#air command of the armed forces of ukraine

[tomorrowusa]

Ukrainians are making good use of those F-16s. A Ukrainian pilot flying one set a new record for shooting down cruise missiles.

For the first time in the history of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a Ukrainian-operated jet shot down six Russian cruise missiles during a single mission in December, including two with the aircraft cannon, the Air Force claimed on Jan. 7. The interception reportedly took place during a mass Russian aerial strike on the morning of Dec. 13, 2024, which saw Russia deploy almost 200 drones and 94 missiles. "For the first time in the history of the Fighting Falcon, an F-16 fighter jet destroyed six Russian cruise missiles in one combat mission," the Air Force Command said on social media. Ukraine has received a number of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands and Denmark, deploying them multiple times in air defense roles during Russian mass strikes on cities and infrastructure. "They say that even Americans couldn't believe you did it," Air Force Command spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said in an interview with the pilot, whose identity was not revealed.

While F-16s are not practical for shooting down smaller drones, Ukraine has displayed skill at neutralizing larger missiles launched by Russia.

Real life in Ukraine makes Top Gun seem lame.

The aviator said that he approached a group of cruise missiles and, despite their electronic warfare countermeasures, managed to lock on to targets. The F-16 reportedly shot down one pair of Russian projectiles with medium-range missiles and then another pair with short-range missiles. Ukrainian F-16s are equipped with four air-to-air medium-range and short-range missiles. Without missiles and low on fuel, the pilot was then recalled from the area but spotted another missile heading toward Kyiv. He moved to intercept it and opened fire from his aircraft cannon against the projectile, which was flying over 650 kilometers per hour, a difficult and risky maneuver, the Air Force said. "A few bursts from the cannon — and an explosion... then another one! 'A secondary detonation,' I thought, but, as it turned out, there were two missiles," the pilot said, adding he did everything as taught by U.S. instructors. According to the Air Force Command, Ukrainian pilots have learned how to shoot down missiles with aircraft cannons in simulators in the U.S. but have never attempted it during actual combat before.

When a malicious dictator is trying to erase your country, you have incentive to get things right the first time.

[katerenko]

Merry Christmas?..

Today, on 25 December, the Russian occupiers launched another missile attack on Ukraine - the enemy again targeted critical infrastructure facilities: TPPs, CHPs, and power grids.

According to the command of the Ukrainian Air Force, 184 enemy air targets were recorded:

2 KN-23 ballistic missiles;

10 S-300/S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles;

12 cruise Kalibr Missiles ;

50 X-101/X-55 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers;

4 X-59/X-69 guided missiles from tactical aircraft;

106 Shahed strike UAVs

The Ukrainian Air Defence Forces shot down 113 targets.

Kharkiv

The Russians launched 12 missiles at the city and targeted critical infrastructure: boiler houses, CHP plant, and electricity facilities.

So far, six people have been reported injured: five men and one woman.

Ivano-Frankivsk

The enemy strike left part of the Carpathian region without power supply - residents of Kalush, Burshtyn and Ivano-Frankivsk were without electricity.

Dnipro

The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces shot down 42 enemy missiles over the Dnipro region.

The missile attack damaged infrastructure in Dnipro. Unfortunately, a TPP worker, 51-year-old Dmitry Petlenko, was killed. His body was found under the rubble.

The windows of a nine-story building were also smashed, and a private house was damaged. An outbuilding caught fire, and rescuers extinguished the fire.

Kirovohrad region

Critical infrastructure in the Kirovohrad region was also targeted by the Russians.

The falling debris caused a fire in a warehouse.

As a result of the strike, the pumping stations of the Dnipro-Kirovohrad water pipeline were de-energized.

Vinnytsia region

At night, the enemy attacked the energy infrastructure. There is damage. As of the morning, thanks to the coordinated work of power engineers, all consumers are supplied with electricity.

Kyiv region

The air alert in the Kyiv region lasted all night. Air defense forces were working in the region. Some enemy targets were shot down. Fortunately, no people were hurt.

As a result of the falling debris of downed enemy targets in two districts of the region, 12 trucks, a cafe and three private houses were damaged.

Kryvyi Rih

An enemy missile strike killed one person and injured 17 others, including two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reports.

"This is definitely not a global war"

Meanwhile, Poland again sent its military aircraft into the sky. As noted by the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, this step was taken “because of the Russian air attack, which can hit objects located in the West of Ukraine, among other things.”

In addition, one of the Russian missiles entered Ukraine through the airspace of Moldova.

At 07:24, the Ukrainian Air Force reported a cruise missile flying toward Chernivtsi from Moldova. At the same time, monitoring Telegram channels claim that the Russian missile flew about 140 kilometers through the territories of Moldova and Romania.

Не забуваймо, завдяки кому ми зустрічаємо цьогоріч Різдво.

Слава Україні!

Героям слава!

Слава нації!

Смерть ворогам!

[mariacallous]

The United States has long had a clear message to its European allies: Do more!

Spend more on defense, shoulder more risk, accept more inconvenience, spurn Soviet and Russian natural gas, catch Kremlin spies, push back against communist-led trade unions, send European armed forces to fight in U.S. wars—the list was long. Europe’s contribution was never enough. Indeed, discontent about burden-sharing precedes the founding of NATO. At a 1949 Senate hearing on U.S. accession to the alliance, Secretary of State Dean Acheson was asked if this would mean “substantial numbers of troops over there.” He responded: “The answer to that question, senator, is a clear and absolute no!” The assumption at the bloc’s founding was that U.S. support was a bridge to European self-reliance.

Ten years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower complained that self-reliance wasn’t happening. “Our forces were put there on a stop-gap emergency basis,” he said, according to a 1959 memo. “The Europeans now attempt to consider this deployment as a permanent and definite commitment.” He complained that allies were trying to make the United States a “sucker.” Every U.S. president since then has reiterated the complaint, none more than Donald Trump.

But behind Washington’s repeated call for Europe to “do more” usually came a second one: “Not like that.” The worst-kept secret of trans-Atlantic security policy is that from the dawn of the Cold War, the United States sought not only to bind Europe into a common defense against the Soviet Union but also to keep it in a state of tutelage. That meant strangling all attempts to build independent European defense structures or strategies.

Some Europeans have resisted this. In 1958, French President Charles de Gaulle requested a tripartite NATO directorate for nuclear strategy. When Britain and the United States refused, he withdrew the French Navy’s Mediterranean fleet from NATO command and withdrew permission for U.S. nuclear weapons to be stationed on French territory; the U.S. Air Force had to hurriedly shift 200 warplanes out of France. In 1963, he withdrew the country’s Atlantic and English Channel fleets from NATO command; in 1966, he demanded that all NATO bases be removed from French territory and pulled France out of the alliance’s command structure.

The threat from the Soviet Union overshadowed these rows. Few doubted that, in the event of a military conflict, France would fight alongside NATO allies. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and the threat from Moscow appeared gone—and as NATO allies grew impatient with U.S. leadership that was overambitious in some places, overly hesitant in others—European allies began to assert their own priorities.

A signal event was the 1998 Franco-British cooperation agreement signed at Saint-Malo, France, which stated that the European Union (to which Britain in those days belonged) “must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises.” Then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded by firmly telling NATO allies that Europe’s nascent efforts to cooperate on security should mean “no diminution of NATO, no discrimination, and no duplication.”

The advocates of European defense have had a rocky ride in the quarter-century since then. The more France talked up “strategic autonomy,” “emancipation,” and other buzz-phrase concepts, the more Britain and other Atlanticist members of NATO pulled back. The EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy generated “more words than warriors,” as Julian Lindley-French, the chairman of the Alphen Group, told me.

