Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 21:09
VIEWED: 562266
PAGE 1015 of 1104
Magyar said the Standard 10 formula is a target efficiency benchmark under which each attack UAV crew in Ukraine's defence forces would aim to kill 10 Russian soldiers per month.
According to Magyar, the current average performance of a single attack UAV crew is about 3 Russian soldiers killed per month. However, he said there is significant room for improvement, as similar crews within the Unmanned Systems Forces record an average of 15.2 Russian troops killed per month.
For example, this figure stands at 22.3 Russian soldiers killed per crew in the Phoenix unit from Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, while it stands at 30.6 in the Magyar's Birds unit – Ukraine's 414th Brigade.
Quote: "If most crews reach 10 confirmed hits per month, we will be killing twice as many as Russia can mobilise. In a few months, they will be overwhelmed."
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/05/14/8034620/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Magyar said the Standard 10 formula is a target efficiency benchmark under which each attack UAV crew in Ukraine's defence forces would aim to kill 10 Russian soldiers per month.
According to Magyar, the current average performance of a single attack UAV crew is about 3 Russian soldiers killed per month. However, he said there is significant room for improvement, as similar crews within the Unmanned Systems Forces record an average of 15.2 Russian troops killed per month.
For example, this figure stands at 22.3 Russian soldiers killed per crew in the Phoenix unit from Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, while it stands at 30.6 in the Magyar's Birds unit – Ukraine's 414th Brigade.
Quote: "If most crews reach 10 confirmed hits per month, we will be killing twice as many as Russia can mobilise. In a few months, they will be overwhelmed."
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/05/14/8034620/
So.
Ukraine is currently NOT killing more Russians than are being recruited.
And the Russian army, instead of being on the ropes, is currently getting stronger every day instead of weaker.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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[The Wall Street Journal made this sniper famous. Years later, it reinterviews him, learning that technology has made his skill obsolete. Now, anyone can do what he did]
In Ukraine, Snipers Give Way to Drones
By Alistair MacDonald and Ievgeniia Sivorka | May 14, 2026
https://www.magzter.com/stories/newspaper/The-Wall-Street-Journal/IN-U
KRAINE-SNIPERS-GIVE-WAY-TO-DRONES
A Ukrainian special-forces sniper claimed a world record in late 2023 with a shot that hit a Russian officer almost 2.5 miles away.
These days Vyacheslav Kovalskiy has a new job: supporting drone pilots. He hasn’t been out to shoot in more than a year and a half.
Small drones that are cheap and can be rigged with explosives have changed the face of warfare in Ukraine, pushing some military roles down the billing. Spotters who call in artillery strikes are no longer needed. Tank crews have lost their swagger as their vehicles are top targets for aerial craft.
Unmanned vehicles are particularly suited to the sniper’s two main tasks of reconnaissance and targeted killing. Their key advantages include their bigger visual range, maneuverability and expendability: If the mission fails, the loss is a craft worth thousands of dollars rather than a life.
Ukraine still uses snipers. The U.S. also continues to train them. But in Ukraine they are being used less and in a changing role that is becoming more dangerous. Many snipers, like Kovalskiy, believe the era of sniping has passed.
“Drones are just more effective and cost less,” said Kovalskiy, who is part of a military counterintelligence division of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU. “I used to be the sniper and everyone was dancing around me. Now the drone pilot, everyone dances around him, including me," he said.
Kovalskiy, a 60-year-old former businessman, vaulted to fame after The Wall Street Journal revealed him as the man who pulled the trigger on the record-breaking shot in November 2023. His name entered a pantheon of sniping that was developed by British and German troops during the trench warfare of World War I. The snipers include Ukraine-born Lyudmyla Pavlichenko, nicknamed “Lady Death” for her high kill rate in World War II, and the reputed deadliest American sniper, Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle.
On the front line, soldiers asked Kovalskiy for selfies, his children’s friends quizzed them about their father and chart-topping U.S. rapper Yeat posted his picture on social media.
But on the front lines, Kovalskiy’s star was beginning to wane. His unit was seeing fewer targets as it was assigned a smaller slice of the front line. Russian soldiers adapted to a battlefield with ubiquitous drones by improving concealment. In five trips in 2024, he didn’t hit a single target.
That fall, the team spotted Russian soldiers at a dugout around P/2 miles away. They stayed underground during the day, and Kovalskiy didn’t have the right optical sights to shoot in the dark.
