For comparison for the Americans, it's New York to Kansas City. For the Europeans, Copenhagen to Rome.
Crazy that the Ukrainians can keep up command-and-control for drones over such a distance. Probably most of it is via Starlink...
Some stuff from Google on FP-1 drones - the most popular long range one:
>Technological Features: They emphasize modularity, resilience to electronic warfare, and are developing optical navigation systems to reduce reliance on GPS.
In fact, it’s Ukraine that’s providing the U.S. military aid.
Also, I guess the Ukraine wins are complete fantasy, that’s why Middle Eastern countries and the U.S. are striking deals for Ukraine to supply defense weapons to their bases in the Middle East, which they’ve already started doing.
And I guess the burning oil depots and ports across the Black Sea that can be seen on satellites are also absolute fantasy.
And I guess the fact that Russia has gained almost no territory in a year, and doesn’t have even claimed to gain any territory is also a fantasy.
I guess Russian military bloggers who have started questioning the war, at the risk of imprisonment, are also fantasy.
I guess Kim Jong Un now admitting and celebrating the fact that Russia is using North Korean mercenaries is also fantasy.
The list goes on, but it doesn’t change the fact that this 2 week war has now lasted 5 years and Russia has made almost no progress in the last 2-3 years.
Yes, it is fantasy when you still talk about a few battles that Ukraine won, what 2-3 years ago? Since then, their counter-offensive to take back Russian occupied territory has failed, they've been forced to withdraw from even the Russia territory they had captured, and during this same period, Russia has slowly kept advancing and occupying more and more of Ukraine's territory.
> I guess the burning oil depots and ports across the Black Sea that can be seen on satellites are also absolute fantasy.
Yes, it is a fantasy if you think burning a few oil depots or damaging refineries or pipelines will suddenly make Russia give up all the territory they have captured in Ukraine and result in the military defeat of Russia. Understand geopolitics - this whole war started because Russia doesn't want Ukraine in NATO because then Russia would lose access to the Black Sea and any NATO missiles in Ukraine can reach Moscow within a few minutes. And that is why Ukrainian strategists are stupid if they think drone and missile attacks deep into Russia will make Russia give up - no, it won't because every successful drone and military strike deep into Russia keeps reminding them of how vulnerable they will become if NATO comes to Ukraine! Every successful drone and missile strike thus means that Russia will keep fighting ruthlessly to destroy the Ukrainian army (demilitarisation), and that is what they are doing.
> I guess the fact that Russia has gained almost no territory in a year, and doesn’t have even claimed to gain any territory is also a fantasy.
ISW itself reports that Russia's average monthly gain (in the last 12 months) has been around (roughly) 171 sq. miles / month (in the last 12 months). As for your claim of "silence" from Russia on newly occupied territories, RT reported recently that ‘A few kilometers’ left to liberate Donbass – Kremlin - https://www.rt.com/russia/638343-peskov-donbass-kilometers-l... .
There is no doubt that the Russians are advancing slowly. And that is partly due to the good defence by the Ukrainian military. But it is also partly Russian strategy to advance slowly because their goal is not just to occupy territory but to de-industrialise and demilitarise Ukraine - In other words, Russia wants to drag this war as long as possible till it either achieves victory through diplomatic surrender or military surrender. It knows time is running out for Ukraine as it is economically crippled, and its military is running out of men.
> I guess Kim Jong Un now admitting and celebrating the fact that Russia is using North Korean mercenaries is also fantasy.
The Russians and the North Koreans have military alliance to help each other. That Russia can rely on North Korea as an ally to join and fight with it should worry the Ukrainians as it shows what a true military alliance is. Compared to how the Koreans have helped the Russians take back the territory that Ukraine had captured, Ukraine's American and European NATO allies look like cowards in not joining them to fight the Russians.
> Russia has made almost no progress in the last 2-3 years.
Shows what you really know - "Since February 24, 2025 ... Moscow’s troops have taken 4,524 square kilometres (1,750 square miles)" - Russian gains in 4th year of Ukraine war exceeded previous 2 years combined: Analysis - https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2026/02/24/russian-...
Ukraine are winning. With more help, they can win faster. We should do everything we can to help them.
