Latest news with #Pro-Kremlin
Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Ukraine's drone triumph opens window to the future of war
"You don't have the cards," President Trump dismissively told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their Oval Office blow-up in February. Three months later, Zelensky played a hand no one saw coming. Why it matters: Ukraine's audacious drone operation, which destroyed nuclear-capable bombers deep inside Russian territory, delivered a strategic gut punch to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine is calling it " Operation Spiderweb." Pro-Kremlin bloggers are calling it "Russia's Pearl Harbor." Military experts are calling it a new nightmare for national defense. All can agree: Ukraine's ingenious use of low-cost drones has vast implications not only for the future of this war — but for the future of all war. Zoom in: Zelensky said the attack involved "one year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution." Ukrainian intelligence operatives prepared inside Russia for months undetected, he added. The targets were five Russian bases thousands of miles from Ukraine and from one another. Unknown to the Russian forces manning those bases, Ukraine managed to position dozens of drones nearby. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, said the drones were smuggled under cabin roofs and loaded onto trucks. At the "right moment, the cabins' roofs were opened remotely, and the drones took off to strike their targets — the Russian bombers." The SBU claimed 41 aircraft were hit, causing an estimated $7 billion in damage — using drones that likely cost a few thousand dollars each. Some of the Russian aircraft are so old that they are literally irreplaceable. Between the lines: Trump, who was not notified in advance, has yet to comment publicly on the operation. But as MAGA influencers spread fears of "World War III," pro-Ukrainian commentators argue Kyiv was left with few options. The U.S. and European allies have hesitated to supply Ukraine with additional air defenses to counter Russia's weekly bombardments, citing their own dwindling stockpiles. Russia rejected Ukraine's offer for a 30-day ceasefire. Trump railed against Putin for his obstinacy, but has so far declined to impose any new sanctions against Moscow. The calculus from Kyiv, therefore, was simple: If the world won't help Ukraine intercept Russian bombers in the sky, Ukraine must destroy them on the ground. The big picture: The Trump administration is growing impatient to move its strategic focus off Ukraine and onto other urgent priorities, particularly in the Pacific. Just this weekend, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned at a Singapore security conference that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could be "imminent." But Ukraine's battlefield creativity continues to deliver real-time lessons and intelligence on what modern war — especially asymmetric war — now looks like. For national security experts, Operation Spiderweb has raised new alarms about the threat of commercial infrastructure — say, Chinese container ships docked in the U.S. — being repurposed for covert attacks. "It is possible [China] is developing a launcher that can fit inside a standard commercial shipping container for covert employment of [missiles] aboard merchant ships," the Pentagon warned in its annual report on Chinese military power last year. Ukraine's ability to project its military power across Russia — with coordinated detonations thousands of miles apart — revealed how easily the illusion of domestic security can be shattered. The bottom line: The Ukrainians are executing, in real time, what Pentagon war planners have only modeled on paper.
Calgary Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
How Ukraine hid drones in mobile homes and blew up nuclear-capable aircraft in Russia
Article content Article content 'The smartest thing Putin could do right now would be to not respond immediately,' wrote Vladimir Pastukhov, a Russian political scientist based in London. 'Putin's best response is to delay his response – which he is good at.' Article content 'Putin does not have many spectacular 'good' moves in the current situation,' he continued, 'Ukraine has no comparable facilities that can be destroyed without infernal civilian casualties and enormous damage to the environment … which would traumatize the already troubled Trump.' Article content Article content Pro-Kremlin military blogger Mikhail Zvinchuk, who runs the Rybar Telegram channel, said that the attack would cause substantial 'moral and psychological damage' and that Ukraine's operation was not only aimed at exploiting gaps in defense but also 'creating colossal tension' in society and discrediting the security services. Article content If Ukraine can attack air bases, he speculated it could also attack highways and transport routes, stirring panic. Article content 'Of course, from the point of view of undermining Russia's military potential, this is an extremely unpleasant story, especially in the context of the loss of the Tu-95MS,' Zvinchuk said, referring to the mainstay of Russia's fleet of nuclear bombers. Article content Russian opposition figures meanwhile marveled online at Ukraine's 'amazing' and 'crazy' operation. Article content 'Everyone says that the only way to negotiate with Putin is to negotiate from a position of strength. Well here it is,' wrote Russian opposition politician and former political prisoner Ilya Yashin on social media. Article content Article content Yan Matveyev, a military analyst at Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, described the attack as 'a direct and highly sensitive blow to the nuclear triad' that destroyed 'rare and expensive bombers.' Article content 'Most importantly, it reduced the Russian Air Force's ability to strike Ukrainian cities,' Matveyev wrote on Telegram.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's drone attack in Russia shows Kyiv felt it had nothing to lose