Now that has changed. Spooked by Russia’s war in Ukraine and trans-Atlantic ructions, the Europeans are serious—deathly serious—about taking care of their own defense and security. The war of words is raging. University of Oxford historian Timothy Garton Ash writes of “America the Horrible.” British House of Lords member Andrew Roberts decried the “sheer brutality” of the Trump administration’s behavior, which he said had thrust Britain into “utterly uncharted territory.” German Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz, a lifelong supporter of German Atlanticism, calls for German “independence” from the United States. “The free world needs a new leader,” said EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, who was previously the prime minister of ultra-Atlanticist Estonia.

Current woes are only the start. What happens if the White House not only pulls out of supporting Ukraine but dismisses Russia’s next European invasion as a mere “border skirmish” unworthy of U.S. involvement? Or worse—what if a Russia-aligned White House actively opposes European action to aid the invaded country? Washington could disable any weapons that use U.S. high technology, cut off access to satellites and other critical infrastructure, and shut down NATO’s U.S.-run headquarters.

For now, the biggest shift is in decision-making. Dismay, disgust, and growing dread have shocked Europeans into ending the disagreements among themselves that have hamstrung European security since the United States sabotaged the Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt during the 1956 Suez crisis. At the time, the French decided never to trust the Americans again; the British decided never to have another trans-Atlantic row. Today, the former European Atlanticists who for decades acted as a skeptical, pragmatic brake on any talk of a European army, defense budget, military headquarters, or intelligence service have become the accelerators of change. “We have all turned into Gaullists,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in February.

Talks are advanced on a new defense and security pact between the EU and Britain, which will end a nine-year post-Brexit blight in cross-channel relations when it is likely signed in May. Ministers from Britain regularly attend EU summits, as do those of non-EU Norway. Big EU member states, such as Germany and France, which have jealously guarded their national security interests over Brussels’s meddling, are now more willing to see the European Commission—led by former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen—take the lead with joint borrowing, new agencies, new powers, and new scope.

All this has practical consequences. For a start, this is a terrible time to be selling U.S.-made weapons or any kind of high-tech system in Europe. Trump has publicly mused on restricting the features of new, sixth-generation F-47 fighter jets sold to allies, saying: “We’d like to tone them down about 10 percent, which probably makes sense because someday, maybe they’re not our allies, right?” Worries are also growing about a so-called kill switch on U.S.-built weapons that would allow Washington to unilaterally restrict, for example, access to software and data systems. This U.S. technological veto previously stopped Ukraine from using British Storm Shadow missiles—which contain U.S.-made guidance systems—against targets inside Russia.

Trump’s loose lips are sinking deals. Portugal and Canada are reportedly considering canceling part of their purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters. Having seen Elon Musk withhold satellite service to Ukraine, Italy has backed out of acquiring Starlink. The Danes are debating whether Trump’s threats to Greenland mean they should choose the Franco-Italian SAMP/T NG air defense system over U.S. Patriots in a contract due to be signed later this year. British arms manufacturers have gone on a marketing offensive, highlighting their “Trump-proof” supply chains.

Plans are also advancing for a major European financial instrument to fund defense. (Disclosure: I am one of the authors of a proposal for a European Rearmament Bank.) A key condition: Only contracts with European arms manufacturers will be financed. All this will not only cost U.S. jobs, profits, and taxes—it will erode U.S. influence over Europe, too.

Intelligence sharing has been another bastion of U.S. influence in Europe. For decades, the vast capabilities of the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and other agencies have given the American side the upper hand in relationships with their European counterparts. Leads from the U.S. side have helped countries such as Germany and Estonia catch Russian spies. In return, European agencies were glad to help out with any niche capabilities that might prove useful.

No longer. European spymasters now think twice about sharing their choicest morsels with U.S. counterparts. “Suppose it ends up in the PDB and he blurts it out?” one European intelligence official told me, referring to the President’s Daily Brief, the highly classified daily distillation of the U.S. intelligence community’s most topical secrets. Europeans also worry about the administration’s capriciousness. They saw intelligence sharing with Ukraine turned off in order to punish the government in Kyiv for its reluctance to follow along with U.S. cease-fire plans. Suppose the White House decides to give another European ally the same medicine? European intelligence efforts were once mocked. Now they are gaining budgets, clout, staff, and expertise.

The transition is going to be messy. Europe is still woefully short of the troops, tanks, artillery, munitions, logistics, surveillance, and other assets needed for a solid conventional defense; it also lacks the air power and long-range weapons needed for effective conventional deterrence. Even providing a modest reassurance force in a post-cease-fire Ukraine looks fanciful without U.S. logistical and other support.

Compensating for that will require an imposing display of political unity that says “don’t mess with us”—plus convincing plans for rearmament, conscription, and nuclear posture. Europeans must also get to grips with Russian attacks below the threshold of outright war: sabotage of infrastructure, cyberattacks, dirty money, and propaganda. All that will mean not just the sacrifice of some national political sovereignty and a bonfire of other taboos but also higher taxes, lower living standards, and less generous public services.

The trajectory is clear. The more Trump proclaims “America First,” the more Europeans hear sauve qui peut—and stampede away from the wreckage of an alliance that they wrongly took for granted. Every step in that direction creates more clout for Europe and less leverage for the United States. As von der Leyen noted recently, “Reality is a strong ally.” And reality is pushing hard for change.

Paradoxes abound. The United States will end up with something it always wanted to avoid: a lean, mean, muscular, independent-minded Europe. Indeed, it would not be too fanciful to build a monument to Trump in central Brussels, setting him alongside the founders of European unity such as Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Simone Weil.

It’s not all bad. This new entity—one might even call it the United States of Europe—may be a capable, effective partner for future U.S. administrations in dealing with China, combating climate change, and more. But it will be far more a partnership of equals. On other issues—such as global financial management, conflict in the Middle East, and international law—Europeans will have their own ideas and their own priorities. They will assert them unhesitatingly and perhaps uncomfortably. The era of tutelage came at a price. But Americans may miss it when it’s gone.

[dostoyevsky-official]

Gasping for air from a trench in eastern Ukraine, an infantryman was ready for the worst when a suffocating white smoke spread into his position. A Russian drone had just dropped a gas grenade into the trench, an internationally banned practice in warfare used to suffocate Ukrainian soldiers hiding inside. Forced out in the open, the Ukrainians immediately became vulnerable targets for Russian drones and artillery. [...] Russia has increasingly deployed chemical agents in its grand offensive to occupy the last cities in the Donbas region under Ukrainian control. The suffocation tactic is to take out entrenched personnel and dampen the morale of Ukrainian soldiers who – severely outmanned and outgunned – have been withdrawing village by village in the east for nearly a year. The attack experienced by Ihor occurred as Russia ramped up its illegal use of chemical agents during its full-scale invasion launched 2.5 years ago to over 4,000 officially recorded cases, marking a sharp uptick from about 600 as of January, according to the Ukrainian military.

[...] Ukrainian soldiers and officers interviewed acknowledged that the tactic is effective, allowing Moscow to capture positions occasionally without destroying them.   “Your natural reaction is to get the hell out of there because it feels as though you are dying,” said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the U.K.’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment. “And so the guys get out of the trench, and then the Russians immediately follow it up with fire and artillery,” he added, describing the modern era where treacherous illegal weaponry from the past is combined with state-of-the-art killer machines that fly. The exact number of soldiers who were injured or killed by conventional arms after a gas attack is unknown, but de Bretton-Gordon said he expects it to be “lots.”

wwi with drones

[delicatebarness]

bring him home | chapter four

Summary: The beginning of the support groups, and a mission with your sister.