Ukrainian drones bombed the dugout and the next morning Russian soldiers emerged to examine the damage. Kovalskiy fired, but he only counts a hit if he is 100% sure that it was.
That is one of the last times he went out.
Now he mainly works as an assistant to drone operators, helping them get into their position, fit explosives to the drone and sometimes help to navigate, while acting as part of a quick-reaction force if something goes wrong.
Drones have several advantages over snipers. In reconnaissance, a sniper can’t match the bird’s-eye view of a drone or the speed at which it can move. Drones, unlike bullets, can turn comers.
In 2022, a Ukrainian army sniper with the call sign Ivanhoe would spot enemy movement up to 2.5 miles away and relay that information to guide artillery. The process took three to five minutes.
Now, “the drone operator sees it, the strike follows almost instantly,” he said. Ivanhoe has become a drone operator.
A drone’s explosive warhead can do more damage than a sniper’s bullet.
Snipers typically work in teams
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Things are not going so well for Russia
It is not just its stalled advance in Ukraine and economic woes that are worrying the Kremlin. It is also a distant ‘near abroad’.
By Dimitar Bechev | 11 May 2026
Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/5/11/things-are-not-going-so-w
ell-for-russia
The annual ritual that is the Victory Day Parade in Moscow serves a dual purpose. It reminds Russia’s citizenry and the Kremlin’s audience across the former Soviet Union of the glorious past. The muscle flexing on May 9 each year benchmarks Russia’s geopolitical fortunes.
Last year on the 80th anniversary of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin was flanked by foreign dignitaries from far and wide: Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.
This year, the lineup was much less impressive. Leaders from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Uzbekistan attended – with Republika Srpska, Abkhazia and South Ossetia for some added flavour – but no heavy hitters like India or China.
The talk of Russia as a linchpin of a new multipolar world order rings a tad hollow today, not least because no heavy equipment was marched through during the parade out of fear of Ukrainian drone strikes. On top of it, United States President Donald Trump claimed credit for a three-day ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.
The relatively dull affair that was this year’s parade speaks volumes about Russia’s current state. On paper, everything is going just fine. Trump has not wholly abandoned the idea of a deal to freeze the war in Ukraine, even at the cost of major concessions by Kyiv. The current US National Security Strategy calls for “strategic stability” with Russia while blasting Europe’s “woke” policies.
The inconclusive war against Iran, meanwhile, has exposed the limits of US military might. Oil prices have jumped, filling Russia’s coffers and improving its fiscal balance. On top of it, Trump has removed sanctions on some Russian oil to increase the global supply. Meanwhile, the Europeans are signalling they want to talk to Moscow.
In reality, the mood is gloomy. The Russian war effort in Ukraine continues to be stalled no matter how much money, materiel and human lives the Kremlin throws into the meat grinder that is the so-called special military operation (SVO). Ukrainian drones have hit deep inside the Russian homeland with even Red Square apparently not being immune to aerial attack.
Trump has lost interest in wooing Putin. With Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gone, the European Union has consolidated ranks. In Russia itself, economic growth has plummeted from 4 percent in 2024 to a projection of just over 1 percent this year.
The prospects for long-term development, productivity growth and technological innovation are lacklustre. There are modest signs of discontent within the Russian elite. Even Putin’s sky-high popularity ratings are slightly down, according to pollsters.
The stifling of the mobile internet in Moscow and other big cities has been met with dismay. Russians could be excused for puzzling over how the SVO, sold as a glorious repeat of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, has gone on longer than the latter with no end in sight. It is no wonder Putin felt compelled to say on Saturday that “the matter” is coming to an end.
While its resources are focused on Ukraine, Russia is on the back foot in what it still calls its “near abroad” too. The past week showed that Europe is gaining momentum there.
On Monday, Armenia hosted the annual summit of the European Political Community (EPC), where European leaders gathered. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in attendance too. Once Moscow’s loyal client and member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation and Eurasian Economic Union, Yerevan (Capital o
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Do Putin’s generals know they are lying about the battlefield, or are they oblivious to reality?
A case can be made for both explanations.
By Jens Asbjørn Bøgen | May 15, 2026
https://www.dagens.com/war/do-putins-generals-know-they-are-lying-abou
t-the-battlefield-or-are-they-oblivious-to-reality
On May 14, the Russian state-owned news agency TASS cited Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu as saying that Russian forces are “confidently advancing along the entire line of combat contact” in Ukraine.