The fact is that they are losing land (albeit at, as you say, a slow pace due to good defence). But as the Ukrainian military has no real ability to launch a counter-offensive against the Russian to take back these lands, it is now effectively Russian territory. They have already lost around 20% of their territory and anyone with some common sense about warfare will tell you that Ukraine has no real hope of ever getting back these territories - Ukraine simply doesn't have enough men or the right weaponry to launch a counter-attack. (Yes, you are right somebody should help Ukraine to win this war - and the only way Ukraine can win this war is if the west send in their soldiers to fight alongside Ukrainians. But they will not do that. That is why Ukraine should surrender, to retain what territory and soldiers it it still has before it loses more of them - everyone of you who is urging Ukrainians to keep fighting the Russians alone, never tells me how much territory and men should Ukraine lose before it decides to pragmatically end the war?)
(Either you are ignorant about these facts, or are just peddling falsehood here when you say "Ukraine is winning the war").
The problem is that Putin’s demands so far only set the stage for future war.
No, what it is saying is that Ukraine has no hopes of defeating Russia and thus should accept that reality and settle, however unjust the terms, because otherwise it would lose more territory and / or soldiers, while its economy keeps getting crippled.
Also re Europeans not suing for peace etc. - it isn't a war between Europe and Russia or NATO and Russia or the US and Russia. It's an invasion by Russia of Ukraine and the Ukrainians are fighting back. Again that's kind of Russian propaganda to say their invasion of Ukraine is actually a war with someone else not involved. The used to say the US but how many times has Trump effectively yelled surrender at the Ukrainians now?
It's history repeating itself along the Russia invades country x with a bunch of bullshit about how it's not it's fault etc which has happened about thirty times, the worst being partnering with Hitler to start WW2.
Russia isn't doing that well at the moment. The western media has always been pro Ukraine but even the Z propagandists are flipping from Russia is invincible to Russia is losing now.
It's a bit of an Afghanistan like situation. Russia is stuck and its regime will hopefully collapse at some point as seems traditional when it loses wars. Putin was looking very nervous last time I saw him and there are talks of palace coups.
Ukrainian drone capabilities in the near battlefield (up to ~20-30km deep) are also not contested. Russian milbloggers will openly talk about the difficulty of massing and movement in that area due to the saturation of drone coverage (and btw, this challenge is more or less symmetric).
So the article is not likely exaggerating any of their capabilities. However, it is exaggerating via omission.
In terms of deep strikes, the question is what the success rate of these missions are, what cadence can they sustain, what's the constellation of Russian lapses that have to line up for a successful strike, etc.
Another known area of weakness (that the Ukrianians are working hard on) is the middle range. How to strike quickly at targets of opportunity in the 50-500km range field. This was/is a capability that things like GMLRS and ATACMS provided, but I imagine the Ukraine is forced to ration those munitions carefully.
The reporting seems a bit misleading suggesting drones kill 30k Russians a month. I think that's total Russian casualties of which drones are a good chunk but not all.
There are no indications that Ukraine will lose this war.
Mariupol had a mass grave for tens of thousand civilians russia liberated. Had because recently they started erasing it from existence https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/russia-accused-of-era...
P.S. I love the ad I see on that site: "Over 10 million Ukrainians suffer from anxiety due to the war. Free exercises with scientifically proven effectiveness." The most important exercise now is running - it saves your life.
or fighting and winning?
Apart from not controlling 20% of their territory?
But so has Russia, they also have lost control over their stuff, stuff that Ukraine are constantly blowing up.
Ukraine now have a capable long range offensive capability which allows them to strike deep into Russia.
Russias vital strategic assets are slowly depleting due to Ukrainian strikes, while Ukraine has better support from the rest of the world and are now in fact cooperating with some powerful nations across the world.
Russia are managing to advance a few square kilometer of territory per month? while losing expensive, hard to replace assets continuously.
In Russia we had partial mobilization in 2022 but since then the losses are replenished with men voluntarily signing contracts.
It's a meat grinder there for everyone.
I'm not sure about the Russians. That would kind of make sense for them too but things seem a bit gummed up by bureaucracy - I just read a thead about them having to use firecrackers in dones due to such restrictions https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2049026651544023271
I hope Russia manages to get some more sensible leadership or policies. The Ilya Remeslo guy being let out and able to criticize Putin seems somewhat promising.
Haven't read the thread but the post omits crucial detail. This is about using interceptor drones inside Russia, not on the frontline. Apparently, the thinking is that failed interceptor drones present hazard of their own, but it might be outdated now.
>I hope Russia manages to get some more sensible leadership or policies.
Like what?
More and more people in Russia are unhappy with Putin dragging his feet with so called special military operation. They think that it's long overdue to turn to total war and forget about minimizing civilian losses in the Ukraine.
Wait until Scotland or Northern Ireland gets independent and then China or some other powerful country "midwifes" an anti-British coup there and then we'll talk.