Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Please don’t feed the bears.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

He really is that stupid.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Books are my comfort food!

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 806: The Russians Hammer Sumy Oblast

War for Ukraine Day 806: The Russians Hammer Sumy Oblast

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A painting by Ukrainian artist NEIVANMADE. The words "NEVER AGAIN" are repeated over and over, from left to right and top to bottom, in a faded, washed out black against a white background. Red, the color of blood, runs and drips down across 2/3rds of the painting. "WHILE YOU TOLERATE TYRANTS" is written/painted in the bottom white corner below the three rows of "NEVER AGAIN".

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

A few quick housekeeping notes. It has been a long week. Everyone is, I’m sure worn out. So far, Rosie seems to be tolerating her third chemo treatment much better than her first two. I want to thank everyone for the good thoughts, kind wishes, and prayers for her. Also, there was a misfire with the GoFundMe. Nothing involving what TaMara did, just some back end issues that have to be resolved. Which is why I asked TaMara to pull it down for now. She has and anyone that already donated will be getting a full refund. Thank you all so much, but for now it’s not going forward. Should we get the issues resolved, things change, and we put it back up, we’ll let everyone know. But I do want anyone who did donate and who is getting a refund to know that I appreciate what you did very, very, very much!

As I have been writing tonight’s update, so about the past 20 minutes – it’s now 6:50 PM EDT – the air raid alerts have begun to go up over Ukraine. When I started writing around 6:30 PM EDT, air raid alerts were up over Luhansk and Crimea, which is normal as they are always up over Luhansk and Crimea. They were also up over Mykolaiv and Odesa Oblasts. Over the past twenty minutes air raid alerts have gone up over Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk Oblasts.

It’s now 7:10 PM EDT and the air raid alerts for Sumy, Kharkiv, and Donetsk Oblasts have been taken down.

The Russians hammered Sumy Oblast again today. And by hammered, I mean attempted to pulverize!

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast 302 times in 60 separate attacks throughout the day, firing at 11 communities along the border on May 9, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported.

The communities of Bilopillia, Yunakivka, Khotin, Krasnopillia, Velyka Pysarivka, Shalyhyne, Novoslobidske, Seredyna-Buda, Esman, Myropillia, and Putyvl were targeted.

Throughout the day, Russia assailed the border communities with mortar, drone, rockets, and artillery attacks, while dropping explosives from drones onto two of the communities.

No casualties or injuries were reported.

The town of Velyka Pysarivka, located directly on Ukraine-Russia border, with a pre-war population of about 4,000 residents, experienced the bulk of the attacks reported with 67 explosions recorded in the area.

Given the town’s proximity to Russia, Velyka Pysarivka has become a main target of attack for Russia over recent months. Much of the community’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian attacks.

Russian strikes against Sumy Oblast have become increasingly destructive in recent months. Amid intensified attacks, Ukrainian authorities ordered increased evacuations from the region.

Shelling is a daily occurrence for the communities near Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia, with residents in the region’s vulnerable border settlements experience multiple attacks per day.

The Russians have not forgotten about and are not finished with Kharkiv:

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

This Day and Week Added Support to Our Warriors, State, Diplomacy, and the Peace Summit – Address by the President

9 May 2024 – 20:41

Dear Ukrainians!

The key points for today.

I held a meeting with the leadership of the Ukrainian Defense Forces: Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi, Chief of the General Staff Barhylevych, and Defense Minister Umerov. We discussed how to speed up the supply of weapons from our partners and how to act now, with the available forces and means, with the available weapons, to achieve the results we need. We see what the occupier is preparing for. There will be a response. And I thank all our soldiers and commanders, every unit that is effectively operating at the front and destroying the occupier. The Kraken unit of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine deserves special gratitude for its fighting these days. I am grateful to you, guys! And to everyone who gives Ukraine the result. The result we need so much. Today, I have also appointed Oleksandr Trepak as a new commander of the Special Operations Forces. He is a decent man, a strong warrior, a Hero of Ukraine.

The second for today. The visit of the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola to Ukraine. It is very symbolic that today, on Europe Day, our conversation with journalists was interrupted by an air raid alert. This is what the Russian Nazis want to replace life with, not just in Ukraine, but in our entire Europe, wherever their terrorist strikes reach. They will neither intimidate nor break Ukraine, nor will they break all those who bravely and resolutely help us defend life. Madam President of the European Parliament is exactly the kind of leader who has been with us since the first days of this war, and has always supported us as much as we need. Today, we discussed with Roberta what other political and defense steps are needed to ensure that we can truly withstand all the attacks and thwart Russia’s offensive and destabilization plans.

