Hopfgeist

Thanks. And speaking of reduced range, my understanding was that delivering shorter-range versions required extensive and time-consuming technical modifications, and delivering the normal long-range version was contingent on the US delivering ATACMS. Again, just rumours.

I read that they could use the same mounts and interfaces as the Storm Shadow, but that may have been wrong.

Judging from the number of WW2 bombs still found in Germany today, things like this will remain a legacy for a century or more.

Sure, they're called thermonuclear weapons, aka "H-bomb". City-killers. Many hundreds of them.

Those that have a choice, and those that commit such atrocities, I agree, they don't deserve pity. But many will have some dignity left, and once in battle have little realistic chance to "just stop". We must be very careful not to vilify people solely based on their membership in a group. Each one deserves to be judged individually, when possible.

Kill them if they attack, or enable an attack, yes (this includes logistics far behind the lines: legitimate targets!), because it's a matter of survival of you, your comrades, and your country, but still recognise them as humans. Once going down the path of dehumanising the enemy, Ukraine will lose the moral high ground, which is paramount in maintaining the right to receive help from the civilised world.

I don't believe in "destroying Russia", besides its practical impossibility. Unlike Nazi Germany, Russia does have the ultimate doomsday weapon, and might use it if really threatened existentially (to paraphrase some propagandists: "If there is no place for Russia in this world, why should there be a world?"). That said, I have absolutely no idea how to deal with Russia. None. Every conceivable solution is terrible.

Thanks for the civil reply. I absolutely see your point. I do not have any first-hand (or even second-hand) information on that. I assume that conscripts who refuse to be drafted are most likely not shot, but imprisoned, although once on the battlefield, lured under false pretext, that may be a different story. I have a hard time, too, imagining a single conscript leaving his unit is called to surrender to the Ukrainian forces, especially when involved in a senseless assault on a stronghold.

Highest single-day casualty number yesterday. 1380 Russian soldiers in a day. This may have been part of it. I feel sorry for each individual soldier and their families, they likely had no real choice and were between a rock and a hard place. But as long as they continue attacking, Ukraine has every right to kill or at least repel them by force. War is a terrible, awful business, any way you look at it.

Nice. I hope they get enough supply, logistics is not trivial for this kind of operation.

Oh, and also, ~~manegerie~~ menagerie.

When you fire, you create a huge flare, that can be easily detected and may draw counter-fire. So fire all that you want to fire in as short a time as possible, then pack up and leave.

So, is it just literally more missiles to restock the launchers already in Ukraine? Or more complete Patriot systems? Even after reading the article I couldn't tell.

Ah, thanks for the additional info, I didn't know that.

At first glance, it might seem wasteful to use a $200,000+ missile to shoot down a $10,000 drone, but if it can save lives, it's much better than the alternative. Using a Gepard anti-aircraft cannon (literally Flak) system is more resource-efficient, but of course, these aren't everywhere.

Still curious how and why air-to-air missiles are ground-launched. Then again, the German IRIS-T is also originally an air-to-air missile, adapted for surface-to-air use as the IRIS-T SLS and IRIS-T SLM.