Iuri Podoliaka publicly complains, at the risk of being thrown into prison, that the war initiated by Vladimir Putin is going badly. And he is not the only supporter of the Russian invasion in Ukraine pointing out that Moscow is facing issues in Ukraine.
One of the most prominent supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iuri Podoliaka, stated on Friday that the Ukrainian forces are more efficient in battle compared to the Russian army and that a spring offensive targeting the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine could fail, at the cost of significant losses for the Kremlin, as reported on Monday by Kyiv Post.
"Slowly but surely, the advantage is shifting towards our enemies. There are highly experienced people working there. They are highly qualified specialists. They know how things work and work to take advantage of the technical superiority they have. Unfortunately, it works for them. I know that (to Russian viewers) it seems like we have more strength and more resources, but the enemy counterattacks and succeeds," the blogger said.
Russia will suffer heavy losses
A former Ukrainian citizen, Podoliaka chose in 2014 to be loyal to Moscow. His Telegram news program is very popular, "Today's World with Iuri Podoliaka" is followed by approximately 2.8 million subscribers on Telegram, and on YouTube, he has an audience of 2.7 million subscribers, placing him among the top three, even two bloggers in Russia, as noted by the publication.
In 2022, Podoliaka documented Russia's victories, and in the winter of 2025-2026, he predicted the imminent collapse of the Ukrainian defense due to overwhelming Russian military force.
However, Podoliaka has now reversed the trend and unequivocally declares that Russia's position on the Ukrainian front is weakened by Ukraine's strong defense. He has thus joined a growing chorus of Russian influencers willing to risk up to 15 years in prison, under the Russian Criminal Code (Article 207.3 "Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the Armed Forces").
"Unfortunately, I believe that in the coming months we will not be able to change this situation. We simply cannot. To our great misfortune. And it is very important for this to happen in those months when, logically, we should hit them with our main force in the 2026 campaign. How can we do that, honestly, it is hard to see. It is absolutely clear that there will be significant losses (for Russia)," Podoliaka said about the Kremlin's spring offensive.
Ukrainians are stronger
He continued, stating that Ukrainian long-range attacks inside Russia are effective and that the Russian defense is unable to handle them. Furthermore, Ukrainian drones and electronic warfare capabilities surpass those of Russia, and this gap is widening, according to Podoliaka.
"The enemy works very efficiently against our rear areas and attacks our logistics... (and) unfortunately, we have no way to effectively protect these areas. We do not have enough jamming equipment, and what we have is not of sufficient quality," the blogger said.
"If we have in mind the idea that the end of the war is already within our reach, then, unfortunately, I fear there will be very significant problems in the very near future. Our enemy is very, very efficient. Learns extremely fast. Much faster than us. Creates new tactics quickly and even a modern war strategy; now, even NATO countries are starting to use it because they recognize that in this regard, the AFU (Ukrainian Armed Forces, ed.) is a leader in this field. I cannot tell you that they are weaker than us in this regard. Unfortunately, they are stronger," he continued.
Putin's resignation is demanded
Iuri Podoliaka is just one of the important voices in Russia openly discussing the problems of Moscow's military campaign, as noted by the Ukrainian publication.
One of the first high-ranking supporters of the Russian army who publicly criticized the situation on the front lines was Ilia Remeslo, a staunch supporter of Russia's dominance over its neighbors and the elimination of Ukraine as an independent state. In a five-point manifesto titled "Five Reasons Why I Stopped Supporting Vladimir Putin," he accused the Russian leader of incompetence, destroying the national economy, suffocating civil liberties, and, above all, starting a war against Ukraine that is impossible to win, becoming a national disaster.
"We all thought that Putin was the unifier of Russian lands. And now we have come to this: bloody attacks, luring contract soldiers through deception, and much more, as any participant in SVO (special military operation - the official Russian name for the Russo-Ukrainian war) will confirm. A war completely without a way out, huge losses, could continue for another 5-10 years - are you prepared for that? ... The war is waged solely to satisfy Putin's insecurities; we, ordinary citizens, gain nothing from it, only lose," Remeslo wrote on March 18.
"Conclusion: Vladimir Putin is not a legitimate president. Vladimir Putin must resign and be brought to justice as a war criminal and thief. Long live freedom, damn it!" the author concluded. Over 90,000 followers have read this text.
Putin openly accused of incompetence
Vladimir Kucerenko, a Russian journalist who writes articles and hosts shows under the popular pseudonym Maxim Kalashnikov, directly accused Putin on Friday in a vlog presented on YouTube of incompetence in leadership. According to him, Russia's ruling class will consider his removal from power the only way to maintain their position at the top of Russian society.
"The current Supreme Commander is already considered by the elite a toxic figure. They truly wish for the war to end. But ending the war is one thing - and freezing the conflict is quite another. He is not capable of either winning this war or ending it. He has led the situation into an impasse from which he cannot escape. His popularity is plummeting. And that makes him a toxic figure that no longer fits with the Russian elites," Kalashnikov said.
Russian army poorly led
Other Russian bloggers have criticized the leadership of the Russian army for poor leadership. Andrii Filatov, a "war correspondent" from St. Petersburg with 170,000 followers, reported on Sunday in an article entitled "Roads and Memories" that the Russian army has become an organization with a deep-seated bias to kill or injure lower-ranking soldiers and where success on the battlefield does not matter.
"When the Russian army arrived... they were young, motivated, physically fit, with good targeting skills... In the last four years, those who survived and remained healthy in the lower ranks have taken positions at the battalion commander level, and those at the top... well, they have not been punished for wasting their manpower (...) There has been no qualitative improvement in army command and control," Filatov said.
Fears for a Ukrainian counteroffensive
And the criticisms did not stop there. In an opinion article published on Monday, pro-Russian authors Dmitri and Ekaterina Korzin warned their 1.1 million Telegram followers that not only is Ukraine successfully facing Russia's spring offensive, but leaders in Kiev are building a massive attacking force that will soon launch a counteroffensive. The goal: reclaiming the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which, according to the Korzin couple, are currently poorly controlled by Russia.
According to them, swarms of drones are already patrolling the sectors that will soon be hit by the Ukrainian attack, as stated in the article. "Kiev's plans to deploy up to a million soldiers by 2026 have not been canceled. This, as expected, would be deployed to (re)establish control over the hypothetically liberated territories so far (from Russia)," the Korzin couple wrote. "On the [southern] front in Zaporizhia, the enemy has increased its mass use of drones... at least twice," they wrote.
T.D.