Today I would also like to thank all the participants of the Second Summit of Ukrainian and European Communities held here in Kyiv. The countries of the European Union, as well as the United States, were represented. It is very important that there are cooperation agreements between our communities and the communities and companies of partner countries: Germany, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Austria, Romania, and the United States. These include the development of healthcare in Ukraine, rehabilitation opportunities in our communities, as well as the development of transport, recovery. I am grateful to all the participants of the Summit – every community, every country that stands with Ukraine, filling each of the agreements reached with real cooperation.

And of course, there was a lot of international communication today. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel. Also, I have just spoken with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. We are actively preparing the next stage of rapprochement with the European Union for June – we anticipate the adoption of the negotiating framework and the actual start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession. Our country, our people deserve this. And the European Union needs this step not just politically, as it is the lifeblood of the European Union to be a European project that leaves no one outside the EU, no one who truly professes European values. And I was also pleased today to hear the full support of our European friends for the Peace Summit – I am grateful to every leader who has already confirmed their participation in the Summit and is willing to help us effectively in engaging leaders.

Today, in conversations, I personally invited the Presidents of Moldova, the Czech Republic and Ghana, as well as the Prime Minister of Ireland to the Summit. Of course, we also discussed our bilateral agenda. Moldova – we have obvious common challenges and help each other. The Czech Republic – I expressed my gratitude for the initiative on artillery, and the most important thing now is the full and immediate implementation of the initiative. Ghana – the world relies on the stability and development of Africa. We have recently opened an embassy in Ghana, and this country now has a new accredited ambassador in Kyiv. Together we can add more strength to our parts of the world. Ireland – I thanked them for their support of our state and people, I thanked them for the fact that Ireland is really trying to help us politically, and also in the protection of life – in the demining of our land. And this support will increase – more territory of Ukraine will be cleared of Russian mines and ordnance.

So, this day and this week added support to our warriors, our state, our diplomacy. and to the Peace Summit. Every day in the diplomatic marathon, we are making the Peace Summit and the approach of peace a reality. Thank you to all the leaders who help!

I thank everyone who defends Ukraine and life! I thank everyone who gives us strength!

Glory to Ukraine!

Two Ukrainian hydroelectric power plants will not be functioning due to damage caused by the Russian missile attack on May 8th – Ukrhydroenergo.

“To date, all hydro generation has suffered devastating damage. Destroyed equipment requires considerable efforts for repair and restoration, as well as significant financial resources,” Ukrhydroenergo added.

Never? Again.

 

The reason:

Germany:

⚡️Germany to buy 3 HIMARS for Ukraine.

Germany will buy three HIMARS multiple rocket launchers for Ukraine, the country’s defense minister announced on May 9. Speaking during a trip to Washington, Boris Pistorius said they would be purchased from the U.S. and handed over to Kyiv.

Washington, DC (sort of):

⚡️Bloomberg: Pentagon blocks Russian military from accessing Starlink in Ukraine.

The U.S. Pentagon is preventing the Russian military from using Starlink internet terminals operated on the battlefield in Ukraine, John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, said in an interview with Bloomberg on May 9.

https://kyivindependent.com/bloomberg-pentagon-blocks-russian-military-from-accessing-starlink-in-ukraine/

Frankly I’m amazed by this. Here are the details from The Kyiv Independent:

The U.S. Pentagon is preventing the Russian military from using Starlink internet terminals operated on the battlefield in Ukraine, John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, said in an interview with Bloomberg on May 9.

Starlink, recognized for its superior security compared to cellular or radio signals, is deemed crucial for Ukrainian operations. Last year, the Pentagon reached an agreement with SpaceX to financially support access for the Ukrainian military.

Earlier this year,  Ukraine’s military intelligence chief told the Wall Street Journal that Russian forces in Ukraine are using thousands of Starlink satellite communications terminals made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

According to Plumb, the U.S. has become “heavily involved in working with the government of Ukraine and SpaceX to counter Russian illicit use of Starlink terminals.”

Ukraine heavily depends on Starlink, having reported last year that approximately 42,000 terminals were in operation across the military, hospitals, businesses, and aid organizations.

“At this time we have successfully countered Russian use, but I am certain Russia will continue to try and find ways to exploit Starlink and other commercial communications systems,” Plumb said. “It will continue to be a problem, I think we’ve wrapped our heads around it and found good solutions with both Starlink and Ukraine.”

