Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
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'There will be no popular solutions,' military ombudsman says of mobilization reform
by Francis Farrell | April 6, 2026 6:36 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/there-will-be-no-popular-decisions-militar
y-ombudsman-says-on-needed-mobilization-reforms/
Ukraine is studying the feasibility of introducing fixed terms of service for its soldiers, but such changes won't be possible without strengthening mobilization, military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova has said.
Reshetylova's comments, published on April 6 in an interview with RBC Ukraine recorded on March 24, come as the Defense Ministry under new minister Mykhailo Fedorov has sought to address problems with Ukraine's increasingly unpopular forced mobilization process while also creating mechanisms to clarify when soldiers can be discharged. https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/treba-porahuvati-skilki-nam-koshtue-neyaki
sna-1775318165.html
Reshetylova said the relationship between mobilization and fixed terms of service is such that addressing one will likely only exacerbate the other. In practice, that means any move to guarantee soldiers a discharge date would require enough new recruits to replace those leaving the ranks.
"You can't expect fixed terms of service without strengthening mobilization," she said.
"There will be no popular solutions here. Obviously, they will be unpopular, and society should be ready for that."
According to the ombudsman, cracking down on illegal and corrupt methods of avoiding service is a priority, after which reforms can be made to the rules on AWOL cases and desertion.
Another major problem was low-quality mobilization, Reshetylova said, citing the case of one unnamed unit, where more than 2,000 of the newly mobilized troops it received were found to be legally unfit for service in the first place.
"We need to calculate how much low-quality mobilization costs us," she said.
"When a man has a legal right to deferment or obvious health problems, but he is mobilized, resources are spent on him, at least for his provision."
The military ombudsman's position was established in 2025 by President Zelensky to provide civilian oversight of the rights of those serving in the military, at a time when more and more attention has been paid to violations of these rights.
Reforming mobilization and AWOL/desertion regulations has also been a stated priority of Fedorov, who has also announced a broad audit of the defense ministry, including battlefield losses.
Even as Russia's full-scale war enters its fifth year, active service members — mobilized or volunteers — are expected by law to serve until the end of martial law is announced.
Three-year standard terms of service were initially slated to be part of a larger mobilization reform bill in 2024, but the clause was omitted upon request by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrksyi before the bill was passed by parliament.
Meanwhile, although a minority of Ukrainians support handing over new territory to Russia in exchange for a promised peace deal, the tension in society caused by the sustained pressure of forced mobilization is slowly growing, with attacks against draft officers increasing in frequency.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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A Ukrainian Assault Group Led By An M-1 Tank Was Micromanaged To Death
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Sirskyi directly oversees reckless assault units
It is Sirskyi who has dragged the Ukrainian Army back toward Soviet-style warfare, who has elevated loyalty above competence, and who has cultivated an increasingly authoritarian atmosphere within the Armed Forces. The cycle of costly assaults to retake overrun positions, packaged into tidy reports bound for President Zelenskyy’s desk, has been a recognizable pattern since the defense of Bakhmut in 2022.
The 425th Assault Regiment’s costly mechanized assault along a notorious road of death northwest of the ruins of Pokrovsk wasn’t really the fault of the 425th Assault Regiment, according to Militaryland, which closely tracks the Ukrainian ground forces.
No, it’s fault of Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Sirskyi, to whom Ukraine’s assault units are directly answerable. “He micromanages these units, and it is entirely plausible—likely, even—that the order for this attack came from him personally,” Militaryland wrote.
https://militaryland.net/article/425th-regiments-costly-counterattack-
near-pokrovsk/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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“War Doesn’t Win Itself”: An Exclusive Look Inside Ukraine’s Transforming 51-Day Boot Camp
“People are afraid of the unknown,” says Mykhailo. His job is to turn civilians into soldiers in under two months. That training is now evolving — shifting toward more tech, simulators, and underground facilities to prepare recruits for drone warfare.
Apr 06, 2026 17:59
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/war-doesnt-win-itself-an-excl
usive-look-inside-ukraines-transforming-51-day-boot-camp-17627
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are in the midst of rebuilding their basic training system.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine’s deep-strike drone program has one bottleneck: jet engine made by three European companies
Europe makes 200 a month. Ukraine needs thousands per month to bleed Russia to death.
By Olena Mukhina | April 7, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/07/ukraines-deep-strike-drone-prog
ram-has-one-bottleneck-tiny-jet-engine-made-by-three-european-companies/
The scarcity of mini-engines limits drone production, posing a significant bottleneck for the country’s missile program.