Warning: MCU Spoilers. Mentions of Grief. Violence. Car Crash. Guns.

Word Count: 1260

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A/N: It was quite fun to write a mission with Natasha.

Tags: @vampirethingz | @whiminiferous | @armystay89 | @bucky-just-needs-love | @esposadomd | @motylekrozi | @erica2024 | @wintrsoldrluvr | @mega-kittyglitter-1 | @mostlymarvelgirl | @ordelixx

Surrounded by community leaders, counselors, volunteers, and fellow Avengers, you sat at a large wooden table in a conference room filled with tension. The topic of discussion was that of establishing support groups for those still trying to grasp the aftermath of the Snap. 

“So, we all agree that there’s a real need for this,” said the head of the community center. Her voice held a lace of hope, though her eyes were weary. “But we need to decide on a structure, the goals, and how we reach out.” 

You nodded, a weight of responsibility once again settling on your shoulders. “I think the focus should be on creating a safe space, a space where people can share their stories,” you said, your gaze not once lifting from the piece of paper in front of you. “They need to know they’re not alone, there are others who understand.” 

Several others around the table gave verbal acknowledgments. A tall man, who had lost his wife and daughter, spoke up. “We need to provide resources for the ones struggling to find their footing. Assistance with job placement, mental health service, and even social activities… rebuild a sense of community.” 

For another hour, the discussion continued, and ideas flowed freely with contributions of thoughts and suggestions. There was a clear plan of action by the end, in two weeks the first meeting would be held. 

And you would be leading it. 

~

It was supposed to be a routine mission with Natasha, to extract Dr. Ivan Petrov from Iran. The mission was critical, he was a nuclear engineer who contained vital information, and Natasha trusted your skills, yet she insisted on having you by her side, wanting to keep you close. 

As the two of you crossed the Ukraine border, near the outskirts of Odesa, Natasha kept her eyes sharp, scanning the road and surroundings. In the passenger seat, you sat equally alert, with Dr. Petrov in the back. The tension in the car grew as the landscape was barren and quiet. 

Suddenly, a ping echoed through the air, a sharp and metallic ping, causing the car to swerve. The tires under you were shot out. 

“Hold on!” Natasha shouted, gripping the wheel. She used all her strength to control the car as it spun out of control. Skidding, the vehicle careened off the edge of the cliff.

As you plunged downward, time seemed to slow. Unbuckling your seatbelts, you and Natasha used your precise training as you gained speed. Natasha grabbed Dr. Petrov as you kicked open the doors, and you all leaped out before hitting the rocky ground below. 

After tumbling down the slope, Natasha quickly assessed your surroundings. You watched as the smoke rose from the wreckage, the car lying in a twisted heap below. With no sign of your attacker, you all knew you had little time. 

“Get up,” she commanded, steadying you to your feet. “We need to move.” 

Following her lead, you moved around the slope using the sparse trees and boulders to seek cover. Rustling came from behind you, causing your attention to snap as a figure emerged from the shadows. 

He wore a mask, but his arm was unmistakable– Soldat. 

“The Winter Soldier,” Dr. Petrov whispered, his voice tinged with dread. 

A chill ran down your spine as your mind filled with the memories of him. Standing before you, a ghost of the past, the man who made you what you are today. 

Natasha tightened her grip on Dr. Petrov, narrowing her eyes as she assessed the situation. Conflict etched on her face, should she protect, fight, or survive? She was a force to be reckoned with, however, similar to you, she became wary in the presence of this man. 

With her firearm steady in her hand, she positioned herself between you and the Winter Soldier, with a calculated grace and her gaze locking with his. As she prepared to to defend, you sensed her uncertainty, this wasn’t just another target, this was someone she knew… someone she had once trusted around you. 

He stood motionless, his expression hidden behind the mask, yet his eyes pierced at her. You could feel his gaze burning through her as if he could see you hidden behind. 

“Nat, he’s different,” you whispered, your voice barely audible as a rush of adrenaline coursing through you. “It’s Soldat.” 

The air thickened with tension, the impending danger was a feeling you couldn’t shake. He stood before you, silent and imposing. Natasha’s eyes flickered with recognition, her grip tightening ever so slightly on Dr. Petrov. 

But, before you could react, the Winter Soldier moved. He raised his weapon in a fluid motion, aim locked on Natasha. You watched in horror as time slowed. The sound of gunfire echoed, stillness in the air. 

Natasha staggered backward as the shot rang out. Disbelief flashed across her face as his bullet tore through her abdomen. She fought to stay on her feet, stumbling, her grip on Dr. Petrov faltering. 

“No!” you cried out, lunging forward, you reached to catch your sister as she fell. Her body collapsed against yours. 

Her blood began to stain your hands as her breaths filled with desperation. The doctor stood frozen in shock. 

“Soldat, please!” you cried, raw emotions straining your voice. “It’s me! Spiderling!” 

Your desperate plea for recognition hung in the air, yet it seemed no semblance of humanity broke through the facade of the Winter Soldier. His weapon and gaze stayed fixed on Natasha. Blocking her injured body with yours, you prepared for him to deliver another blow. 

It was then he spoke, “Run,” he commanded, “Run and don’t look back.” his tone was devoid of emotion, his gaze unwavering. 

You knew you had no choice, your sister’s life hung in the balance, once again you obeyed his orders. Gathering your strength, you helped Natasha steady herself, leaning her weight against you as you began to retreat.

~

Two weeks later you were stood in front of a packed room, each person carrying their weight of grief and loss. Looking out at their faces, the weight of responsibility carried heavy. 

You took a deep breath as you began the meeting, you tried to keep your voice steady as you addressed the room. “Thank you all for being here today,” you started, as you rifled through papers, “I know that each of us has experienced unimaginable loss in the last year and a half. But, today, we come together not just to mourn, but to support one another in our journey,” you paused, clearing the lump forming in your throat. “Our journey toward healing.” 

A palpable sense of emotion filled the room as you spoke, shared sorrow and pain heavy in the air. But beneath it all, a small glimmer of hope. 

Throughout the meeting, you listened as people shared their stories, trembling with emotion as they recalled memories of loved ones. You tried to offer words of comfort and encouragement. 

You felt a sense of pride wash over you as the meeting started to draw to a close. And, in the weeks and months that followed, the groups offered a lifeline to those struggling to cope. This was exactly where you were meant to be, standing with and for fellow survivors. 

For Bucky, all he wanted was peace, and you knew that seeing you support these people in finding that peace would have brought him a sense of contentment. He may not have been able to be here with you physically, but he was with you in your heart.

---

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[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Matt Davies

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 3, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Jun 04, 2025

On June 1, Ukrainian forces struck deep inside Russia in “Operation Spider Web.” One hundred and seventeen drones, each operated by its own pilot, hit airfields in five regions. Ukraine says the drones hit 41 strategic bombers that had been attacking Ukrainian cities and destroyed at least 13 of them. Russia does not have the industrial capabilities to replace them.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasyl Malyuk emphasized that military airfields and the aircraft that are bombing Ukraine are “absolutely legitimate targets…[a]ccording to the laws and customs of war.” The SBU estimates the drones did $7 billion of damage, hitting 34% of the aircraft that delivered cruise missiles.

The operation took more than 18 months of planning. It apparently involved sending trucks loaded with wooden cabins that had detachable roofs that could be opened remotely. Unsuspecting truck drivers hauled the cabins to locations near airbases, where the drones launched.