The American official did not specify what tactics are being used to block Russian access to Starlink terminals inside Ukraine.

Following the publication of Budanov’s interview with the WSJ, two Democrats in the U.S. Congress, Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, demanding information on Russia’s alleged usage of the Starlink satellite internet terminals.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said that Russia has allegedly been purchasing Starlink terminals from “Arab countries,” citing intercepted communications.

Elon Musk denied that SpaceX had sold Starlink units to Russia and said Starlink would not connect to any devices there.

Both military intelligence and media reports said that Russian forces connected Starlink in occupied Ukraine, not on Russian territory.

Plumb affirmed that SpaceX has become a “reliable partner” in Ukraine.

“To me, they’re a very reliable partner, and they are also ‘innovating at speed,’ providing services that are useful to the Defense Department.”

SpaceX began providing the Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Georgia:

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

The potential/expected Russian spring offensive:

Here are the details from The Economist: (emphasis mine)

“This used to be an old Soviet radio station, but we have gutted it and installed this equipment given to us by volunteers. We did it all ourselves,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Timchenko, commander of the air-defence unit, says proudly. Plots on the monitor show the flight paths of Russian jets, helicopters and missiles. Lines showing Smerch rockets travelling at 1,400kph (900mph) criss-cross the screen; one heads directly towards the hamlet, but passes overhead. A Russian warplane comes close to the front, releases its bomb and makes a u-turn. Less than a minute later the glide bomb (a regular bomb fitted with fins to greatly increase its range) disappears from the screen, exploding well inside Ukraine.

Colonel Timchenko’s air-defence unit cannot hit the Russian planes and has no way of intercepting glide bombs. Its job is to warn artillery units and mobile groups operating along the front. Hidden in the brush on a hill a few kilometres from the hamlet, three of the battalion’s 250 men huddle around a Strela-10, an old Soviet short-range mobile surface-to-air missile system. Designed to bring down nato planes, it now hunts Russian drones. In the eight months that Colonel Timchenko has been here his men have shot down 50.

Tall and composed, the commander is a Russian-speaker from Kharkiv. He has been fighting since February 2015, a year after Vladimir Putin first invaded Crimea and the eastern Donbas, supposedly to “save” Russian-speakers like him. The war, he says, is not about language, ethnicity or even territory, but a way of life. “I don’t want to be part of Russia. I don’t want to go to prison for expressing my opinions. I want my children to grow up in a normal country, maybe not a rich country, but a free country.” An avid reader of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, he does not want to live in a new “Gulag Archipelago”.

The purpose of the fighting around Chasiv Yar is not to retain every inch of land, but to prevent the Russian army from sweeping across the rest of Ukraine and taking its main cities, including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odessa and Kyiv. Similarly, Mr Putin is not interested in the Donbas for its territory; he is trying to subjugate Ukraine and end its quest to become part of the European order. Last week Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, told The Economist that this order could perish “much more quickly than we think”. Ukraine is where the fight is taking place.

A year ago, as Ukraine readied for its counter-offensive, just holding its own positions was considered the most pessimistic scenario. Now, as Russia prepares for a fresh push, it is considered the best case. From soldiers to generals, everyone The Economist spoke to over the past week knows that Ukraine lacks the resources to get back to its 1991 borders, as its politicians have promised. “I suggest to anyone who talks of 1991 borders to come as far as Bakhmut,” Colonel Timchenko says, referring to a town Ukraine lost a year ago after months of savage fighting.

At stake now is not Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but its survival. Slowing Russian forces in the Donbas is crucial. Colonel Pavlo Fedosenko, commander of the 92nd, who helped liberate Kharkiv province in September 2022, is now fighting some 350km south-east of the city. “Everyone knows that if we don’t fight for Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka [Russia’s probable next target], Russian forces will be in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih a few weeks later,” he says. He thinks there is a “70% chance” that Russia can occupy the rest of the Donbas region. The question is how long it might take, and how much damage Ukraine can inflict in the process.

Fearing escalation, the West has never given Ukraine all the weapons it needs. After a six-month gap in American supplies caused by Republican obstruction, it has enough ammunition to survive but not to defeat Russia’s forces. By the time a new American aid package was approved on April 24th, it was rationing ammunition. Colonel Fedosenko says he was down to five shells a day for his American Paladin howitzers. “What am I supposed to do with this number of shells? My men were fighting with spades in trenches.” He hopes the $61bn package’s effects will be felt in days, as many of the weapons have been pre-positioned in Poland.

