Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
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Elon Musk Moves Against the Russians in Ukraine
Russian forces falter as the world’s richest man intervenes in the war once again.
By Simon Shuster | February 27, 2026, 7 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/02/elon-musk-ukrain
e-russia-starlink/686155/
On a frigid day late last month, a Russian attack drone slipped through Ukraine’s air-defense systems and glided into Kyiv’s government district, heading in the direction of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office. The drone flew so low that officials inside the Cabinet of Ministers building could see it passing beneath them from their windows on the seventh floor. “A bunch of people saw it and were running around, like, ‘What the fuck was that?’” one government official recalled.
The drone, later identified as a Russian BM-35, caused minor damage when it crashed into a nearby building, injuring no one, the official said on the condition of anonymity. But the incident, which has not been previously reported, set in motion a chain of events that would allow Ukraine to seize the momentum at the front with the help of an unlikely ally: Elon Musk.
Since the start of the Russian invasion four years ago, Musk has played an outsize role in determining the course of the war. His high-speed internet service, Starlink, uses portable satellite dishes to create a Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world, and it has allowed both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries to stay online in the war zone, coordinate troop movements, and navigate drones. No other system can match the reach and reliability of Starlink, which runs on the world’s largest constellation of satellites. Musk has occasionally used that system in ways that have helped one side of the war or the other.
In the fall of 2022, Musk intervened to limit the use of Starlink in Ukraine in a way that senior officers in Kyiv perceived as a service to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He argued that he wanted only to avoid an escalation that would provoke the Kremlin to use nuclear weapons. This time, his actions have worked in Ukraine’s favor, helping its troops break through Russia’s defensive lines in one small but significant section of the front. The reasoning behind Musk’s recent decision to limit Russian access to his technology remains unclear, and he did not respond to numerous requests for comment. The move to back Ukraine seems out of character for Musk, who has tended to follow his ally Donald Trump in advocating for a swift end to the war even if it forces Ukraine to grant painful concessions to the Russians. Whatever caused Musk’s apparent change of heart, the authorities in Kyiv are grateful for it.
Soon after the drone incursion in central Kyiv last month, Ukrainian officials appealed directly to Musk for help. The newly appointed minister of defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, presented Musk with evidence of Russian forces using Starlink to operate their long-range drones, including the one that breached Ukraine’s most sensitive airspace. Fedorov wrote on X (which Musk also owns) on January 29: “Western technologies must continue to support the democratic world and protect civilians—not be used for terror and the destruction of peaceful cities.”
In a series of talks with Musk and his team, the Ukrainians offered a plan to block the Russians from using Starlink. According to several government and military sources familiar with the plan’s implementation, its first phase took effect in the last days of January, severely curtailing the ability of both warring sides to use Starlink for their attack drones. SpaceX, the company that operates the Starlink network, then developed a whitelist of Ukrainian users—and shut off access for the Russians. (The company did not respond to requests for comment.)
“The whitelist was created, software-wise, in, like, one day,” a person familiar with the implementation of the plan told me. The SpaceX team behind it received clear instructions from its bosses: “‘No limits. Take off the gloves; use Starlink for anything to help Ukraine.’” Even inside the
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_______ Enter who gives a fuck emoji here.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick. 
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THGR, SECOND... I'm not arguing with hopium and bullshit bc it's impossible to argue with stupid. Either Russia will win, or it won't. I don't expect it to be soon, but I'm certain it will happen, and if it does all your outbursts and psyops will have been for nothing.
And to reiterate what I posted a long time ago: If anyone reaches for nukes first, it'll be the west.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Russia declares large-scale alert for first time during war: What is known
Fri, February 27, 2026 - 21:30
Author: Kateryna Shkarlat
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-declares-large-scale-alert-for-
first-1772220647.html
For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has announced a large-scale missile threat affecting at least 13 regions of the country simultaneously, according to a statement from Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO). https://t.me/akovalenko1989/10458
According to Kovalenko, authorities in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Udmurtia, as well as several regions — Samara, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Saratov, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Rostov, and Kursk — were warned about a possible missile attack. In addition, the alert was issued in Perm Krai.
He emphasized the unprecedented nature of this event for the aggressor country.
"In 13 regions of the Russian Federation, a missile threat was announced simultaneously. In eight of them, this happened for the first time since the beginning of the war," said the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Details of the incident
Kovalenko noted that most of the mentioned regions do not border Ukraine and are located deep within Russian territory.