An audacious Ukrainian drone attack against multiple airbases across Russia is a humiliating security breach for Vladimir Putin that will doubtless trigger a furious response. Pro-Kremlin bloggers have described - which Ukrainian security sources said hit more than 40 Russian warplanes - as "Russia's Pearl Harbor" in reference to the Japanese attack against the US in 1941 that prompted Washington to enter the Second World War. Ukraine war latest: The Ukrainian operation - which used small drones smuggled into , hidden in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks - also demonstrated how technology and imagination have transformed the battlefield, enabling to seriously hurt its far more powerful opponent. Moscow will have to retaliate, with speculation already appearing online about whether President Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons. "We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher," military blogger Roman Alekhin wrote on his Telegram channel. Codenamed 'Spider's Web', the mission on Sunday was the culmination of one and a half years of planning, according to a security source. In that time, Ukraine's secret service smuggled first-person view (FPV) drones into Russia, sources with knowledge of the operation said. Flat-pack, garden-office style sheds were also secretly transported into the country. The oblong sheds were then built and drones were hidden inside, before the containers were put on the back of trucks and driven to within range of their respective targets. At a chosen time, doors on the roofs of the huts were opened remotely and the drones were flown out. Each was armed with a bomb that was flown into the airfields, with videos released by the security service that purportedly showed them blasting into Russian aircraft. Among the targets were Tu-95 and Tu-22 bomber aircraft that can launch cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian side. An A-50 airborne early warning aircraft was also allegedly hit. This is a valuable platform that is used to command and control operations. The use of such simple technology to destroy multi-million-pound aircraft will be watched with concern by governments around the world. Suddenly, every single military base, airfield and warship will appear that little bit more vulnerable if any truck nearby could be loaded with killer drones. Read more: The most immediate focus, though, will be on how Mr Putin responds. Previous attacks by Ukraine inside Russia have triggered retaliatory strikes and increasingly threatening rhetoric from the Kremlin. But this latest operation is one of the biggest and most significant, and comes on the eve of a new round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv that are meant to take place in Turkey. It is not clear if that will still happen. US President Donald Trump has been pushing for the two sides to make peace but Russia has only escalated its war. Ukraine clearly felt it had nothing to lose but to also go on the attack.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Claims Swirl Over Supposed Ukrainian Attack On Putin's Helicopter
There are conflicting claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin's helicopter came under attack from Ukraine while visiting a new nuclear power plant in the Kursk region. A Russian commander said Putin's helicopter 'was at the epicenter of repelling a large-scale attack by Ukrainian Armed Forces drones during a visit to the Kursk region.' Ukrainian officials are pushing back against that claim, denying that any attack took place. Ukraine tried to ATTACK Putin's helicopter mid-flight over KurskRussian Air Defense Division officer says Ukrainian drones attempted to swarm chopper flight pathRussian air defenses scrambled — worked perfectly and repelled the strike — RT (@RT_com) May 25, 2025 There is no dispute that Putin visited the new Kursk nuclear power plant on May 20. What happened while he was there is the center of controversy. Russian President Vladimir Putin visits western Kursk region for first time since Russian forces ejected Ukrainian troops from area last month — TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) May 21, 2025 The Ukrainian Stratcom Center called the attack on Putin's helicopter 'a lie.' 'Pro-Kremlin media covering Putin's trip claimed that he moved through the region exclusively by car,' the Ukrainian Stratcom Center said on its Facebook page. 'Footage of the motorcade was shown on all federal TV channels. In addition…neither the Ministry of Defense, nor the Russian media and Telegram channels [reported] the attack of the UAV, which on scale would match the words of Dashkin.' That was a reference to Yuri Dashkin, commander of the air defense division, whose area of responsibility is the Kursk region. Dashkin on May 25 told the Russian RBC news outlet that during the president's visit, the Ukrainian military launched an ''unprecedented attack,' with air defense destroying 46 drones,' RBC reported. 