Russia Invades Ukraine. Again by captaincrunch

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Russia Invades Ukraine. Again

POSTED BY: CAPTAINCRUNCH
UPDATED: Friday, April 17, 2026 07:51
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Monday, April 13, 2026 2:47 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Developer of Ukraine’s Ruta missiles just partnered with Rheinmetall to build Europe’s answer to HIMARS

Rheinmetall wants to scale it across NATO.

By Olena Mukhina | 13/04/2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/13/developer-of-ukraines-ruta-miss
iles-just-partnered-with-rheinmetall-to-build-europes-answer-to-himars/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 7:57 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Germany, Ukraine elevate ties to strategic partnership with new defense deal

by Tim Zadorozhnyy | April 14, 2026 2:37 pm

https://kyivindependent.com/germany-ukraine-elevate-ties-to-strategic-
partnership/

Ukraine and Germany signed a defense cooperation agreement during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Berlin on April 14, elevating bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.

The deal expands military cooperation between the two countries, with Berlin pledging additional support in key areas, including air defense, long-range weapons, drones, and ammunition.

The move comes amid Kyiv's broader push to deepen defense partnerships abroad and expand its rapidly growing domestic arms industry.

In recent weeks, Ukraine secured defense cooperation arrangements with three Gulf countries and, in late March, signed a 10-year security agreement with Bulgaria.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026 8:03 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

What the West doesn't understand about Russia, from a Lithuanian who knows

by Tania Myronyshena

April 14, 2026 1:47 PM

Lithuania's parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas said peace with Russia can be secured only from a position of strength and warned that unless Moscow is stopped in Ukraine, it will continue its aggression deeper into Europe.

Olekas, a surgeon by training and a longtime figure in Lithuanian politics, has twice served as defense minister and health minister and now serves as speaker of the Seimas. He said Lithuania's approach to security is shaped by its history of Soviet occupation and by a belief that Russia's imperial attitudes extend beyond the Kremlin.

Born in Siberia after his family was deported there by Soviet authorities, Olekas grew up with the memory of occupation, an experience that still shapes Lithuania's support for Ukraine.

Much more at https://kyivindependent.com/peace-with-russia-must-come-from-strength-
lithuanian-speaker-juozas-olekas-warns-moscow-will-push-further-into-europe-if-not-stopped-in-ukraine/

Olekas: The decision to fight for our freedom and independence was made by our families, by our parents. I was born in Siberia in 1955, where my grandparents were sent during the mass Soviet deportations.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 6:57 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

JD Vance calls end of Ukraine aid 'one of the proudest' achievements of Trump administration

April 15, 2026 10:06 am

https://kyivindependent.com/vance-calls-ending-ukraine-aid-one-of-the-
proudest-achievements-of-trump-admin/

The U.S. vice president also accused Zelensky last week of "threatening" Hungary's outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban and suggested that the fate of contested territories in eastern Ukraine amounts to "haggling over... a few square kilometers."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 8:23 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Raytheon reported that Germany will finance a Raytheon contract with MBDA Deutschland worth 3.2 billion euros (about $3.7 billion) to supply several hundred GEM-T missiles for Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.[11] Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that Germany will also provide 36 IRIS-T air defense system launchers and will invest 300 million euros (roughly $354 million) in Ukrainian long-range strike weapons production.[12] Ukraine and Germany will also launch joint production of mid-strike drones using artificial intelligence (AI). Fedorov announced that Ukraine and Germany will exchange combat data to develop new technology and will start joint projects to analyze German weapons use on the battlefield.[13]

https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive
-campaign-assessment-april-14-2026/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 6:06 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Following his party's defeat, Orbán's exit from the EU Council opens a vacancy his allies and successors are already lining up to fill, Politico analyzed on 15 April. The outlet identified five leaders most likely to pick up his role as the bloc's chief obstructionist on Ukraine funding and Russia sanctions — with Slovakia's Fico the most immediate threat.

The €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine has been blocked since February, when Orbán vetoed it alongside the 20th Russia sanctions package. Whether the vacancy Orbán leaves is filled by one determined successor or a loose coalition of selective disruptors, Brussels should not expect smooth sailing, Politico believes.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/15/politico-orban-is-out-and-his-d
isruptor-crown-is-already-being-fought-over-by-five-eu-leaders-who-oppose-ukraine-support/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 12:37 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Drones Russia thought were unjammable just met US LEONIDAS microwave weapon

Fiber-optic UAVs threaten logistics 50 km deep.