The situation caused significant attention because it covered a vast area at once, forcing local authorities to respond to a potential threat from the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
Attacks deep inside Russia
Recently, Russian territory has increasingly become the target of drone attacks, striking sites far from the front line. In particular, SBU drones attacked facilities in Tatarstan located more than 1,200 km from the border.
Moreover, following a successful operation by Ukrainian special services in the same region, a key oil refining unit caught fire in Tatarstan, causing significant damage to the aggressor country’s energy sector.
Earlier, "unknown Shaheds" in Tatarstan also disrupted Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) celebrations, forcing local authorities to introduce emergency security measures.
In addition to remote regions, enterprises in central Russia have also come under attack.
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/drones-attack-chemical-plant-in-russia
-s-1772011862.html
Recently, drones targeted a chemical plant in the Smolensk region that is involved in Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Despite a systematic Ukrainian drone strike campaign leaving hundreds of thousands of unlucky Russian citizens living in the city of Belgorod in cold and dark apartments for weeks, Kremlin-controlled media have barely noticed, mostly reporting that the robot aircraft swarms were all shot down.
Russian mainstream information platforms like TASS, RIA Novosti, and RT have not just downplayed blackouts and heating plant damage and mass evacuations from thousands of homes following repeated Ukrainian attacks on the city of 300,000 some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ukraine’s northeastern border, but effectively ignored them.
The most recent major Ukrainian attack on Belgorod’s power grid and public heating infrastructure hit overnight on Feb. 22-23.
Breaking through air defenses, a mixed strike package of drones and missiles scored hits on the city’s Frunzenskaya power substation near Dragunskoye village, and the Belgorod Combined Heat and Power Plant, based on eyewitness videos and independent local channels showing explosions and fires at those locations.
The independent Belgorod news platform Pepel_Belgorod reported on the Ukrainian robot aircraft squadrons’ progress in near real-time. Air raid warnings went into effect at 9 p.m., and air defenses opened fire about 11 p.m. Shortly before midnight, at least one missile – most reports said two or more – hit the Belgorod power substation, instantaneously blacking out about half of the city.
By the time the all-clear was called, at about 2 a.m., fires were burning at both the city heating plant and at locations where shot-down drones had struck homes or businesses, and the blackout had spread to encompass almost all of Belgorod, save a few government buildings with generators. Six people were reported injured.
By mid-morning, geolocated images emerged of smaller substations across the city still burning from the overnight strikes. Social media users – in violation of Russian law banning posting of such things on the internet – uploaded images of the entire front facade of the six-story Ministry of Agriculture local branch office, unfortunately located adjacent to one of the city’s sub-stations, blackened by explosions and with all its windows blown out. Chunks of drones or pieces of falling missiles – whether Ukrainian or Russian wasn’t clear – struck and damaged the main cupola of Belgorod’s Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov, and Their Mother Sophia, an official statement said.
Other independent news and social media reports chronicled falling Ukrainian weapons or Russian anti-aircraft missiles, or their debris, hitting apartment high-rises, automobiles, and office buildings. Some debris scattered 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) or more, official reports said, to break windows and even automobile windshields in the villages Dubovoe, Nikolskoe and Tavrovo.
A Monday statement from Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) took credit for the attacks and damage caused and declared the strikes “effective.” A Russian Defense Ministry statement, without admitting any Ukrainian hits on anything, announced air defense forces had shot down 65 violators of the Russian Federation’s airspace above Belgorod, which were close to half of the 152 Ukrainian incoming drones or missiles claimed destroyed that day by Russian armed forces.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, in an official statement, described the night’s battles as a “massive” attack causing “serious damage to energy infrastructure,” and said blackouts and heating outages would affect homes of “some residents” in the city and district.
The wooden Church of the Holy Martyrs thankfully was not set on fire, but within Belgorod city, 8 multi-story buildings, 2 private homes, 38 cars, a social facility, and 3 commercial properties were damaged, Gladkov said in a midday update to Belgorod citizens that did not, however, mention the blasts and their effect on the Ministry of Agriculture building. Gladkov and other officials did not state publicly what percentage of Belgorod city was blacked out,
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:This thread works fine
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
You may need to start a new thread here SOCOND?
T
Agreed. No reason to split this up into 10 other threads when we can keep all of your embarrassing post history on this topic right here.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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America is bombing the shit out of Iran and Russia is helpless to intervein.
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be Russia's friend is fatal."
THG
T
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Quote:We've overestimated Russia for too long
Originally posted by THG:
America is bombing the shit out of Iran and Russia is helpless to intervein.