Once the drones were in the air, the vehicles carrying the cabins exploded. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the people who helped with the operation from within Russia had been withdrawn and “are now safe.”

Russia denied that the damage was that extensive, but there is no doubt that the attack was a significant blow to Russia’s war effort, demonstrating as it does that Ukraine can bring the war home. As Kateryna Bonder of the Washington, D.C., think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies notes, June 1 was Military Transport Aviation Day in Russia, a significant holiday for the armed forces. Russian president Vladimir Putin frequently ties operations to significant dates—as when he hosted a number of American lawmakers in Moscow on July 4, 2018—and the choice of this date for an attack on military aircraft threw that habit back at him.

Analysts recognize the Ukrainian attack as a new moment in warfare. Using apparently unwitting civilians, the Ukrainians managed to get their drones close enough to their targets to avoid Russia’s air defense systems; then, Bonder explains, the drones relied on a system that allowed operators to pilot them to the planes’ strategic weaknesses. The drones themselves cost between $600 and $1,000 apiece—and by using deception, technology, and strategic surprise, the Ukrainians managed to destroy billions of dollars worth of aircraft.

Bonder notes that the attack heralds a change in modern warfare, in which technological agility will trump industrial capacity and advantage will go to those countries that can adapt quickly to changing conditions.

Some observers are calling the attack the Russian Pearl Harbor, a reference to the attack by the Japanese Navy on the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, an attack that led to U.S. entry into World War II. But Russia has been attacking Ukraine since 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. This attack illustrates extraordinary vulnerability at this point, rather as if Pearl Harbor had happened in early 1945.

A former commander of U.S. Army Europe, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, posted: “For months, some believed that Ukraine didn't 'hold any cards.' Many of us have refuted that claim, saying an inflection point—due to failing Russian war economy and continued lack of Russian leadership adaptation, but especially due to a continued strong Ukrainian government, military and population support and will mixed with their innovative use of Special Operations, un-crewed systems (various drones), and fiber optic capabilities to counter Russian EW—would soon be felt on the battlefield. The coordinated and synchronized attack today, which appears to have decimated much of the Russian air fleet that were based over 4,000 km from the front line, is showing that Ukraine certainly has many aces in the hole.”

Hertling’s comment that some thought Ukraine didn’t hold any cards is a reference to President Donald J. Trump, who ambushed Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, warning him that Ukraine must cut a deal with Putin because Zelensky didn’t “have the cards” to win the war. With that meeting, Trump signaled that U.S. policy, which has supported Ukraine since 1994, would change to favor Russia.

In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assistances, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances from the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Russia that they would honor the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, a promise Russia broke when it invaded Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.

During the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign, Trump vowed that he would end the war in Ukraine in a single day, maybe with a single phone call, and as other victories have slipped away from him, he has appeared frustrated that such an achievement has proved more difficult than he thought.

After the Oval Office meeting, the Ukrainians agreed to a 30-day ceasefire on March 11, but Russia has consistently refused to agree unless Ukraine accepts major territorial concessions and permits Russia to dictate that it not join the defensive North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Rather than negotiating, Putin has launched repeated attacks on Ukrainian civil targets. On Sunday, May 25, Russia launched the largest air attack on Ukraine since the war began, and the week before, it launched its largest drone attack.

Those attacks happened even as Trump was talking directly with Putin, allegedly about a ceasefire. The White House policy has skewed heavily toward Russia against Ukraine even to the point that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff relied on Putin’s own translators during negotiations on February 11, March 13, and April 11. While Putin speaks English, Witkoff does not speak Russian.

Trump claims to be frustrated with Putin, at one point calling him “absolutely crazy,” which prompted Putin’s spokesperson to suggest that Trump was suffering from “emotional overload.” On May 27, Trump appeared to acknowledge his longstanding relationship with Putin when he posted on his social media site: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

And yet, although more than 80 senators from both parties have co-sponsored a bill to impose stronger sanctions against Russia, Trump has refused to back it, thus stalling it. Meanwhile, Benedict Smith of The Telegraph today covered State Department acting under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs Darren Beattie, who dismantled the office that countered disinformation from Russia, China, and Iran. In 2021, Smith notes, Beattie married a Russian national whose uncle has ties to Putin.

Beattie was dismissed from the first Trump administration after attending a white nationalist rally. He has attacked the United States as the “globalist American empire” and said that Putin should infiltrate western institutions to fight “woke” ideology. In 2021, Beattie wrote that the “position [of the U.S.] in the global order [is] rapidly deteriorating” and that he looked forward to its “prestige and power” collapsing. Praising Putin as “brave and strong,” he said that Putin had “done more to advance conservative positions in the US than any Republican” and that “just about every Western institution would improve in quality if it were directly infiltrated and controlled by Putin.”

Beattie also wrote: “NATO is a far worse threat to the health, liberty, freedom, and flourishing of American citizens than Russia and China combined.”

Administration officials said the Ukrainians did not notify them before launching Operation Spider Web.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces detonated underwater explosives attached to the Kerch bridge connecting Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. This is Ukraine’s third attack on the bridge since 2022. The SBU said the explosives “severely damaged” bridge supports, but the bridge reopened hours later.

The Ukrainian operations are only the most dramatic developments in ongoing stories today that show the Trump administration is not calling all the shots.

Trump’s vow to negotiate trade deals in place of his tariff walls has not yet produced any of those deals, and the White House today said it’s “likely” that a call will take place this week with China’s leader Xi Jinping. But Lingling Wei of the Wall Street Journal explained yesterday that Xi has made it clear China will play hardball with the U.S.

Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in the Obama administration, told Phelim Kine, Daniel Desrochers, Megan Messerly, and Ari Hawkins of Politico: “Beijing has a sharp nose for weakness, and for all his bravado, Trump is signaling eagerness—even desperation—to cut a direct deal with Xi. That only stiffens Beijing’s resolve.”

Biden administration National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan Rush Doshi noted that Chinese officials see Trump as “unpredictable” and that Chinese diplomats don’t usually put the leader “at risk of a potentially embarrassing or unpredictable encounter.”

Jake Lahut of Wired reported yesterday that Trump advisors are themselves tired of right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has Trump’s ear. Their comments to Lahut appear designed to put pressure on Trump to push her away, a sign that for now, anyway, she is entrenched.

Newark, New Jersey, mayor Ras Baraka, whom Department of Homeland Security agents arrested on May 9, 2025, has sued the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Alina Habba, and the special agent in charge of the Newark Division of Homeland Security Investigations, Ricky J. Patel, for false arrest and malicious prosecution. He is suing Habba alone for defamation.

The suit outlines Habba’s public statements against Democrats in New Jersey and her vow to “turn…New Jersey red.” It says Habba acted “as a political operative” “in her individual personal capacity” “outside of any function intimately related to the judicial process” when she posted on her social media account that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law.” After repeated similar public statements, Habba dropped all charges.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem took down her list of “sanctuary cities” she said weren’t cooperating with federal immigration authorities after the National Sheriffs’ Association demanded an apology.

Trump began today by attacking Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) for his opposition to the extraordinary cost of Republicans’ omnibus bill, insisting that the bill would create “tremendous GROWTH.” But this afternoon, billionaire Elon Musk took a firm stand against Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” posting on X: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released a report showing that Musk’s net worth has increased by more than $100 billion since Election Day. The report listed the many ways in which he used his position in the federal government to stop investigations into his companies, undercut regulations, win federal contracts, gain access to data and sensitive information, attack his enemies, meddle in elections, and secure foreign deals, all without informing the American people of his conflicts of interest.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[specs-does-stuff]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventures Fan Stands #3! - Twenty One Pilots

Stand Name: 「 Twenty One Pilots 」

Stand Master: Vasylyna Vinya

Power: B

Speed: C

Range: A

Durability: E

Precision: B

Potential: B

Stand Type:  Long-Distance - Colony - Artificial Non-Humanoid

Namesake: Twenty One Pilots - American Alternative Hip-Hop Duo

Meet The Stand:

Manifesting itself as both an RC Remote and a fleet of 21 RC attack helicopters piloted by small toy soldiers, Twenty One Pilots is a long-range, colony type stand commanded by Vas, Vas commands and leads the heavily armed choppers into battle with her remote.

