patrick.net

https://x.com/GlobalDiss/status/1919724917135646990

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1919745461730078828

https://x.com/SMO_VZ/status/1920032150537056657

Suddenly discovering the joys of not flying commercially:

At least 60,000 passengers had their flights delayed or canceled at airports across Russia as Ukraine unleashed large-scale drone attacks this week, according to a national tourism body.

Russia's association of tour operators said in a statement on Wednesday that at least 350 flights were affected by the threat of drone strikes, including trips out of the country to destinations such as Istanbul and Dubai.

The affected facilities included Moscow's four airports and air travel hubs in the regions of Sochi, Kazan, and Kirov, per the association. Its statement said many of the flights were delayed overnight, while some flights that did manage to depart had to wait up to seven hours.

Russian independent Telegram news channels posted photos of large crowds gathering in airports and stranded passengers resting in departure hall areas.

"This delay will provoke subsequent delays according to the domino principle," the tourism operators' association warned.

"The aviation infrastructure is working at its limit," it added.

It advised travelers across the country to prepare for further disruption by bringing cash to buy food and drink at airports and taking a "small supply" of water with them.

And the joys of no internet/gps:

The Internet was "almost completely" shut down by the authorities of Mordovia and Saransk.

Internet disruptions continue in dozens of Russian settlements in the central regions of Russia amid massive Ukrainian drone attacks. Baza reported that the matter concerns at least 30 cities and towns in the Yaroslavl, Tver, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Leningrad, Kaluga and Kursk regions, as well as in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where internet outages began on Monday due to the rehearsal of the Victory Day parade, The Moscow Times.

In addition, the internet was "almost completely" shut down by the authorities of Mordovia and Saransk - due to a nighttime attack by AFU drones on the Optical Fiber Systems enterprise, Saransk Mechanical Plant and Saranskkabel-Optika plant. Astra writes with reference to readers that there is no access to the Internet also in the Vladimir region, Voronezh, Orel and Taganrog.

Mobile Internet at night disappeared, in addition to the above-mentioned cities, also in Kursk, according to Mash. In the settlements where the danger of drones was announced, payment terminals, validators in public transport, electronic boards, ATMs and delivery services stopped working. Moreover, in many cities problems with the Internet began in the afternoon of May 6, and by evening the connection disappeared altogether, the channel writes.

In the morning on Wednesday about mass failures reported and residents of the Moscow region, as well as the capital of the Russian Federation. In some areas ATMs do not work, in some stores stopped accepting payment by card, in addition, there are problems with food delivery. People are sent messages informing about possible Internet outages during the period from May 7 to May 9.

"RIA Novosti" confirmed the information about inaccessibility of a number of services for Muscovites. According to the agency, customers are notified about disruptions in mobile Internet and communication by telecom operators, cab and bank applications, as well as food delivery services and clothing stores. They note that the inconvenience will last until May 9.

These are the resources of Yandex, Bilain, MTS, online cinema IVI, Sberbank, Samokat and other services. Lamoda warned that on May 7-9 in Moscow expected restrictions on courier delivery, "VkusVill" reported the suspension for the holidays express delivery of products and payment by card to the courier. Mosgortrans recommends passengers of public transport to replenish the card "Troika" before the holidays. According to the information of Deptrans, from May 7 to May 9 in the capital will also be introduced restrictions on the movement and parking of cabs, carsharing, electric scooters and bicycles.

The day before the Internet outage due to UAV raids was reported by residents of Tula and Kursk regions. Subscribers of all major operators - MTS, "Bilayn", "Megafon" and T2 - faced interruptions. As explained by the head of the "Society for the Protection of the Internet" Mikhail Klimareva, the AFU install modems with Russian SIM cards on their drones. On the way, the drone connects to mobile communication stations to adjust its flight and transmit intelligence via the Internet. According to the authorities, blocking the mobile Internet prevents enemy drones from operating, the expert said.

I understand that the parade in Moscow is now cancelled for this year. Presumably they ran out of T-34's.

https://x.com/simpatico771/status/1920377564096254257

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1920344805902856593

https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1920434001728164184

Population of Russia

1930: ~100,000,000
1935: ~102,684,000
1940: ~110,333,000
1945: Data for Russia specifically during WWII is scarce and heavily impacted by wartime losses.
The population would have significantly decreased from 1940.
1950: ~102,580,107
1955: ~110,971,852
1960: ~119,735,095
1965: ~126,400,607
1970: ~130,093,010
1975: ~133,841,842
1980: ~138,257,420
1985: ~142,896,392
1990: ~148,005,704
1995: ~148,557,451
2000: ~146,844,839
2005: ~143,800,049
2010: ~143,242,599
2015: ~144,668,389
2020: ~145,617,329
2025: ~143,494,210 (projected)

Openly mocking Donnie T on government channels: