Russia's Pokrovsk Attacks Have Slowed So Much, Maps Aren't Even Being Updated

Who wants to be the last Russian to die for a negotiating point? JL

Phillips O'Brien reports in his substack:

The Russians have been even less successful than usual over the last week. The Russian advance on Pokrovsk slowed from even the glacial pace of a week ago. Deep State hasn’t even felt the need to update its map in a few days. Whats worth noting is how limited the areas of Russian operations are. They are getting condensed into a smaller area (Pokrovsk to Kurakhove). What we are seeing is Putin trying to take whatever he can of the Donbas before Trump takes office—and after a major push actually seeing less success.

North Koreans Mass Infantry Assault Against Cannons, Drones Ends Badly

The 'experts' keep saying not to underestimate the North Koreans, that they are going to learn. But so far...JL

Euromaidan Press reports:

The Russian and North Korean assaults at Kruglenkoe proved to be nothing short of a disaster, with both attacking sides suffering tremendous losses. Combat footage shows North Korean fighters charging across the fields in large groups of pure infantry. The North Korean attack failed, with the entire assault group wiped out and picked off in a brutal and futile charge across the open fields. The poorly executed North Korean attacks, compounded by their lack of knowledge about modern warfare, set the stage for disaster, allowing the Ukrainians to exploit their shortcomings and inflict heavy losses.

Russian Troops In Kurakhove: "Hiding In Building Crevices Like Rats, Cockroaches"

The battle for Kurakhove has heated up as Russian attacks on Pokrovsk continue to falter. 

While western media are now making ominous predictions about the dire implications of Kurakhove's "imminent" demise, the reality on the ground appears to favor the Ukrainian defenders. JL

Valentyna Romanenko reports in Ukraine Pravda:

Heavy fighting continues in the city of Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast. The city’s urban area serves both as shelter for the Russians and, ultimately, as their final resting place. "The enemy outnumbers us. The occupiers are moving like ants, squeezing into crevices like cockroaches and hiding in buildings like rats. It falls to the paratroopers of the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade to root them out." 

Russians Attempt Assault On Ukraine's Azov Bde Using...Electric Scooters

It is well understood that the Russians are running out of military equipment, especially armored vehicles. 

They have attempted to use civilian cars, golf carts and motorcycles, but electric scooters seem especially desperate. Creative, perhaps, but suicidal. JL

Lilia Podolyak reports in UNN :

The Azov Brigade repelled an attack by Russians using atypical equipment, including electric scooters. Five armored vehicles, eight vehicles and 63 occupants were destroyed. "Over the past few months, the enemy has lost a significant amount of armored vehicles during massive assaults. Therefore, today the Russians are resorting to the massive use of cars, buggies and even electric scooters."

Why the North Koreans In Kursk Are Suffering Such Heavy Casualties

The North Koreans deployed to Kursk were trained for clandestine missions in mountainous or urban areas not for mass attacks or trench warfare in open terrain. Some have spent most of their service guarding the Chinese-Korean border to prevent the spread of Covid. 

They are fatalistic about what happens to them since they dont have much choice in life - and their government views their demise as the cost of gaining institutional experience in modern war. JL

Choe Sang-hun reports in the New York Times:

The troops that North Korea deployed are from its “​Storm” Corps​, are special forces that are among the military’s best trained ​and most heavily indoctrinated. But the North’s special forces have trained mainly for sniper missions, urban warfare and infiltrations by sea, land and air across Korea’s mountains. They have not trained for drone and trench warfare waged over terrain like the open and flat Russia-Ukraine front line. “The troops had little hope for their future in the North. They risk their lives, but will see it as an opportunity to make money and, if killed, to elevate their family’s social status. North Korea will consider casualties an inevitable cost of gaining experience in modern warfare."

The UnitedHealth CEO Murder Was A Symptom: Only 27% of Consumers Trust Business Leaders

Clueless. That is what Csuite executives could legitimately be accused of being. Depending on the poll, somewhere between 84% and 90% of business leaders believe consumers trust their companies, while the reality is that between 27% and and 30% actually do. 

That is why the murder of UnitedHealth's CEO was a symptom - and a warning. In their race to achieve goals that trigger even grander consultant-designed and board-approved compensation packages, executives are failing to deliver value for consumers, employees and the communities in which they operate. To prevent another tragedy - leaders and their organizations must be incentivized to optimize performance for all their stakeholders. JL

Ranjay Gulati and Alison Beard report in Harvard Business Review:

84% of executives think they are highly trusted by consumers and 79% think they are highly trusted by employees, (but) only 27% of consumers and 65% of workers report highly trusting business leaders. According to a 2024 Gallup poll, only 16% of Americans say they have “a great deal” of confidence in major companies. Since UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed by a gunman, consumer, employee, and community frustration at corporations has escalated to outrage. We have moved from “I don’t trust you” to “I hate you,” (amid) complaints about denied claims, paltry reimbursement, and corporate greed. The key failure is that corporations are not delivering value for customers, employees or communities (while) trusted companies outperform peers by 400%.

Ukraine's Drone Battalions Increasingly Taking the Lead In Battles

As Ukraine has increasingly consolidated its drone units into larger, coordinated formations, their contribution to battles at the front is becoming more noticeable. 

They often take the lead in identifying Russian targets and then destroying them. That the Russians are also more frequently employing stripped down, unarmored civilian cars and SUVs has made the drone battalions work more...satisfying. JL

Militarnyi reports:

The 425th Unmanned Systems Battalion of the Ukrainian forces destroyed a large convoy of enemy vehicles. The convoy was directly on the line of contact so the Russian military was either trying to storm Ukrainian positions or rotating its own forces. Usually, Russians use off-road vehicles of domestic and foreign production, but more and more often, passenger cars from the Russian automotive industry appear in the lenses of Ukrainian drones. the doors are removed to facilitate the loading/unloading of troops and the roof is cut off, replacing it with a “grill.”