# Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [December 30, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349 "2023-12-30T18:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 97
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1923 "2026-09-02T13:07:04Z")
The Ukrainians used a Aeroprakt A-22 as a flying bomb early in the war. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1924 "2026-09-02T14:32:52Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > artillery shell Now called a high-speed ballistic drone. :smack: I had a friend tell me about a new type of drone that you could sit on and fly about in. Like a fangled flying car. And no awareness of what _drone_ originally meant. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1925 "2026-09-02T14:49:35Z")
Germany is now more formally accusing Russia of attempting an attack on a German airport last month. Sigh…still waiting/hoping on Article 5… [https://www.npr.org/2026/09/02/g-s1-141502/germany-russia-attempted-drone-attack](https://www.npr.org/2026/09/02/g-s1-141502/germany-russia-attempted-drone-attack) ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1926 "2026-09-02T15:00:14Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > still waiting/hoping on Article 5… If so, will you be enlisting? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1927 "2026-09-03T11:39:01Z")
This article in the aviation trade press is free until Sep 10, a weekish from now: **[Ukraine Warns Airlines As Drone Strikes Threaten Russian Airspace | Aviation Week](https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/safety-ops-regulation/ukraine-warns-airlines-drone-strikes-threaten-russian-airspace)**. Here’s the lede for posterity: > Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russian airspace is becoming “completely unsafe” and is “effectively closing” because of drone strikes, as Ukraine’s response to increasing Russian attacks extends beyond Ukrainian territory. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1928 "2026-09-03T12:44:34Z")
Speaking of drones, remember those fired at Ukrainian planes in Leipzig that failed to detonate? Germany has now officially accused Russia to be the mastermind of those attacks. Russia claims the allegations are false and the evidence fabricated. And has closed Germany’s cultural representation in Russia, the Goethe Institut, in retaliation. Germany in turn has shut down the Russian consulate in Bonn as well as a very active Russian cultural centre in Berlin. Germany is suffering a series of attacks on its infrastruture: bombs and arson against the electric grid and railways, mainly. Far left and far right groups are claiming authorship. The far right AfD, sponsored by and very friendly towards Russia, is set to win next week-end’s regional elections in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt by a huge margin, perhaps attaining the dream of an absolute majority. I know we already have a thread about a clusterfuck, but this belongs here, I am afraid. The prospects are darkening. And the USA are no longer on our side. > **[Leipzig airport attack fallout exposes Germany’s deepening divide over Russia](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/02/leipzig-airport-attack-fallout-lays-bare-germanys-polarisation-on-russia)** > > The government’s tougher stance towards the Kremlin is drawing attacks from both the far right and far left ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1929 "2026-09-03T15:56:43Z")
During World War One the USA got _extremely_ pissed at Germany for sabotaging production ultimately destined for Britain and France: > **[Domestic Sabotage: The Explosion at Black Tom Island (U.S. National Park...](https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-tom-wwi.htm)** > > Domestic Sabotage: The Explosion at Black Tom Island ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1930 "2026-09-04T02:34:35Z")
4 posts were merged into an existing topic: [The far Right AfD may win a state government](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-afd-may-win-a-state-government/1032802/7) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1931 "2026-09-11T02:27:23Z")
I’ve read several sources confirming Ukraine advance in Lyman. It’s interesting this was conducted quietly without press coverage. Russian military knew about it, but didn’t rush in with reinforcements. > **[Kyiv Post Breaks Down Reports of a Big AFU Success in the Northeast](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/84222)** > > It’s a real, tangible victory and a good deal more than a local success. It doesn’t mean the Russian army is about to quit but the consequences probably are a small step in that direction. > [@](#): > > Ukrainian milbloggers and military media first reported limited counterattacks being conducted by 3rd Corps units in July. Biletsky subsequently confirmed those operations were taking place but said their scope was limited. > > On the granular level, the Ukrainian attacks have been methodical and have followed a fairly consistent template. The first step has been to mass drones in the vicinity of a targeted Russian defensive position or Russian-held village, using observation aircraft to maintain permanent surveillance and bomber and first-person-view (FPV) drones to hit targets. > > Wider-ranging drone sorties search for Russian artillery, logistics, and communications with the objective of isolating the targeted location and inflicting casualties and damage. Russian supplies and replacements to frontline positions are considered high-priority targets, equal with the defensive positions themselves.Time required to carry out the wearing down process can take a week to a month. When the objective is adjudged sufficiently softened up, Ukrainian infantry moves in, sometimes by vehicle and sometimes by foot, to find remaining centers of Russian resistance and eliminate them. Once a position or village is secured the process is repeated. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1932 "2026-09-13T06:35:26Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > An Italian munitions factory blew up. AIUI, this factory was a source of munitions sent to Ukraine. Another munitions factory making stuff for Ukraine blows up. This time in Bulgaria: > **[Bulgaria: Fire at factory making munitions for Ukraine](https://www.dw.com/en/bulgaria-fire-at-factory-making-munitions-for-ukraine/a-79245062)** > > Bulgarian authorities are investigating a fire at a munitions factory for links to an explosion at a similar facility in August. Arms maker EMCO says no human error was involved, as investigators look at sabotage. You guys still think these are accidents? How many have to go boom before you get suspicious? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1933 "2026-09-14T13:17:11Z")
