Yeah but that could easily be stopped if these blockades expand now effecting Ukraine through three countries
There's unsophisticated Russian blackguardism behind these border "protests" and no mistake.
If the rest of Russia is like this the whole place will implode. What happens if the Russian economy crashes and there's no maintenance for years to come?
@flutered "its workers were recuited?"
So I hear...
Its already starting, look at what's happening with the heating systems in many Russian Cities and towns...and this is just one area. There was another "incident" where the sewerage was blocked on one level, and backed up until the weight caused the floor to collapse, and the contents dropped straight on to the hallway below. These events are presently making the headlines, but there are many more similar but not so much news making events happening too.The stitches that hold the very fabric of Russian society are becoming undone.
The wire/pins needed to secure the first and second sections together were deemed as not necessary and was sold on the black market !!!!!!
Most likely, But in any case, even if the two sections had been locked together, there's no guarantee that the whole ladder wouldn't have come away from the wall, and the injuries could have been much worse. The way the pipe buckled showed clearly that it was eaten away with rust. Typical Russian construction.
More fire
And on the flying situation....
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1746499090345500788/photo/1
Speaking of imploding, and sanctions not working....
Anton Gerashchenko on X: "Russian civil aviation is on the verge of collapse: The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine conducted a cyber operation against Rosaviation and obtained classified documents of the Russian Ministry of Transport. The intelligence managed to find out that: ▪️ In January 2023, 185 air… https://t.co/yyy46aEmU5" / X (twitter.com)
Or people are worried about there Livelyhoods
Might be getting worse...
This is good news if it's confirmed
More planes downed...
https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1746635928494370941/photo/1
They might only have 9 or 10 of those A-50 left.
Lot of rader sites, AA sites hit lately. Looks like the ground work is getting done for the F16 arrival.
if this capability was available before, why not use it before? It's more of an indication the F-16's have arrived.
edit: some Kremlin do gooders predicted similar
Russians Fear the First Target of Ukrainian F-16s Will Be the A-50 - Technology Org
It's a very strange one, if they were shot down over the Sea of Azov, that's pretty much out of the range of any Ukrainian AA. It's not like they could have slapped a stinger to a drone boat either, as it would have had to cross under the Kerch bridge etc...
4 options really:
1)SAM within enemy territory
2)Unknown Naval SAM
3)A2A missile, current known Ukrainian ones would have meant a short range engagement which have not gone well before, indicating new missiles with further standoff range (AAMRAM), new tactics, or both (in new aircraft)
4) Russianism... plane fly underwater
1) Very very risky, wouldn't be a mobile one so very unlikely to risk them.
2) That's what I was thinking at first, but unless it was shot down from south/south west of the Kerch bridge (meaning it didn't have to traverse into the Sea of Azov)
3) AMRAAM is still a long shot (no pun intended), range would be close, even with such a big target, if they went full speed, the range would be increased (the quoted ranges for AA missiles are based on it being fired from a plane travelling at mach 1) so under certain conditions (height & speed) the range can be extended. Radar range would be too far though, unless they know the plane was in the general direction and fired them as as fox three. Which would be firing blind and having the missile radar scan and detect targets. Big targets like them could make it possible.
4) Quite possible the most obvious option!
I'd have thought option 4 too, but with reports of an IL-22 also being hit, it peaked my interest
edit: piqued, even
It's more likely they are trying to disrupt further movements and Russian airstrikes by taking out the main intelligence gathering aircraft for targeting,
US government funding now pushed to March at least with an a short term agreement to avoid a government shutdown
And more info on the downed Russian planes.
Aleksandr X on X: "UKRAINE DOWNS TWO LARGE RUSSIAN PLANES >> In another demonstration of their ability to strike at russian forces in Ukrainian waters, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have shot down... 🔴 An A-50 early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft and, 🔴 An IL-22 Jet-engined Bomber. The… https://t.co/fDPcGDXfz1" / X (twitter.com)
There was speculation the IL-22 was shot at from friendly fire and managed to land and the A-50 was shot down by a Patriot system. Must have been hugging the coast. The pic in the tweet is obviously not accurate on the location.
Friendly Fire.... @vswr we didn't account for that! Should have been on the list.
It seems only one plane went down the other managed to land apparently....
Russians denying the A50 (of course they are)
The other one landed badly damaged.... after it was hit by friendly fire it seems lol
I wonder if they collided in the same incident hence why one aircraft landed hard causing injuries
Biggest threat to the Russian airforce is Russian Air defence.
Been a good week between Russian warehouses burning, soldiers blown up near front line and planes falling from the sky. Hopefully this week's as good.
which is interesting because it would mean their IFF system is absolute pants along with their situational awareness of their own ops area.
Even if it was hugging the coast, a patriot would need to be right on the front line, and it would still be out of missile range bar from a select few areas **.
** assuming patriot missiles provided are the 100-120km version
another possibility I didn't think of, and would actually make a bit of sense if we know the Russian IFF system is crap, feeding duff info into the air defence radar to spoof an imaginary target, causing a response. It doesn't require hacking, but would require someone on the ground to place a beacon somewhere in line between the radar and the Russian aircraft.
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