That assessment is in stark contrast to reality on the battlefield, as the Institute for the Study of War reported in early May that Russian territorial gains in Ukraine have been in steep decline in 2026.
In January, Putin’s forces reportedly advanced and took control of 318 km², but in February those advances had plummeted to just under 123 km².
March produced Russian advances of only 23 km², and April really turned the tables as Ukraine managed to retake approximately 116 km² from Russian forces.
Add to that Russian casualties of reportedly more than 35,000 a month, and you cannot help but wonder:
Do the Russian military commanders know they are not telling the truth? Or are they simply oblivious to what is actually going on?
The case for lying
“Truth is the first casualty of war,” as the old saying goes, and in Russia’s case, truth was killed in action even before the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022.
Leading up to the invasion, the Kremlin claimed that Russian forces did not pose a threat to Ukraine. It also claimed that Ukraine was committing genocide against ethnic Russians, and during the war, Russia has claimed that NATO and Ukraine actually had a secret plan to invade Russia.
All of these claims have either been debunked or denied, and the Kremlin has produced no evidence to support them.
This shows that the Kremlin’s relationship with reality is, at best, conditional, as Russian officials appear to tell the truth only when it suits the Russian narrative.
In the case of Shoigu’s claims about advances, this supports the Russian narrative that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable, while also projecting strength and control to the Russian public, which is increasingly feeling the strain of more than four years of war.
The case for being oblivious
On March 30, 2022, about a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters cited officials from the White House and the European Union as saying that Putin was actually being misled by “yes-men” who were afraid to tell the Russian leader the truth.
According to the officials, intelligence showed that Putin was not being told the truth about how poorly the Russian army was performing in Ukraine, as well as how much the economy was already suffering.
But try following this train of thought:
• Putin’s commanders lie to him out of fear.
• This forces Russian military commanders to provide the Russian leader with positive news from the battlefield.
• The Russian military is known for harsh punishments for a wide range of offenses.
• Could Russian commanders on the battlefield be afraid to tell the military leadership the truth out of fear of punishment?
It is important to note that there is no concrete evidence to support this. It remains pure speculation.
But if this turns out to be true, the Russian military command could actually be completely oblivious to the reality on the battlefield because it is receiving false information from commanders in the field.
So which is it?
Given the substantial evidence of the Kremlin and Russian officials in general blatantly lying, the Russian military command is probably doing exactly that.
There may be an element of Russian field commanders not telling the truth to military leadership, but the most likely explanation for officials like Shoigu making claims so evidently disconnected from reality is that it is part of Russia’s broader effort to maintain the narrative that a Russian victory is inevitable.
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[Ukraine would have the weapon now if some genius had been thinking clearly back in 2022, rather than Ukraine waiting for daily disasters to tell even ordinary people what to do.]
A Ukrainian Patriot Alternative? Fire Point’s Freya Interceptor Eyes to Hunt Russian Iskander-Class Threats
With Patriot interceptors scarce and Russian ballistic missile attacks still among Ukraine’s deadliest threats, Fire Point’s Freya project is aiming for a shortcut: a Ukrainian anti-ballistic missile built around ready-made European technology.
By Vlad Litnarovych | May 15, 2026 15:30
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/a-ukrainian-patriot-alternati
ve-fire-points-freya-interceptor-eyes-to-hunt-russian-iskander-class-threats-18851
Ukraine’s Fire Point is working on an ambitious new anti-ballistic missile project called Freya, aiming to create a domestic interceptor using already available European components at a time when Patriot PAC-3 MSE missiles remain scarce and in extremely high demand, according to Defense Express on May 15. https://defence-ua.com/news/jak_deshevo_ta_shvidko_otrimati_ukrajinski
j_zrk_proti_balistiki_proponujut_u_fire_point_za_projektom_freya-22962.html
The project centers on the FP-7.x Freya missile, which Fire Point says is being developed as a fast-track solution against ballistic threats such as Russia’s Iskander-M.
Defense Express notes that the idea is not to build every element from scratch, but to combine existing radars, command systems, guidance technologies, and missile design experience into a workable Ukrainian air defense solution.
The comparison point is obvious: the PAC-3 MSE missile used by the Patriot system. The American interceptor has become the benchmark for proven effectiveness against ballistic missiles, including in Ukraine, where Patriot systems have repeatedly demonstrated high performance against some of Russia’s most dangerous aerial threats.
