The only thing that makes sense to me is the broader implications. Their tech is t as good as expected, the west seems to have intel on when and where they are flying, and has the ability to efficiently knock them out of the sky. That would be kinda terrifying.
Except for Russia's' nukes it is clear that the west would clean their clock in a conventional war. (and they know it)
Given the level of success that Russian technology has experienced lately, the success of their nukes might be below the 50% level, but unfortunately that is still too high.
I want to caveat with a conventional war on foreign soil, which is what Ukraine is. I say nothing for how Russia would turn out if they were truly fighting for their homes.
If Ukraine can start doing this (shooting down multiple aircraft) routinely, Russia is in big trouble. They won't want to go up in the air to release those glide bombs that they have been unleashing on Ukraine. The glide bombs are actually the one weapon that Russia has that is actually working moderately well for them in this war.
More on Ukraine's "fluke" shoot-down of the Kinzhal KH-47 Dagger missile. It may not have been a fluke, because Ukraine just shot down six more. The Ukrainian missile operator said "And I didn't even break a sweat." Humiliation for Putin’s ‘Unstoppable’ Superweapons Blasted Out of Sky by U.S. Defense System (yahoo.com) There is speculation that one Patriot battery may have a small dent in an auxiliary unit, so Russia can at least cling to that. Ouch.
One author thinks that Putin might just declare victory and call it a day. In hunting for an exit from Ukraine, Putin might just pretend Russia won (yahoo.com) I think this is unlikely. Russia has lost too many people to exit this war with nothing besides a few thousand dishwashers and clothes washing machines to claim for it. No one would believe that Russia "won" this war, even though they wouldn't be allowed to say the truth out loud. And the damage to the economy and international relations has been too severe to claim any kind of victory with a straight face. If Putin surrenders Ukraine at this point with nothing significant to show for it, he's a dead man. He might as well install a balcony on his dacha.
no idea if it was all patriot though, mihgt have been some israeli intercept systems they provided or a combination of multiple systems. either way, glad to see it. hopefully they can provide similar results for ammo dumps. lost two big ones in the last two weeks to coordinated attacks that overwhelmed the defenses. Also need something to share with them ships being used as launch platforms. Not sure what we have that could reach that far but it needs to be deployed and neutralize those launch platforms
The Stans (central Asian countries) are getting a big boost to their economy from Russians escaping from the War in Ukraine and taking their wealth with them. Putin’s War Boosts Central Asian Economies as Russians Relocate (yahoo.com)
Russia lost most of its best pilots in the war against Ukraine, and is having trouble training new pilots to capably take their place. After losing its best pilots in Ukraine, Russia training new ones, but not nearly as good, air force says (yahoo.com)
Apparently, China's peace plan for Ukraine involves Russian troops staying in Ukraine. Hungary now supports China's surrender plan for Ukraine. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó goes to China to discuss ‘peace plan’ for Russia and Ukraine (yahoo.com) Hungary, you should probably worry about damage to the European-Hungary relationships from your idiocy.
Who knew that getting Russian government officials and military officers to spy on Russia was this easy? The CIA runs ads in Telegram in Russia to persuade people to become spies, and it's working extremely well. The CIA launched a Telegram channel to get Russians to spy for them, with one former spook saying now is 'probably the best period of recruiting Russians that we've had' (yahoo.com)
G8tr - What about MANPADS (MPADS)? I was thinking they could have been used by courageous Ukranians slipping across the border?
Yeah, I wondered about that. Wonder what they could do with the good stuff. That thought has got to give the Kremlin pause.
