François from Nice

@francoisfromnice.bsky.social

A french man with the heart ❤️ in Ukraine 💙🌻

🏦 At a meeting of Russia’s banking elite, VTB head Kostin warned that big businesses have stopped investing and are pulling money out of Russian banks – they fear nationalization. According to Russia’s Prosecutor General, the state has already seized businesses worth 7.6 trillion rubles. 💸

🏦📉 What did Russians do after Putin’s party secured another constitutional majority – with more war spending, economic pressure, and fears of wider conscription ahead? They rushed to the banks. According to Russia’s Central Bank, Russians withdrew 107 billion rubles last month.

🗳️ Did you really expect another result from Russia’s fake parliamentary elections? United Russia got a constitutional majority. I wasn’t surprised. I keep asking the same question: if change comes to Russia, will it really come from the streets – or from a classical palace coup inside the system?

💸⚔️ Russia’s Finance Minister has made the Kremlin’s priority clear: the war comes first. That means regions already struggling with empty budgets, state employees waiting for salaries, and industries damaged by war and economic mismanagement may receive even less support from Moscow.

🚨🔥 Despite the best air defenses Russia can concentrate around its capital, key strategic sites were hit – including the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya, one of the region’s most important fuel suppliers. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported around 1,600 Ukrainian drones and Ukrainian missiles.

👑 The emperor has no clothes. That’s how Russians now describe Putin. Behind the scenes, they increasingly point to a tension between FSB pushing for tighter censorship and state control, and business elites worried about nationalization, capital restrictions, and damage of a permanent war economy.

⚔️🇺🇦 Ukraine’s counteroffensive around Lyman is putting growing pressure on Russia’s plans for Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces have made significant gains north of Lyman, while ISW says Russia’s salient there has largely been eliminated.

🚨🇺🇦 Do you think Russia could directly attack a NATO country? The concern is no longer purely theoretical. Russian drones have repeatedly crossed or approached NATO airspace, and strikes near the Yahodyn–Dorohusk crossing have brought the war dangerously close to the Polish border.

💥🇺🇦 Another Russian general has been “successfully demilitarized” – and this one was close to Putin. Grunis personally briefed Putin about the so-called “capture” of Kostiantynivka. Putin praised him; now Grunis is dead and Russian military bloggers are already floating betrayal theories.

🚨 Ukraine has effectively cancelled Putin’s annual Valdai Forum. It has been moved to Moscow because of security concerns over Ukrainian drone attacks. Sochi itself has recently faced drone attacks and airport disruption, making the Black Sea resort far less comfortable for the Kremlin.

💸⚔️ Putin is running out of money even for his own army. Russia’s federal and regional budgets are under growing pressure, and governors are reportedly struggling to maintain military payments. At the same time, Ukraine has liberated around 240 km² in the Lyman direction in Donetsk region.

🚨⛽ Trump is asking Zelenskyy to stop hitting Russia’s diesel infrastructure because Americans are angry about rising prices. But Ukraine did not create this crisis. The war with Iran and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz are major drivers of the global oil and diesel spike.

🚨🛢️ Ukrainian drones reached 3,000 km into Russia — and Russians are nervous because the strike was near the Yamal Cross, where 17 major gas pipelines meet. That hub handles a huge share of Russia’s gas flows, so serious damage there could become a major energy and budget nightmare for the Kremlin.

🚨 Putin’s hometown is starting to look like an active war zone. In St. Petersburg, people are reportedly spending hours in long gasoline queues while local authorities prepare 9 metro stations to function as bomb shelters.