Damage from Russian bombings to the Chernobyl site will require extensive repair.
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IAEA confirmed that the new sarcophagus at Chornobyl lost key safety functions after a drone strike earlier this year,specifically its ability to contain radioactive material.
While no irreversible damage to structural or monitoring systems was found, the agency stresses urgent repairs are needed.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 6, 2025 at 5:51 AM
The containment building had already passed its supposed lifespan before the Russian attack.
In February a drone strike blew a hole in the “new safe confinement”, which was painstakingly built at a cost of €1.5bn ($1.75bn) next to the destroyed reactor and then hauled into place on tracks, with the work completed in 2019 by a Europe-led initiative. The IAEA said an inspection last week of the steel confinement structure found the drone impact had degraded the structure.
The 1986 Chornobyl explosion – which happened when Ukraine was under Moscow’s rule as part of the Soviet Union – sent radiation across
Europe. In the scramble to contain the meltdown, the Soviets built over the reactor a concrete “sarcophagus” with only a 30-year lifespan. The new confinement was built to contain radiation during the decades-long final removal of the sarcophagus, ruined reactor building underneath it and the melted-down nuclear fuel itself.
One of those two crippled shadow fleet tankers has run aground off the coast of Bulgaria.
Update from the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad front:
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❗️"The encirclement of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad does not exist. We are working on expanding logistical corridors."
This was stated by the Commander of the 7th Corps of the Assault Troops of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yevhen Lasiychuk, who added:
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— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@militarynewsua.bsky.social) December 5, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Ukrainian drones/missiles struck the Ryazan refinery again and a plant in Luhansk that produces shell casings.
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The General Staff has confirmed a strike on the Ryazan oil refinery in Russia. Also hit was the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant in occupied Luhansk, which produces shell casings for Russia’s Defense Ministry. Fires were reported on both sites after the hits.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 6, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Elaborate anti-drone cages don’t do much good if you leave the back door open.
Sting interceptor drones are playing a bigger role in neutralizing Russia’s new jet-powered Shaheds.
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Today, several more Russian jet powered Shaheds were intercepted by STING (by @wildhornets.bsky.social), one of which is in this photo.
It seems that the interception of jet Shaheds by interceptor drones is not an isolated phenomenon and is becoming more common.
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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 5:01 AM
So are F-16s.
An IRIS-T missile takes out a Russian target. There isn’t word here on whether it was a drone or missile.
Russia strikes a train station and a supermarket.
Today was Saint Nicholas Day in Ukraine, a pre-Christmas holiday in which children get presents under their pillows. So naturally Russia had to bomb a playground.
Ukrainian operating rooms in Kharkiv have had to go underground.
With friends like this.
Another 1,180 Russians who came up short, plus 31 artillery systems and two tanks.
Another 121 Russian officers sent home in body bags, including seven lieutenant colonels. This update covers the last two weeks. These are deaths confirmed through obituaries and postings and some are from months ago.
Russia has lost 1% of its pre-war male population.
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☠️ The Economist: Russia lost 1% of its pre-war male population in Ukraine.
In total, Russian losses in dead and wounded amounted to between 1 million and 1.35 million soldiers.
Over the past three years, Russia has been able to occupy an additional 1.45% of Ukrainian territory.
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Pro-war Russians have noticed that a whole lot of the soldiers sent to Ukraine — and never to return except in a body bag — come from Buryatia and that the region is in danger of being demographically taken over by Central Asian migrants.
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Russian pro-war channels are now lamenting that Siberian peoples, Buryats among them are being chewed up on the “SVO”, while “labour migrants from Central Asia” arrive to fill the gaps. The inflow is already visible on the streets through the rising number of “women with covered heads”.
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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 10:12 AM
The trend is only just gaining momentum, but locals report that the cultural landscape is shifting — not in favour of stability or integration into Russian society.
The long-term risk is that migrants from abroad may gradually replace the indigenous population of Buryatia. The numbers are not yet as alarming as in Moscow, but the situation is already causing concern among residents of Ulan-Ude, despite strict quotas on work permits for foreigners.
