FROM THE ANALYST

UKRAINE POUNDS RUSSIA WITH VAST DRONE STRIKE

The russians claimed they shot everything down. I laughed.
At one point an astonishing 80 drones in a vast line stretching back miles, described by some Russians who witnessed it as ‘creepy and surreal’, piled its way into an oil refinery complex.
In other more distant ones, drones the size of small aircraft undid the repairs the russians had made to a cracking plant.
Multiple drones struck the refineries at Tuapse. More smashed into the shipping tranfer port at Novorossiysk. At least 30 sea drones were identified attacking the ports on the Black Sea russian mainland. Crimea was struck again.
‘Hundreds’ of drones made themselves felt and hardly any were stopped. The russians are hopelessly bad at dealing with such wide ranging attacks - their geography plays against it and their incompetence does the rest.
Russia thought it would have no problem dealing with this drone war. The last thing it expected was Ukraine not just outmatch it but out produce it.
One of the things I’m proud of the UK for being part of is one of the Eight Partnerships established by NATO. The UK joins with Estonia in organising and manufacturing drones for Ukraine - pretty much anywhere they can be obtained and in huge volumes. If they can’t obtain them they make them. Over £3 billion has been allocated to these programs. Other nations partnerships concentrate on other specialisms, such as air defence, shell manufacture, spares and parts, and so on. All of the things that matter.
This prevents duplication and allows concentrated effort to be focused rather than haphazard.
And it clearly works.
Ukraine’s army of drone manufacturers, which amount to a passion in the country, many people cooperating after work, at night, during power cuts, relentlessly building a seemingly never ending series of parts and complete drone systems for the soldiers on the front, creates a sense of everyone being involved. And the russians can’t destroy it because it’s so highly dispersed.
I’m feeling especially mean spirited towards the russians today. It’s one of those days when I couldn’t give a flying shit about whether their entire country vanished and they all died. I’m sick of them constantly trying to be something they never were or ever could be. They must be the most deluded people in the planet. They’re miserable people who have never experienced happiness in its true form and seem to want nobody else to do so either. Let them watch in wonder as Ukraine’s drones rain down on them. It’s just the beginning.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!
@ukrainejournal