The Twenty One Pilots fleet is divided into two different subgroups, Gunners and Bombers, and with the extra soldiers mounting the chopper’s machine guns, Twenty One Pilots has around 4 soldiers composing each unit, amounting to 84 in total.

Gunners are armed to the teeth with deadly machine guns that possess great range, though their bullets are tiny, they are still very fast and can do lots of piercing damage.

Bombers carry small bombs hidden inside their compartments that Vas can deploy during combat to blow her enemy away or create distance when necessary, the explosions are small, but still dangerous.

Bombers are also equipped with two miniature rockets, don’t let their small size for you, the explosions they create on impact are devastating and easily the most destructive weapons in Twenty One Pilots’ arsenal.

Albeit an undeniably dangerous stand, Twenty One Pilots also has certain limitations that extend beyond it's users' own physical limitations, as the helicopters that compose the fleet are the definition of glass cannons, they can cause great damage, but can't sustain significant battle damage either without running into the risk of being shot down and being put out of commission for the rest of the battle in the process.

Vas also needs a clear visual on her target, Twenty One Pilots cannot and will not engage unless they have a clear shot.

Meet The Stand Master:

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Vasylyna is the youngest child of the Vinya family, her father being a decorated pilot of the Ukrainian air force and her mother being a Russian nurse.

Growing up, vas was taught to be proud of her heritage and culture, wishing to follow in the footsteps of her father and older sister, Raisa, the latter of whom had already become an accomplished pilot for the air force herself, Vas was determined to bring honor to her family and her country…

That was, until shortly after her 10th birthday, when suddenly, she felt herself getting weaker and weaker, doing basic things such as walking suddenly became much more taxing for the young girl and she’d always get exhausted, her legs feeling weaker and weaker with each passing day, until an incident in her home where her legs suddenly gave out and she found herself falling down the flight of stairs of her home and seriously injuring herself in the process.

Whilst she was in the hospital, vas was diagnosed with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) a type of muscular dystrophy that had rapidly weakened her muscles to a point where just walking was an exhausting, painful task for the girl, and unfortunately for the Vinya’s, there no known cure for Vasylyna’s condition, she found herself stuck on a wheelchair to move around, and while her parents were horrified at her condition and the implications this would have on vas’ future, vas was mad, mad at herself for being weak, for now being physically incapable of protecting her country like she had dreamed of, for now she wouldn’t be seen as an equal to her father and her sister… but as a burden.

And unfortunately for Vas, Raisa, the older sister she loved oh so much, ended up being stationed in the boarders of their home country, in order to fight an ongoing border conflict that was tearing up their nation.

Raisa didn't even have time to bid either her sister or parents farewell, before she was dragged off into the war, leaving Vas feeling truly alone in the process.

Vas grew more and more resentful of her situation as time went on, this wasn’t fair, none of this was fair, all her dreams had been taken away from her in an instant, suddenly people didn’t look at her as the brave, strong young girl who would grow up to defend her country and her people, but rather as a weak little girl who couldn’t do anything by herself and needed to be constantly coddled and looked after, they only looked at the wheelchair, not the girl sitting in it.

That was until Vasylyna discovered she wasn’t as weak or defenseless as she was starting to believe herself to be, she came to discover she had a truly bizzare ability, she didn't know the origins of this mysterious power, if they were a gift from god or a malevolent spirit possessing her...

But that was alright with her - for now - she wouldn't be piloting an aircraft.

Instead, she would be commanding an entire fleet.

Faceclaims & Sources for Images Used:

Comanche Defense from Bloons

Armie Buff from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit Of Justice

Fun Fact: Vas was designed for a Jojo's Bizzare Adventure RP I signed up for last year, which you might notice why she has so much more lore behind her compared to some of the previous characters I shared in here, unfortunately the RP itself didn't pan out, but I still really like Vas and I wanna get a chance to user her in a future RP one day.

Also, yes, it IS the same type of stand as Bad Company. I just think it's neat!

[usafphantom2]

U.S. F-16 Fighters Shot Down Drones with Laser-Guided Rockets in Combat

F-16 APKWS shoot drones

The U.S. Air Force has officially employed for the first time laser-guided 70mm rockets in the air-to-air role during operations in the Red Sea over the course of 2024. The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) guided-rockets were deployed from F-16 Viper multirole fighter jets to engage hostile drones launched by the Houthis, the Iranian-backed Yemeni militia.

The U.S. Air Force confirmed that F-16 fightes used Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System 70mm guided rockets in the air-to-air role in combat to shoot down Houthi drones.The APKWS IIU.S. Operations in the Red Sea against the Houthis

The U.S. Air Force has first announced back in 2019 that the APKWS II, originally developed as a low-cost air-to-ground precision munition, had been tested successfully in the air-to-air role, but until now no operational use of the weapon in this role has been disclosed. The details of the combat debut of the APKWS II in this new role are still scarce, with no knowledge of how many guided rockets were employed, how many Houthi drones have been shot down with the weapon, and the exact timeline of the engagements.

A U.S. official told to The War Zone few days ago that the APWKS II air-to-air capability was first employed last year “as one of many options for countering the Houthi UAS threat.” The official added that “It is a lower-cost option compared to the AIM-9X. That lower cost is one of the benefits of using it.”

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon is refueled over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Dec. 17, 2024. [Author’s note: : the aircraft is armed with a 7-round rocket launcher.] (U.S. Air Force photo)

The APKWS II

The AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) is a conversion of the Hydra 70 unguided rockets which adds a laser guidance kit to the baseline weapon, turning it into a precision-guided munition (PGM). The Hydra 70 is itself derived from a previous weapon, the 2.75-inch (70 mm) Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) of the late 1940s, a system widely employed in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

By adding a guidance section to a cheap rocket (inserted in the middle of the rocket, between the 10-pound high-explosive warhead at the front and the Mk66 Mod 4 rocket motor at the rear), the U.S. Air Force has therefore been able to obtain low-cost smart munitions that can be used in the air-to-ground role. These are particularly useful when the full warhead of larger bombs (like JDAM) and missiles (like the AGM-65 Maverick or AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles) is not needed to obtain the desired effects or not suitable due to the danger of collateral damages.

The guidance section of the APKWS includes four foldable wings with wing-mounted laser seeker collection optics with a wide field of view which enable to engage both moving and stationary targets. BAE Systems, which produces the weapon, says that “no modifications are required to the rocket, firing platform or fire control system,” with the only known modification being a longer variant of the LAU-131/A 7-round rocket launcher normally employed by the U.S. Air Force, called the LAU-131 A/A (the Navy uses the AGR-20 with the similar LAU-68 F/A).

Ukrainian airman loading an American-made Hydra 70 unguided rocket into a rocket pod of a Czech-delivered Mil Mi-24V helicopter. (Image credit: Screenshot from X video)

The APKWS is also being used in a novel surface-to-air mode as a Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) to engage low-flying, slow and cheap drones. Specifically, the weapon has been included in the Electronic Advanced Ground Launcher System (EAGLS) employed by the U.S. military in the Middle East and the U.S.-supplied VAMPIRE (Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment) used by Ukraine to counter Russian drones.