Putin escalates the war again. Targeting EU officials and other representatives is risking a major diplomatic incident. The train could have been heavily targeted and destroyed at the beginning of the war. Cutting off travel to Kiev. Why change Russian targeting policy now? > **[Train carrying Boris Johnson and ex-CIA chief may have been targeted in...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/13/russian-drone-hits-kyiv-warsaw-passenger-train-polish-border)** > > Ukrainian Railways says former British PM and David Petraeus crossed into Poland shortly before drone attack near border > [@](#): > > Ukrainian Railways, which operates the line, said a train carrying several security advisers from European countries as well as Johnson, the former British prime minister, former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and former CIA chief Petraeus had passed through the border crossing shortly before the drone strike. > > “It is quite likely that the target of this Russian drone could also have been the diplomatic train, which departed from the station earlier than planned as part of the real-time review of train schedules due to the constant threat of Russian strikes,” the rail company said. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1934 "2026-09-14T16:57:29Z")
I swear, NATO will do anything _but_ invoke Article 5. It’s like they refuse to invoke it unless a **lot** of **big** attacks happen. Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1935 "2026-09-14T17:40:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Targeting EU officials is risking a major diplomatic incident. Not really. There’s no risk here…Putin proudly attacked the train, and absolutely nothing happened..No threats, no counter attack by EU countries, no repercussions at all. Putin knows that he is free to do whatever he wants, and the west will let him get away with it ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1936 "2026-09-14T17:51:15Z")
The train itself wasn’t hit or even still in the area when the drones hit. So “no harm, no foul” at least officially, although nobody has missed what the original schedule would have meant. If I were the leaders of Poland, I would be secretly negotiating with France, Israel, India or Pakistan to purchase nukes. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1937 "2026-09-14T18:27:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > If I were the leaders of Poland, I would be secretly negotiating with France, Israel, India or Pakistan to purchase nukes. What would be the goal? It’s my understanding that the main purpose of nukes is to have them to prevent a hostile power from invading under threat of nuclear annihilation. Poland already has plenty of conventional forces to achieve that goal. It’s merely a question of how willing they (and the other European nations) are willing to go in using those conventional forces. Or to put it another way, if I’m in a gun fight with another person, and I already have a gun sufficiently powerful enough to stop the other person, upgrading to a more powerful gun won’t help. What would help is having the guts to use the gun I already have. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1938 "2026-09-14T18:42:07Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > If I were the leaders of Poland, I would be secretly negotiating with France, Israel, India or Pakistan to purchase nukes. AFAIK, no vountry has ever sold a nuke, and my guess is that no country ever will. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1939 "2026-09-14T19:12:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > FAIK, no country has ever sold a nuke, and my guess is that no country ever will. Indeed, no country that can make its own nukes could ever need or want to sell them for mere money; nukes may be the one thing in the world more valuable than money itself. But in this case “purchase” was shorthand for come to some sort of agreement or trade or pact that for one consideration or another would lead to a transfer of weapons. Possibly even allowing the source country to maintain control of them but allow the host country to take responsibility for their use if it came to that. Similar to how Cuba had Russian units with access to tactical nukes before the Cuban Missile Crisis. I don’t know how strong the Polish military is without NATO backing. But being able to threaten Russia with the vaporization of Moscow and Leningrad would definitely change Russian calculations about the feasibility of an invasion. The key word being “secret”: this latent capability would stay under wraps except in a crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1940 "2026-09-14T19:14:10Z")
It depends on what you consider “selling”. France once gave critical atomic plans to Israel (**[cite](https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-how-france-helped-israel-to-build-the-dimona-nuclear-power-plant-and-then-imposed-an-arms-embargo-on-tel-aviv/)**), but perhaps it was not selling if no actual money changed hands. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1941 "2026-09-14T19:17:02Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I don’t know how strong the Polish military is without NATO backing. My guess is that they would be at least on even footing. A larger issue is that if it came to Poland deciding to fight against Russia, I’m almost certain the rest of European NATO would honor Article 5 and join in. The even bigger issue, however, is how much those European nations, Poland included, are willing to let Russia get away with before deciding that it’s time to hit back. Once they decide to do so, I have no doubt that Russia would be done for, even without Polish nukes. It’s a question of where the red line is WRT how much they are willing to let Russia get away with before doing anything. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1942 "2026-09-14T19:37:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > . Targeting EU officials and other representatives is risking a major diplomatic incident. > Trains carrying Boris Johnson and the former CIA chief David Petraeus Both “formers” and current nobodies. And the train was in Ukraine. Barely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349.md?page=96) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349.md?page=98)