Although Russia has the edge in shells and manpower, Colonel Fedosenko feels it may have reached its peak. Only a few weeks ago, he says, Russian infantry backed by ten to 20 armoured vehicles and tanks were launching assaults every two to three hours. Now they attack only every five days or so, using motorcycles and quad bikes to avoid kicking up dust and advancing in small groups to hunt for weak spots.

Some 70% of the Russian soldiers in such assaults are former convicts, says Colonel Fedosenko. He also sees Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Cuban and Somali mercenaries. Many soldiers have never been in combat before. “Our interceptions suggest they are scraping the barrel, using whoever they can force into battle—cooks, builders, mechanics, anyone.” He knows that many Russian soldiers have no choice. “Most of the prisoners I take are guys from small towns and villages. They tell us that either they get killed here or they get killed there if they run.” Some shoot themselves rather than surrender.

For now, however, Russian forces continue to advance. While Ukraine is not collapsing, it is losing about 20 sq km a week. Mr Putin may want to inflict maximum damage before nato’s 75th anniversary party in July, to humiliate the West and force Ukraine into negotiations. But since he has not advertised his fresh offensive he would not need to admit its failure either.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin is strangling Ukraine’s economy by knocking out much of its electricity generation and wearing down the civilian population by bombing cities. Kharkiv, which is already rationing electricity, is being hit by glide bombs almost daily. Yet the city of more than 1m people is keeping calm and carrying on. On a sunny afternoon last week, residents strolled through a park and attendants went on emptying rubbish bins, even as two glide bombs landed with huge explosions less than a kilometre away. Keeping the city functioning and clean is a way to stand up to destruction and chaos.

With around 50,000 fresh Russian troops gathering across the border some 40km away, Kharkiv’s commanders know they may be a target in Russia’s next push. One scenario would be to isolate the city by cutting the main road to Kyiv. Another would be to move some 10km closer, putting the city’s eastern outskirts within artillery range and creating a buffer zone to protect Belgorod, a Russian city that is being hit by Ukrainian drones.

Konstantin Nemichev is the commander of the famous Kraken regiment, a special-forces outfit formed in the early days of the invasion in 2022 that defended Kharkiv. He expects the enemy to attack the province again in mid-May, but reckons they will fail to get near the city. Interviewed outside a ruined school building in the east of town, the site of an intense firefight in 2022 in which invading soldiers were wiped out, the commander says the defence is much stronger now. It has three lines of fortifications and a full brigade to stop the Russians. “They can move a few kilometres into the province,” he says, “but I don’t think they can get as far as 10km.”

The Ukrainian armed forces know they have no choice but to fight on. “We can either fight for Ukraine against Russia, or we will be overrun and forced to fight for Russia against Europe,” says Oleg Tkach, a lieutenant colonel in the 3rd tank brigade, which defends the Kharkiv region. But this sense of urgency and existential threat, he says, needs to penetrate into the whole of Ukrainian society. “People need to know the truth,” he says. And Ukraine needs unity as it enters a new stage of conflict.

I want to reemphasize LTC Tkach’s assessment:

“We can either fight for Ukraine against Russia, or we will be overrun and forced to fight for Russia against Europe,” says Oleg Tkach, a lieutenant colonel in the 3rd tank brigade, which defends the Kharkiv region.

Those, as well as Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign state and Ukrainians existence as Ukrainians, are the stakes!

Professor Snyder has posted a new explainer of Russian propaganda. From the Thread Reader App:

Illustration of Russian propaganda for today. We are meant to be intimidated or exhilarated by the fantasy of bombing the Pentagon. 1/10Image
The message is that Russia always won, but the list of ostensible Russian victories on the poster tells a different story. 2/10 
It’s interesting that Russia here admits, as its Western friends sometimes deny, that Russia invaded Ukraine ten years ago. 3/10 
But that invasion has been no victory. The previous item, 1941–1945, was a Soviet victory with US economic support as part of a coalition. 4/10 
1812 was a victory of the Russian Empire over France as part of a coalition. 1609-1618 was the Time of Troubles (approximately) and the victory was keeping a Pole from the throne. 5/10 
1239-1480 was the period when the new city of Moscow was a vassal of the Mongols/Tatars, the time of its political formation. 6/10 
1242 marks the destruction of the medieval Kyivan state by Mongols. Russia did not exist then and no victory was won. 7/10 
The poster ignores completely famous Russian and Soviet defeats, such as the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, the Polish-Soviet War, and the Afghan invasion. 8/10

Russia has of course won many wars, but generally against peoples now subjugated and incorporated into the Russian Federation. 9/10 
Lessons for Victory Day: Russia distorts the past; Russia often loses wars; when Russia wins it is often thanks to international support; the current war started in 2014 and aims to destroy a people and add territory. 10/10 

Kyiv:

President Zelenskyy continues to shake up his senior national security team. From The Kyiv Independent:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the head of Ukraine’s State Security Administration (UDO), Serhii Rud, according to a presidential decree published on May 9.