'We simultaneously waged an anti-aircraft battle and ensured the safety of the president's helicopter in the air,' Dashkin said. It is possible, however, that the helicopter was staged at a nearby airfield in case of an emergency. Some Ukrainian media suggested that Dashkin's comments were an effort to bolster Putin's image as a combat commander. 'It is possible that all this is a lie to create a heroic halo for the 'bunker,'' asserted the Ukrainian CAPLIENKO_UKRAINE FIGHTS Telegram channel. The War Zone cannot independently verify any of these claims regarding an attack on Putin's helicopter. However, there is no mention of it on Putin's official website, the Kremlin Telegram channel or the Russian Defense Ministry Telegram channel. The back and forth over whether Putin's helicopter was attacked comes amid growing anger towards him from U.S. President Donald Trump over the course of the conflict. The American leader has expressed outrage on his social media channels over massive Russian attacks on Ukraine while he is trying to end the war. 'What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,' Trump said Tuesday morning on Truth Social. 'He's playing with fire!' In a Sunday social media post, Trump called Putin 'crazy.' 'I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,' Trump proclaimed on Truth Social. 'He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I've always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that's proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don't like it, and it better stop…' He expressed the same sentiment to reporters. 'I'm not happy with what Putin is doing,' Trump said. 'He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've always gotten along with him. But he's sending rockets into cities and I don't like it at all.' Trump: "I'm not happy with what Putin is doing. He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time … we're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all. I'm… — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 25, 2025 Meanwhile, Trump is 'seriously considering' lifting Biden-administration preclusions on the use of Western weapons two senior Western officials told the Kyiv Post on May 25. 'All the previously imposed restrictions – whether already eased or not – are currently under review as President [Trump] believes that the current status quo does not serve our common interests of bringing Russia to the [negotiation] table,' one official said without offering further details. He is also contemplating new sanctions on Moscow, CNN reported. 'Options were drawn up in the past several weeks to apply new measures punishing Moscow, but so far, Trump has not approved them,' the network noted. 'The president said Sunday he would 'absolutely' consider new sanctions in the aftermath of a sustained missile and drone bombardment that left many dead. The barrage was 'Russia's largest combined aerial attack since its full-scale invasion of February 2022,' BBC stated. 'At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in Ukraine during the night between Saturday and Sunday after Russia fired 367 drones and missiles.' In addition, between Sunday evening and Monday morning, the Russian army 'launched the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war — 355 attack UAVs, mostly 'Shaheds,'' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on X. The BBC said 10 people were killed in that wave of attacks. Our air defense forces and rescuers were working all night. The Russian army launched the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war — 355 attack UAVs, mostly "Shaheds." There were also 9 cruise missiles. Sadly, there are… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 26, 2025 The Kremlin downplayed Trump's statements, suggesting he was merely frustrated by the pace of the ongoing peace talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that those talks went 'hand in hand with an emotional overload of absolutely everyone and with emotional reactions.' Putin, meanwhile, continued to claim Russia is the aggrieved party. 'Speaking on May 26 during a meeting with Russian business leaders, Putin echoed longstanding Kremlin narratives and suggested Russia was unfairly blamed for launching the war,' the Ukrainian United24 media outlet reported. 'Russia was forced to respond to what was happening in Ukraine and is being made out to be the guilty party, but Moscow did not organize the bloody coup of 2014,' Putin said. In another blow to Trump's efforts, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov nixed his suggestion that negotiations be held at the Vatican, saying on May 23 Moscow 'has no plans for when or where the next meeting between the two nations will take place.' Those talks are sputtering as each side conducts cross-border attacks. Russia claims that between May 20 and May 23 that it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones, including almost 800 inside Russia. Ukrainian officials say Kyiv was striking military targets. 'Ukraine conducted their most prolonged and intense drone attack on Russian regions following Vladimir Putin's refusal to agree to a ceasefire,' former Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Iuliua Mendel stated on X. 'The assault, which began on the evening of May 20 and continued nearly uninterrupted until the morning of May 23, targeted 15 Russian regions and occupied Crimea.' All this comes as Russian forces are pushing deeper into eastern Ukraine and amassing tens of thousands of troops to attack the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Exactly where the prospects of Trump's peace initiative stand isn't clear, but there are few to no indications that a breakthrough is close. Contact the author: howard@