But PAC-3 MSE missiles are expensive, limited in supply, and heavily demanded by multiple countries.
According to details released by Fire Point chief designer Denys Shtilerman and analyzed by Defense Express, the FP-7.x interceptor draws on the Soviet-designed 48N6 missile used in the S-300 and S-400 family, but reworks the concept with a new architecture, composite materials, and modern Western components.
The missile is expected to reach speeds of roughly 1,500 to 2,000 meters per second, measure about 7.25 meters in length, and have a body diameter of 0.53 meters.
One of the key questions is guidance. The PAC-3 MSE uses an active radar seeker operating in the Ka-band, allowing precise all-weather targeting.
Fire Point’s FP-7.x, by contrast, is expected to use an infrared imaging seeker from Germany’s Diehl Defence, the company behind the IRIS-T missile family.
Defense Express notes that infrared guidance is not unusual in missile defense systems, with THAAD also using an infrared seeker, although THAAD operates at much higher altitudes where atmospheric visibility is less of a problem.
The Freya concept may rely on a guidance approach similar to IRIS-T SLM, where the missile receives course corrections from ground systems before switching to its onboard seeker in the final phase.
References to the DataLink course correction in the project materials support this. Fire Point has also recently signed a technology cooperation agreement with Diehl Defence, adding weight to the possibility of deeper integration.
The proposed radar network is also built around existing Western systems. Long-range detection could use radars such as Saab Giraffe 8A or 4A, Thales Ground Master 400, or Hensoldt TRML-4D.
Some of these systems, including TRML-4D, are already used by Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Target tracking and illumination could be handled by Leonardo KRONOS Land or Weibel GFTR-2100/48 radars.
For command and control, Fire Point’s concept reportedly relies on the Norwegian Kongsberg FDC system with network access modules, while data exchange would use NATO’s Link 16 standard. Defense Express notes t
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Mendel told Tucker Carlson many tales about Zelenskyy. All blame the country being invaded
Most of what former Ukrainian press secretary Iuliia Mendel told Tucker Carlson about events after 2021 is secondhand. The facts tell a different story.
By Daniel Thomas | May 16, 2026
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/16/mendel-tucker-carlson-interview
-four-claims-examined/
By Iuliia Mendel's count, Zelenskyy has personally sabotaged around seven attempts to finish this war. Mendel does not enumerate the seven. She does not name the mediators. The framing she offers is simple: change the man, Zelenskyy, get the peace.
But the documented record points the other way.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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May 15, 2026
Thirty-six countries, mainly from Europe, have signed up to a special tribunal to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which will be headquartered in the Dutch city of The Hague.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/15/point-of-no-return-36-co
untries-join-special-tribunal-to-prosecute-vladimir-putin
Australia and Costa Rica were the only non-European signatories.
The European Union also endorsed the initiative, even if four of its member states, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta and Slovakia, did not add their names to Friday's resolution.
The list remains open for other countries, European and otherwise, to join.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Without components from Europe, Japan and US, the Russians couldn't assemble missiles
By Kateryna Tyshchenko — 16 May, 20:14
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/05/16/8034997/
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named the key task as cutting off all supply channels to Russia of components for missile and drone production.
Source: Zelenskyy's evening address
Quote: "We are also working actively on the traditional sanctions track. The key thing is to cut off all supply channels of components for the production of missiles and drones in Russia.
In this week's strike on Kyiv, the Russians used missiles that were produced this year. Without components from companies in Europe, Japan and the United States, the Russians simply would not have been able to produce these missiles. The same applies to most other means of destruction that these bastards use to strike our cities and ordinary Ukrainian homes."
Details: Zelenskyy warned that "if the Russian war machine survives, its next strikes could be against Europe and other neighbours of Russia, and even in more distant regions: Russian evil has already shown itself in Syria and in African countries".
"Right now, the Russians are largely constrained here by our defence. But what comes next, where else will the Russians go? We need determination to push this country so that it becomes safer for the world. Sanctions and all other forms of pressure are the best tool for this," Zelenskyy added.
Background:
• On the night of 13-14 May, a combined Russian strike caused the partial collapse of a high-rise building in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv.
• A total of 24 people were killed in the attack, including three children.
• As reported by the Financial Times, Ukrainian authorities said that the Russian cruise missiles used in the deadly strike on Ukraine on 14 May were manufactured this year using Western-made components.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Good luck. You'll need it.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick. 
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