Also wasn’t that the point of Trump’s win in 2016 and then all the machinations since then regarding us?
The BBC published quite an insightful report from the frontlines in Bakhmut today:
…on a chalk hillside to the south, there is the anti-tank group from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. 3Storm - as they are known - are unyielding.
“They cannot get to us, we can see for a kilometre in all directions,” says a bearded 26-year-old soldier who goes by the call sign “Dwarf”, pointing out Russian positions. “We can hit the enemy with everything we have,” he says.
“I was wondering, myself, if we should keep defending Bakhmut. On the one hand what’s happening here now is awful. There are no words to describe it. But the alternative is we give up Bakhmut and move to another settlement. What’s the difference between defending Bakhmut or any other village?”
I wonder if igniter boxes could be attached to the drones. Image a video showing a Russian plane with it’s own fuel ignited.
I was too, and I agree with @Walken_After_Midnight’s interpretation. Perhaps it was written by someone who’s first language isn’t English? Seems like they were going for “Despite the threat, security forces have it under control.” The way it’s written it says “despite the warning.”
For reference, al Jaz wrote a bit about Moldovan Transnistra, a narrow strip of effectively Russian-controlled territory bordering western Ukraine. Having a full grip on Ukraine would have made it easier to push into Moldova, but it is not entirely beyond the pale that Moscow could, theoretically, gain full sway over it even as things are.
Moscow seems to take the position that, if there are Russians living in a place, Russia should be in control of that place.
True.
There’s a solution to that. It seems to be the go-to for every despot ever.
Well, yes, of course. That sort of nationalism was what lay behind the disputes and wars following the decline/collapse of the Ottoman/Austro-Hungarian/Russian/German empires, and what the post-1945 settlements and agreements were intended to draw a line under. If the Russian irredentists get their way and all that’s torn up, what’s to stop (for example) their Hungarian equivalents, or any others across east and central Europe?
Well, if we go that route, it’s all Mongolia, anyway.
Slovakia has also agreed to send jets (in fact, their whole air force, it seems) to Ukraine. Of course, Russia has promised to destroy them.
Given how diligently Russian government has been destroying its own forces I have no doubt they will try.
Criminal nation rewards bandits of international airspace:
How brave of them to win a dogfight against an unarmed prop-driven surveillance drone! I guess there will also be medals for the dudes who pushed the button launching cruise missiles against apartment buildings and hospitals. Brave soldiers!
So, wait. It was accidental and the pilots get medals? How much valor is there in knocking down an unarmed drone, anyway?
They pin it next to their “stole food from a farmer’s cottage” medal. And just under the “Sent a stolen washing machine home to wife” medal.
It’s likely the only kill the Russian Air Force has gotten in the last several months. You celebrate what you have.
Participation trophies still count.
Putin wanted, dead or alive:
It’s either that, or give them medals for landing the airplane without damaging it.
Something impacted the prop of the drone. I doubt that plane landed with “no damage.” Maybe just some gouged up belly panels, but the impact certainly left a scar of some sort.
Although probably less damage than usual, given the stellar reputation and skills of Russian pilots.