“Russia is sure to lose in Ukraine – The Economist”
Sometimes we lose sight of that big picture, in the ongoing bloody daily grind, but it really is Putin against the World - and nobody wants to end up living in his brutish orc world.
In addition to the reasons given in that article, here is a fun fact from the Kyiv Independent:
“Drone deliveries to the front lines in Ukraine since the start of 2024 are already three times higher than for all of last year, according to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Vadym Sukharevskyi...
...Almost every drone supplied is domestically produced...
...President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree in February creating a separate branch of Ukraine’s Armed Forces dedicated to drones.
Strategic Industries Deputy Minister Hanna Hvozdiar said that Ukraine has the capacity to produce 150,000 drones every month and may be able to produce 2 million drones by the end of the year.”
“Ukraine has the capacity to produce 150,000 drones every month “
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“Drones are crowding Ukraine’s skies, largely paralyzing battlefield”
“So many drones patrol the skies over Ukraine’s front lines — hunting for any signs of movement — that Ukrainian and Russian troops have little ability to move on the battlefield without being spotted, and blown up.
Instead, on missions, they rush from one foxhole to another, hoping the pilots manning the enemy drones overhead are not skilled enough to find them inside. Expert drone operators, their abilities honed on the front, can stalk just a single foot soldier to their death, diving after them into hideouts and trenches.
The surge in small drones in Ukraine has turned the area beyond either side of the zero line — normally known as “the gray zone” — into “the death zone,” said Oleksandr Nastenko, commander of Code 9.2, a drone unit in Ukraine’s 92nd brigade. Those who dare to move day or night under the prying eyes of enemy drones “are dead immediately,” he said.
Cheap drones deployed in Ukraine have transformed modern warfare — and initially gave Ukrainian troops an advantage on a battlefield where they are perpetually outnumbered and outgunned. “This is the evolution of our survival,” Nastenko said.”