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be Russia's friend is fatal."
THG
T
By Casey Michel | February 27, 2026 10:10 PM
https://kyivindependent.com/weve-overestimated-russia-for-too-long/
The recent anniversary of Russia's expanded invasion, which is now stretching into its fifth year, is as good a time as any to take stock of the state of the war itself.
For Ukraine, the fighting remains existential, and it is Ukrainians themselves who continue to suffer and to sacrifice not just on behalf of their own defense, but on behalf of broader stability in Europe. Somehow, though, many Western partners still fail to see one clear fact: that it is Russia, and not Ukraine, who has suffered a staggering strategic failure because of this war.
This perception is perhaps understandable. The steady, day-to-day drip of news from the front line paints a picture of a war of attrition, with a larger Russia and its supposed manpower reserves at a natural advantage.
But this daily snapshot masks a far broader, far more striking reality, which observers in Washington (and elsewhere) would do well to recognize.
Not only has Ukraine seen a remarkable string of strategic successes — whether in assuring Ukrainian sovereignty and nationhood, or in creating the most innovative and most lethal military force in Europe — but it is instead Russia that has seen a breathtaking, even historic string of strategic defeats.
Indeed, it's not too much to argue that Russia's invasion, and especially its most recent offensive campaign beginning in 2024, deserves a place among the most blinkered, most disastrous military efforts not just of the past decade, but even of the past century.
Start at the top-level. At the outset of the war, Putin laid out a series of strategic goals, ranging from "denazifying Ukraine" to returning Ukraine to its place as a subaltern for Russia. As a now-infamous article in the state outlet RIA Novosti wrote, Ukraine "will be reorganized, re-established and returned to its natural state as part of the Russian world."
These goals are no closer to fruition now than they were four years ago. If anything, they are far further than they've perhaps ever been.
Not only has Russia's invasion consolidated Ukrainian nationhood, but it has revealed to outside observers that the claims of some kind of inseparable "brotherhood" between Ukraine and Russia were always a falsity, a fiction of Russian propaganda excusing Russian brutality, Russian revanchism, and Russian colonialism.
After it became clear that Russia's initial goals would fail, Putin pivoted.
Following its initial failure, Moscow restructured its aims to focus on conquering the Donbas and all of the four Ukrainian oblasts that Putin claimed to annex in 2022. Leaning further into claims of Russia's "historic right" to control the region — and that the war was, in reality, simply about protecting the ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in the region — Moscow launched an ongoing offensive dedicated to snatching Ukraine's easternmost provinces, regardless of the cost.
Yet even then, such an offensive has been nothing short of a strategic calamity, on par not only with the failures of Russia's initial campaign in 2022, but even on par with things like Saddam Hussein's bungled 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the disastrous French attempts to retain sovereignty over Algeria in 1950s, or even Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
It has been, as analyst Lawrence Freedman recently said, a "massive failure," a rolling catastrophe whose contours still aren't fully appreciated.
Pick a
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The Economist highlighted the battlefield as Putin's primary problem. During World War II, the Red Army advanced 1,600 kilometers from Moscow to Berlin. In contrast, since 2022, enemy forces in Donetsk Oblast have advanced only 60 kilometers.
https://english.nv.ua/nation/putin-fears-peace-will-collapse-the-russi
an-regime-50585593.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Western analysts say Russia is on track to losing 50,000 soldiers a month. A Meduza investigation suggests those estimates are based on manipulated data.
6:06 pm, February 24, 2026
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/02/25/western-analysts-say-russia-is
-losing-50-000-soldiers-a-month-a-meduza-investigation-suggests-those-estimates-are-based-on-manipulated-data
Strip out the retroactive missing-persons reclassifications and correct for the improved database coverage, and current Russian battlefield deaths likely do not exceed 600 per day. Adding the severely wounded who cannot return to service brings total irreversible losses to roughly 900 per day — about 27,000 per month. That is barely half of Zelensky’s target, and it is probably not rising fast enough to force a strategic crisis on the Russian side in the near term.
The broader lesson of this analysis is not simply that one set of numbers is wrong. Rather, the methodology underlying many published Western estimates has a structural flaw: it applies a multiplier derived from historical data to a database that the Russian state is now actively manipulating. As Moscow has grown more systematic about processing its missing soldiers, the raw inputs feeding Western casualty models have become less reliable, not more. The apparent spike in Russian deaths through 2025 is, in large part, a data artifact, and the strategic conclusions analysts are drawing from it deserve serious scrutiny.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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