Ukraine wants to use missiles against Russian Airfields. It’s being discussed at this weeks EU conference.
As usual, it ultimately comes down to approval from Washington.
Sad news.
A Ukrainian F-16 crashed during a combat mission, killing a renowned Ukrainian Air Force fighter pilot. Cause unknown at this time, but the news reports I saw didn’t characterize it as lost to hostile action.
The first crash was going to happen. Even the US lost planes in Iraq and Afghanistan. I feel bad for the Ukraine piolt and his family.
Interesting inside look at Ukraine’s Drone production. Many are made out of wood and very inexpensive. People from many countries are assisting and developing tech to help Ukraine.
This is very bad news for Ukraine. 
People following the war should watch for these cities names in the news. That’s where most battles are being fought.
Link Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 29, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War
It reminds me of the WW2 fighter/bomber/pathfinder. Arguably as significant as the Spitfires and Hurricanes. Built mostly from wood and canvas and the workers who built it were recruited from the furniture industry.
Big blow for Ukraine
It doesn’t really affect the war directly but it must be a big morale hit when this sort of thing happens, besides the obvious personal tragedies felt by the families of the victims.
I would say it was more significant than the Hurricane or Spitfire. If the powers that be had listened to deHavilland it would have entered the war sooner and taken the fight across the channel. The early fighters didn’t have the legs to project power.
This may have been the most versatile plane of the war.
If you are responding to something in a thread that is basically off-topic or likely to lead to a hijack, try this:
How to Reply as a linked Topic:
Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, looks like a curving arrow point to the right.
Choose Reply as linked topic and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it.
That is actually the best method.
Poland has also scrambled their jets in response to the Russian attack, more out of caution than anything else. I don’t blame them.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi sat down for an interview with CNN and discussed the Kursk offensive among other topics.
In what is the most detailed explanation of the rationale behind the incursion, Syrskyi outlined the key objectives of the operation: to stop Russia from using Kursk as a launchpad for a new offensive, to divert Moscow’s forces from other areas, to create a security zone and prevent cross-border shelling of civilian objects, to take prisoners of war and to boost the morale of the Ukrainian troops and the nation overall.
I’ve seen a number of videos of Ukraine using drones with thermite to burn out russian positions. From the videos it didn’t look particularly effective but apparently it is. Russians have talked about how to defend against it on Telegram and there are some videos of burned out positions.
Ukraine attacked the Moscow region with more than 100 drones Tuesday, killing at least one person in the Moscow area, causing fires in high-rise buildings, and forcing the closure of major airports near the capital. This should be a gift link to the story in the New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/world/europe/russia-moscow-drone-strike-ukraine.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Jk4.O3jF.kejAI8GfsNJM&smid=url-share].
Russian forces continue to threaten Pokrovsk, a key transit hub in southeastern Ukraine about 100 miles north of Mariupol. In addition, there are some reports Russia has retaken some of the Kursk territory Ukraine has occupied since early August.
The U.S. and Great Britain have formally accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, the U.S., Britain, and Germany issued a joint statement calling the missile transfers “a direct threat to European security” and said they would impose penalties on Iran, including sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
I won’t post links, but in the last 2 days Denys Davydov has claimed in his Youtube channel:
- the Kerch bridge “got tired”, from the photo it looks like it is sagging to one side at least
- Russia is counter-attacking in the Kursk salient
- the US has approved ATACMS for Ukraine
US secretary of state, Blinken’s trip is encouraging. Three top leaders from the US and UK are meeting to discuss and hopefully can present something convincing to Biden.
Ultimately, the damaged Russian economy may be the key to ending this war.
The Russian counter-offensive into Kursk has begun:
ISW feel the Kursk was successful in distracting Russia from opening a wider front.
Remember that one of Russia’s best drone operators was sent to fight as infantry and got rubbed out?
When I heard the news the other day, I thought it was a Russian ‘situation normal’ and that he’d been sent to fight as infantry as part of some sort of rotation. According to the linked article, the drone operator and another drone operator were sent on a ‘suicide mission’ and they left a video.
“I’m leaving for an attack. If I come back fine, if I don’t then we’ll show you and explain to you [the reality],” Dmitry Lysakovsky, an experienced drone operator said. …
“Please, don’t serve in the ministry of defence… Your task is to die here so that the regiment commander, reporting to higher-ups, looks good. You are his personal serfs.”
The soldiers also accused their commander of dealing in drugs, faking battlefield successes, disbanding a high-performing drone unit out of spite and feeding information to a Ukrainian military intelligence spy network.
Serious explosions and fires at a Russian ammunition plant.
Russia: Tver region governor, comrade Igor Rudenya - “The unmanned drones were shot down by the Ministry of Defence’s air defenses, the falling debris caused a fire…” 30,000 ton missile & artillery arsenal built in 2018 was supposed to be able to withstand a nuclear strike.
The “falling debris” from shooting down the drones … yeah, right, Jan!
Summary:
Ukrainian drone attack hits major Russian arsenal
Massive blasts detected by earthquake monitors
NASA picks up multiple heat sources from space
Some anger expressed in Russia over the attack
LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Russia triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major arsenal in the Tver region on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of a nearby town, war bloggers and some media reported.
Unverified video and images on social media showed a huge ball of flame blasting high into the night sky and multiple detonations thundering across a lake about 380 km (240 miles) west of Moscow.
Another tidbit:
"Dmitry Bulgakov, then a deputy defence minister, told RIA in 2018 that the facility could defend weapons from missiles and even a small nuclear attack. Bulgakov was arrested earlier this year on corruption charges, which he denies.
“It (the concrete facilities) ensures their reliable and safe storage, protects them from air and missile strikes and even from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion,” RIA quoted Bulgakov as saying at the time."