The U.S. Navy also announced in late 2023 that it was about to deliver a new proximity-fused warhead for APKWS II rockets, optimized for use against drones, albeit developed ostensibly for the surface-to-air role. However, further developing an air-to-air capability out of these older rockets is another impressive feat for the U.S. Air Force, that has now the possibility to engage targets at a very small fraction of the cost of other existing missiles.

While a current beyond visual range radar-guided AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) is priced at more than $1 million each and an AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II has a price tag of around $420,000, the guidance section of an APKWS II only costs around $15,000, with the full APKWS II round only costing a few thousand dollars more (to include the warhead and the motor).

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon flies a routine presence patrol mission over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Jan. 25, 2025. [Author’s note: : the aircraft is armed with a 7-round rocket launcher.] (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jackson Manske)

The low cost of the APKWS II comes with some restrictions, as the weapon is shorter ranged than the current USAF missiles, and the warhead is also smaller. However, against slow and cheap targets like drones, the AGR-20 can provide the Air Force with a highly cost-effective weapon.

Moreover, the APKWS II can provide American jets with deeper magazines for air-to-air munitions, as they can be carried in a 7-shot rocket pod on a single hardpoint that could otherwise take only a single AIM-9X or AIM-120 missile. The F-16 is also able to carry two LAU-131/As with the standard 70 mm unguided rockets on each pylon by using a triple ejector rack, although it is unclear if this capability is also available for the LAU-131A/A with the AGR-20.

This feature could come in hand while facing swarm or saturation attacks from enemy drones, a tactic that has already been used by Russia in their aggression of Ukraine, by Iran in their attacks on Israel and sometimes on a smaller scale even by the Houthis. The high cost of the interceptors against these cheap targets and the magazine size of the launching platforms have been two of the main concerns highlighted by forces countering these attacks.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon flies a routine presence patrol mission over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Jan. 25, 2025. [Author’s note: : the aircraft is loaded with a mix of AIM-120C, AIM-9M and AIM-9X missiles and accompanies the fighter armed with the APKWS] (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jackson Manske)

U.S. Operations in the Red Sea against the Houthis

The U.S. military has been involved since late 2023 in operations with a multi-national coalition in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden and in the area of the Bab el-Mandeb strait against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia operating out of Yemen. The Houthis started attacks on civilian shipping in the area after the terrorist attack of Hamas on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023.

To support Hamas, Houthis employed both aerial and naval drones, in addition to missile attacks, against shipping routes while also launching sporadic long-range drone and ballistic missile attacks on Israel. After the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2722 in January 2024, condemning the Houthi attacks and reaffirming the freedom of navigation, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, aimed at protecting civilian shipping and reducing the Houthi threat, with the first airstrike against Houthis dating back to Jan. 12, 2024.

Over the course of one year, the warships and aircraft involved in Operation Prosperity Guardian have engaged multiple times Houthi targets, including land strikes to remove military capabilities from the terrorist group, and engagements to shoot down drones and missiles launched from Yemen.

The Carrier Air Wing 3, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower (CVN-69), logged 14,000 sorties, 32,000 flight hours and 15,000 arrested landings during a lengthy deployment in the Red Sea, while its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and E/A-18G Growlers shot more than 60 air-to-air missiles. Operation Prosperity Guardian also included the first long-range operational use of B-2 stealth bombers against Yemen, with the stealth bombers flying all the way from their home base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and the combat debut of the F-35C carrier-based stealth fighter jets.

Interestingly, the U.S. Navy recently announced that an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, an upgraded variant of the original UH-60 Black Hawk developed for naval use, has been involved in the shoot-down of a Houthi drone, but it is unclear what weapon was involved and when this happened. Probable candidates for the achievement are however restricted to only a few weapon system, including the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the very AGR-20 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) also used by U.S. Air Force’s F-16s, or on-board machine guns.

MH-60R shoots down drone

An MH-60R Sea Hawk prepares to land on the flight deck aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Image credit: U.S. Navy Seaman Mark Pena)

@TheAviationist .com

[beardedmrbean]

An opinion piece by Aino Miikkulainen in Helsingin Sanomat took aim at one of Finland's beloved national symbols — the Moomins.

Miikkulainen wrote that she loves the white troll family, but admitted that it is hard to ignore the endless commercialisation of the Moomin brand in recent years.

Tove Jansson's original Moomin works have been endlessly adapted and commodified as Miikkulainen pointed out.

"When you go grocery shopping at Prisma, the first thing you see is a shelf full of Moomin dolls, clothes and blankets. There's Moomin porridge, Moomin sweets and Moomin smoothies. Moomin meat soup. There are even Moomin rutabagas and potatoes at the vegetable counter! Perhaps the worst of all is still the Moomin juice, Mehuli" Miikkulainen wrote.

She added that someone could likely survive for a week solely on Moomin-branded products. In her view, while the intellectual property is closely guarded by the Jansson family, it is exploited without mercy.

Miikkulainen has observed an adverse effect from slapping Moomin faces on every product imaginable. While her children read derivative Moomin picture books and used Moomin diapers as toddlers, when it came time to read Jansson's original Moomin books, the kids were already bored with Finland's national cartoon characters.

She mentioned that this has extended past childhood and into adulthood. When the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) opened an exhibition about Jansson's unseen works — she was a prolific painter in addition to creating the Moomins — many in her circle were not interested in going.

Miikkulainen said she felt the same way, but luckily still went and lauded Jansson's art and her Moomins as something still quite unique.

The original Moomin stories are multifaceted with many different shades, even dark ones that are reflected from Jansson's personal life.

Charlie McDowell, the director of The Summer Book, based on Jansson's 1972 novel of the same name, commented on why he adored the Moomins growing up.

"In England, I used to read Moomin books as a child. They were fascinating and a bit scary."

In Miikkulainen's view, it is a terrible shame that many people in the homeland of the Moomins have already grown tired of the soft, harmlessly diluted versions as children.

Finland lagging behind in drones

Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat visited a Ukrainian drone factory with links to Finnish defence firm Summa Defence. Summa Defence plans to set up a drone factory in Finland with Ukrainian partners before the summer.

Ihor Krynitsko, the owner of Summa's Ukrainian partner company Air Assist, told IS that Finland and Europe are lagging in building unmanned-aerial vehicles (UAV) and drone production.

"The only countries that have made progress are the Baltic countries. Finland is not only behind, but light years behind in this development," said Krynitsko.

"I went to fly our drones in one country, and the local authorities laughed that they could take down a drone with their own systems. Well, they couldn't."

So far, there is no such expertise as in Ukraine in Europe or Nato. Indeed, Western powers are known to be in close contact with Ukraine to gain front-line experience of modern warfare, particularly with drones.

"Europe is not in a hurry because it does not have to be. We [in Ukraine] are leading the way because we want to survive," Ihor told IS.

This sentiment was echoed by Colonel Vadym Suharevsky, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He told Reuters that not a single Nato army is prepared to fight against modern drones.

The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) has been silent about their own unmanned aircraft capabilities. The FDF has been training conscripts as drone pilots since 2023, but drones are not yet known to be widely used in training.

Jari Mikkonen, the Defence Forces' Deputy Chief of Staff for Armaments and Logistics, told IS earlier that the Finnish armed forces are not very inclined to buy tens of thousands of drones, whose technology could be obsolete in months.

There are currently only a handful of drone manufacturers in Finland, which led the FDF's research director, Engineer Colonel Jyri Kosola to advocate for a dedicated drone strategy last November.

