lies in ruins. But the underground wealth of the region, the very same "coal" that Russian people "found" three hundred years ago, inspire faith in the revival of life on the banks of Torets.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of tactical medicine courses by Head of the Tactical Medicine Courses project, call sign "Latish"
[ColonelCassad] Errors in triage of casualties in the civilian sphere and in the special military operation (SMO) zone are one of the key problems affecting the effectiveness of medical care. Triage is the process of distributing casualties into categories based on the severity of their condition and the urgency of care. In conditions of mass influx of wounded, whether as a result of man-made disasters, natural disasters or military action, errors in triage can lead to significant human losses, even if sufficient resources are available to provide care.
In the civilian sphere, errors in triage are often associated with insufficient training of medical personnel, the absence of clear protocols or their failure to comply with them. For example, during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, many seriously injured victims did not receive timely care due to chaotic medical evacuation arrangements and a lack of prioritization. Similar problems have been observed in other major disasters, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, where inadequate preparation by local medical services delayed care for thousands of people.
In a special military operation zone, triage errors are compounded by challenging conditions: the constant threat to the lives of medical personnel, limited resources, the mass influx of casualties, and the need for rapid decision-making. For example, in armed conflicts in the Middle East, such as the Syrian civil war, medical services were often overwhelmed by the large number of casualties, leading to prioritization errors. Studies in active war zones have found that up to 20% of casualties who might have survived with timely care died due to poor triage.
Statistics from various conflicts show that triage errors have similar roots, regardless of the geographic region or type of conflict. For example, during the war in Afghanistan (2001–21), US military medics noted that up to 15% of wounded received care with a delay due to incorrect assessment of their condition. During the conflict in eastern Ukraine (2014–22), there were also cases of seriously wounded victims not receiving timely care due to the lack of a clear triage system on the front lines.
One of the key reasons for errors is the insufficient training of medical personnel to work in extreme conditions. In the civilian sphere, this may be due to the rare use of triage skills in everyday practice, and in the SVO zone - to the lack of experience working in conditions of mass influx of the wounded.
Another problem is the lack of uniform triage standards. Different countries and even different regions of the same country may use different prioritization systems, which complicates the coordination of efforts to provide assistance in major disasters or conflicts. For example, in Europe, the START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) system is widely used, while in some countries in Asia and Africa, less standardized approaches are used.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that errors in triage of victims are not only a medical but also a humanitarian problem. They lead to an increase in the number of victims, which is especially tragic in conditions when many lives could have been saved. Eliminating these errors requires a comprehensive approach, including both technical and organizational measures, as well as international cooperation in the field of disaster medicine and military medicine.
[Townhall] The Baltics were the first nations to break away from the Soviet Union. 35 years later, they’re finally declaring their energy independence from Russia.
This Sunday, February 9th, all three will officially synchronize with the European Union’s electric grid after being tethered to the joint BRELL grid with Belarus and Russia. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania weaned themselves off of Russian oil and gas. The three Baltic Republics, good NATO dues-paying members, cite energy security as a top reason for decoupling.
The Baltics fully untethering themselves from Russia’s energy infrastructure is a good first step to achieving energy independence. It puts other EU countries depending on Russian natural gas on notice. But the European Commission says integrating the Baltic States into the Continental European Network (CEN) will "facilitate the uptake of renewable energy, supporting them [to] achieve the European Green Deal objectives."
In 2023, POLITICO Europe bizarrely argued Russian dictator Vladimir Putin — a top recipient of their Green 28 Class of 2023 — is "the invader making the EU green."
"It took a war criminal to speed up Europe’s green revolution," the publication boasted. "By invading Ukraine and manipulating energy supplies to undermine European support for Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved something generations of green campaigners could not — clean energy is now a fundamental matter of European security."
Much to the EU’s chagrin, energy independence and net-zero are incompatible.The EU Green Deal calls for carbon neutrality by 2050—a goal that mirrored the Biden-Harris administration’s radical climate policies. At best, net-zero policies only reduce global temperatures by 0.2 degrees Celsius—not 1.5C—but will lead to total economic destruction.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/09/2025 00:00 ||
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This was a better article yesterday, which I stumbled upon after posting the Townhall article. Sorry.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/09/2025 8:41 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