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Panicking Putin Propagandists Censor Trump's ‘CRAZY' Outburst to Keep ‘Kissing Up'
President Donald J. Trump appeared to finally lose patience with President Vladimir Putin over the weekend but Kremlin propagandists are desperately trying to downplay the intervention and hope that Trump is merely sounding off. Pro-Kremlin TV hosts even cut the word 'CRAZY' from their reporting on Trump's rant as they struggled to report on the contretemps without criticizing either Trump or Putin. On Sunday afternoon, just before boarding Air Force One, Trump told reporters, 'I don't know what the hell happened to Putin.' He was speaking after Russia's latest barrage of deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities appeared to contradict claims made by him and his envoy Steve Witkoff, who have been trying to assure the world that the Russian president wants peace. A few hours later, in a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, 'I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers.' On Tuesday, Trump doubled down in another Truth Social post that said, 'What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!' State media outlet RT immediately discounted Trump's rhetoric in a post on X, stating, 'Putin doesn't realize… he's playing with fire!' — Trump's message leaves little room for misinterpretation. Until he posts the opposite tomorrow morning.' Trump's criticism caught the Kremlin and its tightly controlled state media completely off guard. After all, Putin's murderous proclivities are a feature, not a bug, of his perennial presidency. Trump's outburst placed Moscow's propagandists in a bind, since they are not allowed to criticize the Russian president and have been praising America's new direction of disregarding the ongoing genocidal invasion of Ukraine for the sake of resuming trade and economic relations with the invaders. Walking a tightrope, state TV hosts omitted the word 'crazy' in their reporting for their domestic audiences. Instead, they quoted solely the part of Trump's tirade where he complained that 'something has happened' to Putin, describing the American president's comments as 'rude.' They avoided any criticism of Trump and instead blamed his intelligence officials for not providing him with information that would 'justify' Russia's brutal attacks against the Ukrainians in the midst of wide-ranging negotiations with the United States. They also blamed the Western media for 'egging Trump on' to impose harsh sanctions on Russia. On Monday, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, followed suit with this approach. He praised Trump for his peacemaking efforts and wrote off his criticism to 'an emotional overload' that prompted 'emotional reactions.' On Tuesday, State Duma member Alexey Zhuravlyov explained Russia's strategy of courting Trump during his morning appearance on state TV show 60 Minutes. He explained that Russia should 'kiss up to Trump' and resort to any means necessary to ensure that he is not aligned with the rest of the West. Zhuravlyov said, 'If we have to clash with the West, it would be preferable that it's not the collective West.' Host Olga Skabeeva clarified, 'You insist that we need to kiss up to Donald Trump... You're in a playful mood!' Zhuravlyov insisted that he wasn't joking and Russia's strategy towards the American president is bearing fruit. He elaborated, 'Look, here is how it works. Trump is making statements like, 'We are going to impose sanctions and they will be horrible—but he is not imposing them.' During the same program, pundit Spiridon Kilinkarov described Trump's comments as 'unseemly,' but stressed that Russia should pay no attention to what he says—and instead look at what he does. He noted, 'He clearly doesn't want a confrontation with Russia… What he says probably means something, but it's not all that important.' U.S. analyst Malek Dudakov asserted that despite Trump's bluster, there is no reason for Russia to fear any additional American sanctions in the near future. In a post on X, RT dismissively referred to Trump's threat of imposing additional sanctions, asking, 'Will another call with Putin cool his jets?' Zhuravlyov noted, 'A very important phrase has surfaced in his social media posts, 'Peace is more important than a ceasefire.' This is the most important formula that we have been imposing on him. I don't even know how we were able to push it on him!' He surmised, 'I don't know how we are managing to do it, but we're talking him into agreeing with us—it's a fact!' Zhuravlyov described 'fighting for Trump' with Europe and surmised, 'I'm sure that we will win in that regard.' Putin's pet propagandists often express their amusement that U.S. negotiators insist upon an unconditional ceasefire, while Russia is not the least bit interested in any cessation of hostilities, despite experiencing notable difficulties on the frontlines. During his Sunday show, state TV host Vladimir Solovyov said, 'The West keeps talking about an immediate ceasefire. Why are they so stuck on an immediate ceasefire? Why would we stop?' Solovyov explained that Russia's interests lie elsewhere—far beyond Ukraine. He said, 'What are the leaders of the U.S. and Russia talking about? About the future world order.' Moscow is apparently willing to let an insult or two go unnoticed, as long as Trump continues to act as an ally in jointly building the new world order in a fashion that favors Russia and not the West.