The UDO’s main tasks include ensuring the security of the President of Ukraine and high-ranking officials of the state, as well as the protection of administrative buildings and objects of state authorities of Ukraine.

Rud’s dismissal comes shortly after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed to have uncovered a network of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were plotting to assassinate President Zelensky and other high-ranking officials in Ukraine. Two colonels of the UDO accused of leaking classified information to Russia were reportedly detained.

The FSB network aimed to find perpetrators among the military close to Zelensky’s security, “who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him.”

Just a few weeks before, SBU officials and Polish law enforcement worked to detain a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In late November, Zelensky said in an interview with The Sun that he had survived at least five assassination attempts since the start of Russia’s full-scale war.

The Ukrainian president issued several presidential decrees this week mandating changes in senior leadership across Ukraine’s government and military.

Dmytro Hereha was reappointed as the commander of Ukraine’s Support Forces, and Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, was formally dismissed from military service. Zaluzhnyi will now serve as Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.K.

Odesa:

The Zaporizhzhia front:

Mariuopol:

Russian sources are claiming the Mariupol strike was ATACMS:

 

 

Moscow:

Bashkhortostan, Russia:

A video of the drone attacking the plant in Russian Salavat, Bashkiria, appeared on Russian Telegram channels.

The person who is filming says the drone is very large.

It looks like the drone flew about 1,500 km before it reached its target and hit the oiloil catalytic cracking unit.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat is one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical production complexes in Russia. It specializes in the production of gasoline, diesel fuel, and other types of petroleum products.

 

/6. According to Russian media Baza:

“the drone hit the catalytic cracking unit at about one o’clock in the afternoon, local time. Afterwards, employees of the enterprise heard a bang and saw smoke in the area of ​​the Southern entrance. The fire was small, so workers were not evacuated; the plant is operating normally.

According to the head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, emergency services and heads of law enforcement agencies are now working on the spot. Preliminary, no one was hurt.”

 

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia:

That’s enough for tonight!

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets today. Here is some adjacent material from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense:

And a new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

:( #песпатрон

♬ original sound – Raihann

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

10Comments

  3. 3.

    japa21

    Thanks, Adam, and good to hear the good news about Rosie.
    Elon is probably not happy about the Starlink news. Screw him.
    And I haven’t heard any more complaints about Ukraine striking the oil facilities.
    Very mixed news, overall, which is better than all bad news.
    I wonder how much money Russia is spending trying to get Zelensky killed. I don’t think it would have the impact they think it would if they succeeded.

  4. 4.

    Gin & Tonic

    Here’s a complete list of countries that sent delegations to the Victory Day parade in Moscow: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau and Laos. Russian soft power doesn’t seem very powerful.

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Gin & Tonic: Damn, I remember one year the US Army participated in the Victory Day Parade.

    I am a little disappointed that, despite the fairly obvious signals of discomfiture & suspicion the Central Asian Republics have been sending since the current invasion of Ukraine, they are still participating in the Victory Day parade. Of course, together the CARs  form one of the main corridors for goods to enter Russia. Exports from most EU countries to the CARs shot up by an order of magnitude since Feb. 2022, it is not a mystery what is the final destination. As the PRC’s exports to Russia declined in Mar. & Apr. 2024, likely due to concerns of US sanctions on banks supporting the financial transactions for these exports, the PRC’s exports to the CARs have correspondingly expanded.

  9. 9.

    daveNYC

    @Gin & Tonic: Bit of a no brainer.  Putin isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and like a lot of dictators he’s gone with ‘you’re either with me or against me’… and everyone knows what being against him gets them.

  10. 10.

    wjca

    @Bill Arnold: Since nobody has mentioned it yet, a lonely T-34 in the Russian Victory Day nationalism-fest, again.

    Perhaps Putin was worried that the Ukranians might take out a tank in mid-parade.**  Seriously embarrassing if it happened, but nobody is going to waste a long range drone on a relic.

    ** Yes, I know Moscow has extra good anti-aircraft defenses.  But still.

Comments are closed.