Beef shortage

Rural-focused newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus reported that some S Group stores have experienced shortages of minced meat, with shelves running empty in certain locations.

Images circulating on social media show signs in stores apologising for "challenges in the availability of minced meat products."

Kim Strömsholm, S Group's director for market trade products, confirmed that the chain has struggled to meet demand.

"For minced beef, demand has temporarily exceeded supply, which may have also led to shortages of other minced meat products," Strömsholm said.

According to Strömsholm, the company has already taken corrective measures.

"We are ensuring through our own actions that customers will continue to have minced meat available," he promised.

[tomorrowusa]

Putin is trying to pass off North Korean troops fighting in the Russian army as members of the Buryat ethnic group in Siberia.

It's already suspected that Putin is giving North Korea missile technology in return for ammunition and other military supplies. Apparently troops from North Korea are also part of the deal. Unfortunately for Putin, they seem to be as useless as his own troops.

The Suspiline report citing Ukrainian intelligence sources says that 18 North Korean soldiers fled their positions somewhere on the border between the Bryansk and Kursk regions of Russia, just 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) from the state border with Ukraine. The source said the reason for them absenting themselves is not known but it said Russian forces were currently hunting them while the commanders in the area were trying to cover up the incident and to hide it from higher command. The incident comes just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a request to ratify the treaty for a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the Russian Federation and North Korea, which had been signed on June 19 during Putin’s visit to the DPRK.

Claiming that North Koreans are actually Buryats is quite a stretch. Buryats have a generally East Asian appearance which might fool people in Europe. But once they speak or write, the similarity disappears.

Buryat is related to Mongolian and uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Korean is rather unique and uses its own homegrown phonetic script. They don't sound or look anything alike.

The report of these soldiers being absent without leave (AWOL) also coincided with other intelligence reports that up to 3,000 North Korean combat troops were being trained to form a “special Buryat battalion” at the base of the 11th Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Russian army at Sosnovy Bor near Ulan Ude in Buryatia. The reports say the unit is currently being provided with weapons and equipment. A Ukrainian milblogger, Igor Sushko, said on X / Twitter on Tuesday that the North Korean troops were being issued with Russian military identity cards identifying them as Buryats. The Buryatia Republic is situated in eastern Siberia, where its indigenous people have an Asian appearance. Andrei Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering  Disinformation, commented that integrating North Korean military personnel into Russian forces was likely to be complicated by the language barrier: “Less than 1% of the cadre officers in the North Korean army are proficient in Russian. Understanding this is crucial for examining the potential future involvement of these troops with the Russian armed forces. “Although Russia might utilize North Korean soldiers initially in the Kursk region, there’s a possibility that several tens of thousands could eventually be deployed to Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories alongside Buryat counterparts,” Kovalenko added.

It would be interesting to hear how the Buryats and North Koreans are getting along in Russia. The Buryats have every right to resent that Putin is trying to pass off North Koreans as Buryats.

The attempt to include North Korean troops with the Russian forces in the Ukraine invasion is another indication that Russia is getting short of troops.

New York Magazine recently featured a lengthy interview with Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Institute called Ukraine War: Why Russia is in More Trouble Than It Looks.

A relevant excerpt...

Russia’s advantage has been the ability to withstand very high levels of attrition because of the materiel and manpower resources they have, and also their significant capacity for mobilization of resources on a national scale — that is, defense industrial production, manpower recruitment, and the like. But Russia’s actually operating under very significant constraints. And if anything, its advantage on the battlefield is likely to decline as we get into this winter and look further ahead into 2025. First, in terms of equipment, the Russian military has been sustaining very high levels of loss that are principally being replaced by Soviet-era stocks — not entirely, but at this stage, Russia is eating through its Soviet legacy, and its rate of equipment production is quite low relative to the numbers being lost on the battlefield. This doesn’t mean that Russia is going to run out of armored fighting vehicles. What it does mean is that the Russian military has increasingly been forced to adjust tactics to minimize their losses, and that also reduces their ability to achieve any operationally meaningful breakthroughs. When you look at manpower, the Russian government has significantly increased the payouts and benefits to recruit personnel. The reason for that is straightforward. It’s clear that at this rate of loss, the Russian contract recruitment campaign is unable to keep up. This too does not mean that Russia is going to run out of manpower, but it’s clear that they’re struggling, and they are not likely to be able to sustain this pace of operations, staying on the offensive with this rate of loss.

Russia has apparently already been trying to recruit mercenaries in Syria and possibly even Africa. The quality of foreign troops in Russia has been rather uneven. That 18 North Korean troops have gone AWOL and may be trying to escape to Ukraine is an indication that importing fighters from abroad is not going well for Putin.

[pocketnewsforyou]

Friday 5/23/2025

Russia drops air strikes during prisoners-of-war exchange 

Russia and Ukraine agreed to hostage exchange that would be implemented in stages as part of the begnning stages of lasting ceasfire negotiations. May 23, the day of Phase One, Ukraine and Russia swapped 390 prisoners, followed by 614 the next day. Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelensky, posted on X that the prisoners were from “our Armed Forces, the State Border Guard Service, the National Guard of Ukraine." During the night, Russia began to drop bombs and use drones to target civillian areas of Ukraine. The Armed Forces Operational Command in Poland posted on X “[i]ntensive activity of long-range aviation of the Russian Federation has been observed, associated with strikes carried out on objects located, among others, in the western territory of Ukraine.” Ukraine's air force said in a post “Russia launched a total of 367 ‘air attack vehicles’ -- among them nine Iskander ballistic missiles, 56 cruise missiles, four guided air missiles and 298 attack drones -- at targets across the country.” Ukraine's Interior Ministry stated “at least 18 people were killed -- among them three children from the same family -- and 85 people injured. More than 80 residential buildings were damaged and 27 fires recorded.” Zelensky has responded to the attacks stating “[t]hese were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities… Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now — the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace." Zelensky once again urged the US and Europe to put sanctions on Russia stating “[t]he war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war." Trump has recently condemned Putin’s actions against Ukraine, claiming that the killing needs to stop, yet many have critized his inaction to pressure Russia into a ceasefire. 

https://abcnews.go.com/International/russia-hits-ukraine-massive-drone-missile-barrage-amid/story?id=122173886 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-prisoner-exchange-drone-missile-attack-ceasefire/ 

https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-russia-prisoner-exchange/ 

[mariacallous]

During a recent trip to Ukraine, I visited a command center located hundreds of kilometers from the frontlines. Inside, young men and women dressed in hoodies skillfully guided drones toward Russian tanks, personnel carriers, and bunkers. Each hit earned points, with teams competing against one another. War gamification ensures maximum impact, with every euro invested in drones destroying Russian assets worth hundreds of times more.

Ukraine’s experience since 2022 demonstrates that modern warfare is a fusion of manpower-intensive trench combat and drone-driven technological innovation. By focusing heavily on the latter, Ukraine has been able to offset Russia’s often overwhelming advantages in terms of conventional military strength. Today, Ukrainian drones account for around 70 percent of confirmed Russian losses, according to the Royal United Services Institute.

In the air, first person view (FPV) Ukrainian drones pound Russian armor, artillery, and trench networks along the front lines. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s interceptor drones are shooting down Shahed bomber drones, while long-range drones strike refineries, airfields, and arms factories deep inside Russia. Ukraine’s Operation Cobweb in June 2025 was a vivid demonstration of these rapidly evolving drone capabilities, with around twenty Russian military aircraft damaged in simultaneous drone attacks on multiple airbases across the Russian Federation.