Drones powered by mini-turbojets are faster than propeller-driven models and significantly cheaper than cruise missiles.
This enables Ukraine to conduct precision strikes in the enemy's rear, competing with advanced Russian systems such as the Geran-5.
"Europe has a massive bottleneck in mini-jet engine production," said Fabian Hoffmann, senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defense University College.
ZofiTech reportedly supplies nearly all of the roughly 200 engines produced each month, with demand expected to reach thousands in the coming months.
Several Ukrainian drone manufacturers are developing their own engines to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, but production volumes remain limited. Engineers are also testing a low-cost Grim-17 pulsejet engine for interceptor drones, unveiled in December last year.
However, Estonian defense investor Ragnar Sass notes that these domestic efforts are still “a drop in the ocean” compared to Ukraine’s needs.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukrainian Soldiers Are Dropping BOMBS Like PIZZA DELIVERIES… Russia Can't Handle It
Apr 4, 2026
Two men sit in an office in Ukraine, sipping drinks, scrolling task lists, and occasionally stepping out for a smoke. They’re not coders—they’re drone pilots, striking Russian targets from hundreds of miles away. With Starlink, thermal cameras, and a gamified system rewarding kills, Ukraine has turned warfare into a remote, high-tech operation. Tanks and artillery can’t match it. This is the future of combat, already here, and it’s changing everything.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Despite hype, Ukraine’s drone makers decry unclear path to Europe-based defense production
By Kollen Post | April 8, 2026 6:49 PM
https://kyivindependent.com/are-ukrainian-drone-makers-finally-setting
-up-shop-in-european-factories/
Ukraine last week welcomed the first fruits of a much-touted deal to build Ukrainian weapons in the safety of factories on European Union soil.
Ukrainian Frontline Robotics and Germany's Quantum Systems delivered to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry the first batch of a planned 10,000 small copter-bomber drones built in Germany through a joint venture on April 1.
It’s the first public shipment of weaponry to reach Ukraine from a series of deals under a Build with Ukraine initiative, a Ukrainian government program to launch joint production lines for Ukrainian weapons in European partner states announced last summer.
That initiative promised to create a streamlined process to interlink Ukrainian and European drone industries, which Ukraine is looking to as a pillar of its postwar security and economy.
Dogged by shake-ups in the Ukrainian government over the past year, Build with Ukraine has yet to manifest into a proper cohesive program. But demand is surging for Ukrainian drones, as the war on Iran highlighted both the importance of unmanned vehicles and the U.S.'s unreliability as a guarantor of Europe's security. Ukrainian companies, their European counterparts, and EU nations intent on building local drone industries with Ukrainian engineers are pushing to finalize a broad range of deals.
"We’re trying to work this out but right now there’s no clear roadmap," said one Ukrainian interceptor maker who asked not to be named for fear of undoing negotiations to build in the EU. The main obstacle, they said, was securing Ukrainian government clearance to move production to the EU.
The Frontline-Quantum joint venture offers the clearest guidance to date on how to cut through what remains a jumble of regulations for drone makers looking to go international.
Westward migration
The partnership worked in part because Quantum was already deeply embedded in Ukraine. It was among the first Western drone companies to set up full-time operations in Ukraine at the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The firm went on to build the first factory of any Western drone company on the ground in Ukraine, starting with an R&D center announced in December 2023 and expanding to production in April 2024.
"You need to have a reliable partner who you’ve spent a decent amount of time with," Mykyta Rozhkov, head of business development for Frontline Robotics, told the Kyiv Independent.
The financial relationship between the two formally started with an $800,000 investment from Quantum into Frontline last July. The two subsequently created a joint venture, with the blessing and financial backing of the German Defense Ministry. The current production in Germany depends on buying key components from within Ukraine, Rozhkov said, financing not just Frontline Robotics, but also Ukraine-based drone component producers.
“The liberalization of exports is a big chance for Ukraine’s defense industry to take its place in the global defense-industrial complex.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky and then-Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin initially announced the legal frameworks for Build with Ukraine in early July.
While light on details, the intention was to expand European financing for Ukrainian weapons makers and Ukraine’s footprint on European defense. Critically, the framework offered Ukrainian producers sanctuary at a time when Russia was hunting for them.
"The situation escalated in the spring and summer of 2025," said Rozhkov. "There was an active strike campaign against industry and industrial buildings and production. There was a strike next to one of our facilities."
Frontline approached Quantum Systems with its idea to build in Germany that August, Rozhkov explained.
