Summary
The death of a dictator always causes messes.
Start a new thread if you like, but stop with the conjecture in the breaking News thread about Lukashenko.
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I’ve put a basic summary of the Lukashenko issue in an existing thread HERE.
Apparently Iran has been busy manufacturing and selling drones. Russia seems to have a unending supply. I hope Ukrainian air defense really shot done 58 out of 59.
Link Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 28, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War
The problem is that Shaheds cost a tiny fraction of the cost of what shoots them down. A bit like ballistic missile defense that was tried in the 1960s, the attacker can bankrupt the defender rather easily.
I’ve seen speculation Russia wants to exhaust Ukraine’s stock of air defense missiles.
Then Russia can send their cruise missiles and do serious damage.
I’m not sure what Ukraine can do. The drone attacks can’t be ignored. They have to shoot them down.
I’d expect Russia to exhaust their missiles before Ukraine exhausts their air defenses. The West is keeping Ukraine supplied with defensive weapons as much as possible, while Russia only gets supplies from a few weak countries like Iran.
Geez. I feel so bad for the kids. No one is safe in this war.
Link Russia launches missile strikes on Kyiv after overnight barrage | Ukraine | The Guardian
Theoretically they’d shoot them down with guns rather than missiles.
There are lots of different things that fall under the category of “drones”, and lots of different things that fall under the category of “air defenses”. The most expensive air defenses are, indeed, much more expensive than the cheapest drones, but you don’t use those air defenses against those drones. The cheapest air defenses are much cheaper than the cheapest drones, and the most expensive air defenses are much cheaper than the most expensive drones. Everything has something much cheaper that can shoot it down, and so the economics favor the defenders. Heck, if nothing else, you can just take another, comparable, drone, and crash it into the attacker (though it seldom comes to that).
one of the reason Russia fire drones at night is that Ukraine had put every gun they could (including WW2 era HMG and MMG) on anti-air fire, but they lack radar guidance so can only fire during the day.
A demilitarized zone, inside Russia, is going to go over really well. I guess Mykhailo Podolyak can dream.
Safeguards against future Russian attacks will be difficult to enforce. I’m not convinced its even 100% possible. Its literally like sleeping next to a Bear. It can attack at any time.
Guardian blog
Summary at the top covers the amount of increase. This is like a credit line to purchase materials rather than a grant of material.
Denmark’s military aid to Kyiv is financed through the Ukraine Fund, created in March 2023. The Danish parliament initially agreed to contribute about $1 billion to it.
The need to increase the financing came up as 70% of the fund has already been used, DR wrote.
Oryx count of Russian tank losses passes 2000 mark:
It’s the 3rd air attack on Kyiv in 24 hours. 17 in May. It has to be a horrific experience for civilians
The Guardian blog
Yeah, and Putin lost his shit over one drone at the Kremlin.
Obviously fake picture on the last one there – the turret is still on.
Interesting. Why has Russia lost so many T-80s and so few T-90s?