I laughed pretty hard at “Blyatmobile”.
Just ignore the tank tracks leading right to it.
I think it’s more like this:
Hey the tank used to be parked in the shed. The tracks leading away from the shed show that the shed is now empty. Nothing worthwhile here to expend an ATGM or drone on. Just keep on flying by. Пожалуйста (Požalujsta). Спасибо! (Spasibo).
[“Please” and “Thank you” respectively to comply w SDMB rules on no unexplained non-English.]
That’ll work, as long as the tank puts its shoes on backwards (or drives everywhere backwards).
Serious question: Looking at tank tracks in the mud or snow or on harder surfaces, how obvious is the direction of motion that made them?
IME it’s pretty easy to tell which way people were walking on a soft surface, but much harder to tell which way a wheeled vehicle was driving.
Or the big ol’ gun sticking out the other. It’s a male shed… yeah, that’s the ticket.
A well-known American fighter (on the Russian side) has vanished.
It would seem his luck has run out.
Ukraine has reportedly just shot down a Russian strategic bomber:
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk on Friday said the country shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber for the first time, destroying a warplane capable of using long-range missiles.
Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the bomber crashed over the southern Stavropol region when it was flying back to its home airfield, state news agency RIA reported via Telegram. Russian officials said the cause of the incident was likely a “technical malfunction.”
497 ‘Backfires’ were built. The Wikipedia page shows some on display, and one being dismantled as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Now one has been shot down.
Any idea how many are operational?
Wiki says 63 in 2018, random google cite says 57 in 2024. So 56? Given the variable accuracy of web sources, I’d say maybe ~45-65 is a reasonable guess.
This lone casualty isn’t going to affect the war in any way, shape or form. But it is interesting if only because it is a claimed kill at 300 kilometers, which is considered the very outer edge of the S-200 missile’s range.
The impact, if any, won’t so much be the loss of the airframe, although at ~1-1/2% of the probable active fleet, that’s a non-trivial bite at their apple.
The big impact, if any, should be in how the Russians alter their employment doctrine of the type. Will they just ignore this loss and keep flying the same way, and continue to suffer slow attrition? Will they only fly jets with functional ECM systems? If so what does that do to their usable fleet size? Will they fly circuitous routes to stay farther from Ukraine’s missile batteries? Will we see stepped up attempts to target those batteries with long range A-G missile fire?
Big picture …
Combat airplanes are attritable assets. Sort of. You can expect to lose some, but you don’t want to (more accurately, “can’t afford to”) waste any. Of at least that’s the attitude of competent air forces.
What the Russians do about this will be some interesting intel learning on our / the Ukrainian’s part.
Congress has passed a bill to send $61bn of military aid to Ukraine. 
Yesss! Finally!!!
I thought nothing would come of that fustercluck.
The deets. (NYT, The Economist)
The new aid bill is a massive material benefit to Ukraine. Just as important, it will be a huge morale boost as well, showing Ukrainians that, even belatedly, America is with them.
From CNN:
“Nearly $14 billion included in the bill would help Ukraine buy advanced weapons systems and other defence equipment.”
Any ideas what those might be and how soon/be an impact they’ll arrive/have?
In one sense the impact might be immediate. Ukraine has been rationing ammunition tightly, worried about the interruption of supply. With the knowledge that more is coming, they might release more from hoarded stores to front-line troops.
Aside from that apparently some supplies have already been pre-positioned via European stocks pending congressional approval and the Pentagon claims they can deliver some in days and others in up to ~2 weeks.
Meanwhile the Czech government has been working to expedite more artillery ammunition, purchased by a Euro consortium from places like South Korea. Supposedly some is already purchased and in the pipeline, but may not start arriving until June.
That’s a very encouraging point (about rationing), thanks!
I hope it’s not too late. It depends on how long it takes to get urgently needed items to Ukraine. Russia’s big summer counter offensive is expected within a few weeks.