Aerial drones are only part of Ukraine’s expanding unmanned arsenal. The Ukrainian military uses ground drones to storm enemy trenches, deliver supplies to the front lines, and evacuate wounded soldiers from hot spots. At sea, Ukrainian marine drones have forced the Russian Black Sea Fleet to abandon its home base in Russian-occupied Crimea. Remarkably, Ukrainian marine drones armed with missiles have also reportedly managed to destroy Russian helicopters and fighter jets. Together, these air, land, and sea drones are able to threaten every part of Putin’s war machine.  

[dertaglichedan]

Israeli Forces, Cut Off From US Intelligence on Hezbollah, Kill Terror Group's Drone Commander in Beirut Strike

Israeli forces killed Hezbollah’s top drone commander on Thursday, according to reports, marking the fourth senior Hezbollah leader to be eliminated by the Jewish state in just over a week. The news came after the Biden-Harris administration announced that it would not provide Israel with intelligence or support for its military campaign in Lebanon.

Mohammed Srur, also known as Abu Saleh, is reported to be dead after Israel carried out "precise strikes" in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to the Israeli military. Srur is just the latest senior Hezbollah commander to be killed during a week of unprecedented airstrikes across the country that have thinned the terror group’s top ranks and kneecapped its stockpile of advanced arms.

The ongoing air attacks show that Israel has no trouble locating Hezbollah’s top leadership, even as the Biden-Harris administration withholds intelligence on the terror group. Asked Wednesday whether the administration is supporting Israel's operations in Lebanon, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, "No. No support."

***Billions of unaccounted for money to Ukraine, cut off intelligence to Israel.

[darkmaga-returns]

There’s a video at the link. Among several very important statements by Putin, this one was quite striking:

“the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature.”

The regional conflict is now a Global War. That’s how I understand that.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: I would like to inform the military personnel of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, citizens of our country, our friends across the globe, and those who persist in the illusion that a strategic defeat can be inflicted upon Russia, about the events taking place today in the zone of the special military operation, specifically following the attacks by Western long-range weapons against our territory.

The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, instigated by the West, continues with the United States and its NATO allies previously announcing that they authorise the use of their long-range high-precision weapons for strikes inside the Russian Federation. Experts are well aware, and the Russian side has repeatedly highlighted it, that the use of such weapons is not possible without the direct involvement of military experts from the manufacturing nations.

On November 19, six ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles produced by the United States, and on November 21, during a combined missile assault involving British Storm Shadow systems and HIMARS systems produced by the US, attacked military facilities inside the Russian Federation in the Bryansk and Kursk regions. From that point onward, as we have repeatedly emphasised in prior communications, the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature. Our air defence systems successfully counteracted these incursions, preventing the enemy from achieving their apparent objectives.

The fire at the ammunition depot in the Bryansk Region, caused by the debris of ATACMS missiles, was extinguished without casualties or significant damage. In the Kursk Region, the attack targeted one of the command posts of our group North. Regrettably, the attack and the subsequent air defence battle resulted in casualties, both fatalities and injuries, among the perimeter security units and servicing staff. However, the command and operational staff of the control centre suffered no casualties and continues to manage effectively the operations of our forces to eliminate and push enemy units out of the Kursk Region.

I wish to underscore once again that the use by the enemy of such weapons cannot affect the course of combat operations in the special military operation zone. Our forces are making successful advances along the entire line of contact, and all objectives we have set will be accomplished.

[kramlabs]

Putin statement on the West’s strikes into Russian territory outside the SMO area*

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: I would like to inform the military personnel of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, citizens of our country, our friends across the globe, and those who persist in the illusion that a strategic defeat can be inflicted upon Russia, about the events taking place today in the zone of the special military operation, specifically following the attacks by Western long-range weapons against our territory.

The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, instigated by the West, continues with the United States and its NATO allies previously announcing that they authorise the use of their long-range high-precision weapons for strikes inside the Russian Federation. Experts are well aware, and the Russian side has repeatedly highlighted it, that the use of such weapons is not possible without the direct involvement of military experts from the manufacturing nations.

On November 19, six ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles produced by the United States, and on November 21, during a combined missile assault involving British Storm Shadow systems and HIMARS systems produced by the US, attacked military facilities inside the Russian Federation in the Bryansk and Kursk regions. From that point onward, as we have repeatedly emphasised in prior communications, the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature. Our air defence systems successfully counteracted these incursions, preventing the enemy from achieving their apparent objectives.

The fire at the ammunition depot in the Bryansk Region, caused by the debris of ATACMS missiles, was extinguished without casualties or significant damage. In the Kursk Region, the attack targeted one of the command posts of our group North. Regrettably, the attack and the subsequent air defence battle resulted in casualties, both fatalities and injuries, among the perimeter security units and servicing staff. However, the command and operational staff of the control centre suffered no casualties and continues to manage effectively the operations of our forces to eliminate and push enemy units out of the Kursk Region.

I wish to underscore once again that the use by the enemy of such weapons cannot affect the course of combat operations in the special military operation zone. Our forces are making successful advances along the entire line of contact, and all objectives we have set will be accomplished.

In response to the deployment of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a combined strike on a facility within Ukraine’s defence industrial complex. In field conditions, we also carried out tests of one of Russia’s latest medium-range missile systems – in this case, carrying a non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile that our engineers named Oreshnik. The tests were successful, achieving the intended objective of the launch. In the city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, one of the largest and most famous industrial complexes from the Soviet Union era, which continues to produce missiles and other armaments, was hit.

We are developing intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. We believe that the United States made a mistake by unilaterally destroying the INF Treaty in 2019 under far-fetched pretext. Today, the United States is not only producing such equipment, but, as we can see, it has worked out ways to deploy its advanced missile systems to different regions of the world, including Europe, during training exercises for its troops. Moreover, in the course of these exercises, they are conducting training for using them.

As a reminder, Russia has voluntarily and unilaterally committed not to deploy intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles until US weapons of this kind appear in any region of the world.

To reiterate, we are conducting combat tests of the Oreshnik missile system in response to NATO’s aggressive actions against Russia. Our decision on further deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles will depend on the actions of the United States and its satellites.

We will determine the targets during further tests of our advanced missile systems based on the threats to the security of the Russian Federation. We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities, and in case of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in mirror-like manner. I recommend that the ruling elites of the countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously consider this.

It goes without saying that when choosing, if necessary and as a retaliatory measure, targets to be hit by systems such as Oreshnik on Ukrainian territory, we will in advance suggest that civilians and citizens of friendly countries residing in those areas leave danger zones. We will do so for humanitarian reasons, openly and publicly, without fear of counter-moves coming from the enemy, who will also be receiving this information.

Why without fear? Because there are no means of countering such weapons today. Missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, which is 2.5 to 3 kilometres per second. Air defence systems currently available in the world and missile defence systems being created by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. It is impossible.

I would like to emphasise once again that it was not Russia, but the United States that destroyed the international security system and, by continuing to fight, cling to its hegemony, they are pushing the whole world into a global conflict.

We have always preferred and are ready now to resolve all disputes by peaceful means. But we are also ready for any turn of events.

If anyone still doubts this, make no mistake: there will always be a response.

Publication date:  November 21, 2024, 20:10

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*strikes inside Russia's pre-2014 borders

[visloka]

Uh-oh, here we go again:

"In the morning, an unidentified aerial object entered the airspace of the Republic of Poland from the side of the border with Ukraine, and from the moment it crossed the border until the signal disappeared, it was observed by the radars of the country's air defence system.

In accordance with applicable procedures, the operational commander of the armed forces mobilized the available forces and resources at his disposal."