America’s schizophrenic foreign policy shifts again. Wait a week or two and it will change again.
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The U.S. plans to ramp up weapons deliveries to Ukraine before Christmas, but behind closed doors, it’s warning Europe: by 2027, NATO’s conventional defense must shift to European leadership.
Pentagon officials told partners the U.S. can’t fight two wars at once and will focus on the Indo-Pacific.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) December 6, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Poland will get 250 Strykers at a bargain basement price.
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🇺🇸🇵🇱 The US has offered to sell Poland 250 used Stryker vehicles for a single ceremonial dollar, and Warsaw is preparing to accept that deal as soon as the logistics can be worked out, according to Poland’s Minister of National Defense, — Breaking Defense
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— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Russian submarine activity in the Baltic has increased.
Ramzan Kadyrov promises to teach those dastardly Ukrainians a thing or two for hitting his Grozny skyscraper.
It’d be a shame if something happened to those two ships. Togo recently agreed to let Russia use its port.
This is another story detailing what happens on a Russian meat assault. He recounts in detail how difficult it is just to get to the front without getting blasted by drones and/or artillery.
It’s a long thread but quite interesting. At the end this one guy is the only survivor and manages to take over a Ukrainian position, or so he claims.
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1/ A Russian convict soldier has described the gruelling and deadly experience of serving in a 'Storm V' assault unit, from initial training, to facing swarms of Ukrainian drones, and being the only survivor of a bloody battle against dug-in and determined Ukrainian forces. ⬇️
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— ChrisO_wiki (@chriso-wiki.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 6:37 AM
2/ Russian warblogger 'Maxim Kalashnikov' publishes the account of a Storm V soldier of his acquaintance:"We weren't trained for long. At the Markovka training ground, the instructors, tired of repeating the same thing over and over again, don't care how you're trained."
3/ "The main thing for them is that there are no injuries or accidental hits on their own during shooting. However, these were rare. What did they teach us? Who knows? How did they teach us? Not at all from the point of view of survivability and combat effectiveness.
4/ "As one of the instructors said, “Most of what you've learned here won't be useful to you. Nowadays, war is fought at a distance."The automatic weapon in your hands is more for reassurance and accidental encounters with the enemy.
5/ "Indeed, even if you are properly trained to clear trenches or cut corners between buildings and rooms, you still have to get there. And getting there is a problem. A big problem!
6/ "For example, from the temporary deployment point to the front lines, it's ten kilometers in a straight line. It's like an officer's triathlon multiplied many times over in extremely harsh conditions.
7/ "By the time we reached the front in groups of two or three, we had lost a third of our 112 people. Through the first forest – the first leg of the journey. There, it is still possible to move relatively quickly. Occasionally, shells fly in, guided by reconnaissance drones.
8/ "Then, wading across the river. Already under closer attention and fire support. Slip through the village. Forest again.The concentration of drones here is simply off the charts!
9/ "There are different types and purposes—kamikaze drones engage in “free hunting,” flying literally in swarms, in different directions and along unpredictable trajectories. Bombers appear as soon as reconnaissance drones detect any movement.
Oh no! Not the chocolate!
Between Belgium and Hungary it’ll be a miracle if this loan ever gets done.
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The EU is pushing ahead with a reparations loan backed by frozen #RussianAssets. Yesterday, Ursula Von Der Leyen & Friedrich Merz held an emergency meeting with Belgium’s PM to secure Belgium’s support.
What else to watch next week? 👇🧵
#KIweekahead #Ukraine
Photo: Andreas Gora - Pool/Getty Images
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— KI Insights (@ki-insights.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Let’s check in on the Russian economy.
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More warnings of economic collapse risks in Russia.
Kremlin-affiliated economic analysts warned of the following risks in 2026:
🔴Economic recession: HIGH
🔴System liquidity risk due to depositor flight: HIGH
🟡Systemic banking crisis: MEDIUM
Expect a big mess next year.
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— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I’m sure nobody in Russia will mind paying this new tax.
Merry Christmas from Kyiv