The Build with Ukraine deal
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Simple math: Putin risks losing over 2 million soldiers taking the rest of Donetsk
By Jens Asbjørn Bøgen | April 9, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/news/simple-math-putin-risks-losing-over-2-mill
ion-soldiers-taking-the-rest-of-donetsk
The region remains heavily defended, with an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 square kilometres still outside Russian control.
If you multiply those numbers by the 316 soldiers lost per square kilometre, the losses would amount to between 1.9 and 2.2 million.
Note that this, of course, is a simplified method of calculating the estimated Russian losses in taking the rest of Donetsk, but it still gives a clear picture of how much Russian forces are struggling to gain ground.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine may have modern RBS-15 anti-ship missiles, expert says
April 9, 2026, 03:57 PM
https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/ukraine-may-have-modern-rbs-15-missi
les-50599132.html
Ukraine may have received Mk. III or Mk. IV variants of Swedish RBS-15 anti-ship missiles, Valeriy Romanenko, senior research fellow at the State Aviation Museum, told NV Radio on April 9.
Romanenko was commenting on Ukraine’s recent strike targeting the Sivash drilling rig in the Black Sea, which would have beyond the range of older RBS-15 models Kyiv previously received from partners.
“A video surfaced showing a typical launcher and the flashes from a rocket engine. Observers identified it as a launcher for the Swedish RBS-15 anti-ship system,” he said.
He added it is impossible to determine the missile variant from the nighttime footage, but the weapon appears relatively modern. The distance to the drilling rig exceeded RBS-15’s baseline 70 kilometers range.
“Most likely we received Mk. III or Mk. IV, which have ranges of about 200 and 300 kilometers. We have new capabilities. With a 200-kilometer range, these launchers can gradually be aimed at targets in Crimea. Coastal targets in Crimea that are struck by anti-ship missiles are a specific case — their guidance is radar-based. But I think there are interesting targets along Crimea’s coast that could be engaged,” Romanenko said.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Civilian casualties double in Ukraine amid escalating short-range drone attacks, UN says
by Kateryna Denisova | April 11, 2026 12:50 pm
https://kyivindependent.com/march-saw-un-says/
Civilian casualties in Ukraine spiked by nearly 49% in March compared to February, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported on April 10.
According to the report, at least 211 people were killed in March, and 1,206 were injured.
https://ukraine.ohchr.org/en/In-Ukraine-Short-Range-Drones-Were-the-De
adliest-Weapon-for-Civilians-in-March-UN-Human-Rights-Monitors-Say
The highest number of deaths in March resulted from short-range drone attacks, which killed 66 people.
The figures underscore Russia's intensifying attacks despite U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal, with Moscow continuing to push its maximalist demands on Ukraine for the surrender of the embattled Donbas.
Danielle Bell, the head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said that front-line areas are "extremely dangerous" for civilians largely due to short-range drones, with half of those killed in these regions last month being elderly.
"Some were struck with drones while walking to collect their pensions or working in their gardens, in other words, while they tried to carry on with their everyday lives," Bell said.
Local authorities in regions bordering Russia or located near the frontline provide daily reports of Russian FPV (first-person view) drones killing and injuring civilians.
In 2025, the number of casualties more than doubled compared to 2024, with 580 deaths compared to 226, and 3,295 injuries versus 1,528, according to the report.
In March of this year, the numbers increased again, by around 70% compared to March 2025.
The U.N. has documented over 15,500 civilians killed and more than 43,300 injured during the full-scale war, though the real figure is likely much higher as Russia prevents independent monitoring in some of the most war-affected regions.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Ukraine tips drone war in its favor
By Igor Kossov
11/04/2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/11/ukraine-tips-drone-war-in-its-f
avor/
According to open source analyst Dnipro OSINT, writing for Oboronka, this trend has also been building up since a year ago, when Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) posted the first video of its Spectre unit hitting 21 military assets in Crimea, most of which were air defenses.
Analyzing videos of 365 strikes over the past year, Dnipro OSINT concluded that mid-range drone strikes hit everything: deployment points, HQs, repair bases, ships, warehouses, aircraft, and so on. "But Ukrainian operators seem to be focusing most on air defense – almost half of the strikes hit Russian radar stations, launchers, and other elements of the air defense system."
Analyst Mykola Bielieskov noted that this methodical dismantling of air defenses in occupied Ukraine cuts corridors for longer-range drones to fly into Russia and hit its oil and manufacturing plants.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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