By Olena Mukhina
16/04/2026

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/16/drones-russia-thought-were-unja
mmable-just-met-us-leonidas-microwave-weapon/

The US-developed Leonidas VehicleKit platform has, for the first time, disabled a fiber-optic-controlled UAV, demonstrating the ability to engage such targets using electromagnetic radiation. These drones can pose a threat to logistics at distances of up to 50 km, Army Inform reports.

https://armyinform.com.ua/2026/04/16/i-na-optovolokno-znajdetsya-uprav
a-u-ssha-vyprobuvaly-mikrohvylovu-rozrobku-dlya-znyshhennya-droniv-na-dielektrychnomu-hvylevodi/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, April 16, 2026 2:36 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

The USA Does Not Understand War

Ukraine Taking A Position With Machines Not Soldiers Makes That Clearer Than Ever

Phillips P. OBrien

Apr 16, 2026

https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-usa-does-not-understand-war

The USA is facing a serious crisis in its analytical understanding of war. I thought it could not get any worse than it was in 2022, when practically everyone from the President on through the Pentagon, the IC and the think tank community judged that Ukraine would be conquered swiftly by some awesomely powerful Russian military machine. However, what we are continuing to see from the USG and the analytical community makes it apparent that things are no better and might be worse. Fundamental mistakes are being made continually, as we see in the present war with Iran.

However, maybe the greatest mistake of the last few years has been in not understanding how the war between Ukraine and Russia was developing. What we have seen repeatedly is a desperation to hold onto past, failed notions of how US policy makers and analysts believed war should be fought. They first kept assuring us that tank-led assaults were the key to military success, even when tanks were getting massacred by their thousands by cheaper systems. Then they assured us that Ukraine really did not need ranged systems, F-16s, etc, etc, all of which, once deployed have turned out to be vital to Ukraine’s war effort.

While these were all bad, maybe the most catastrophic US error, one that had Ukraine listened to it could have led to Ukrainian defeat, was the widespread insistence that to deal with personnel shortages, Ukraine needed to draft its 18-24 year old males in mass and send them to the front. This was a widely spread narrative, from the top of the USG through the think-tank community. Indeed, it was regularly used to cast aspersions on Ukraine’s war strategy and even to try and press Ukraine into ceding more territory.

Well, thankfully, Ukraine disagreed. It protected its younger population and instead invested heavily across society in drones, UGVs, and other unmanned systems to try and reduce the number of soldiers on the front and save its population. That effort is now paying massive dividends and the world is sitting up and taking notice. In the last week, the Ukrainians even seized a Russian position using machines alone, and more and more European leaders are talking about the war heading in Ukraine’s favor.

Quite why the US has failed repeatedly to understand war is one of the greatest questions/problems we face. Instinctively, I believe that fighting a war is too easy for the US, but that means the US has lost the ability to distinguish between fighting and winning. At the same time, the US, with its massive military machine, huge IC, and inflated think-tank community, has confused being big with being smart. Actually, too many of this grouping thinks it understands war because the US is so strong. This arrogance has led it to be probably the worst community for understanding war in analytical history.

To outline this problem, I will talk a little about the Ukrainian machine-led assault, what it means, and then contrast it to what we were hearing, ad nauseam, from US sources over the last two years. The disconnect is jarring, but needs to be faced. If the US does not improve its understanding of war, it will continue to fail in the terrible ways that it has now for decades.

A few days ago, a notable event happened in the course of not just the Russo-Ukraine War but also in modern, machine-defined war. The Ukrainians assaulted and took a Russian position using only machines—both UAVs and UGVs (drones and pilotless land vehicles). Not a single Ukrainian soldier was put in harm's way, while the Russians ended up losing humans, some of whom were even filmed surrendering to the Ukrainian machines. Here is a screenshot from a video of a surrender incident, which you can watch here.

A video appears to show three Russian soldiers emerging with their arms raised and surrendering to a robot with a machine gun.

Ukrainian Robots Taking Russian Prisoners: If the US had its way, there would have been Ukrainian Draftees Trying To Do This And Many Would Be Dead

https://united24media.com/latest-news/for-the-first-time-ukrainian-unm
anned-systems-capture-russian-position-without-infantry-or-losses-17874

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Friday, April 17, 2026 7:43 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Russia publishes European address of Ukrainian drone-makers

By bne IntelliNews | April 16, 2026

https://www.intellinews.com/russia-publishes-european-address-of-ukrai
nian-drone-makers-437737/

Russia’s defence ministry has released what it said were the names and addresses of Ukrainian-linked enterprises across Europe involved in the production of military drones on April 16.

“The European public should both clearly understand the true reasons of threats to their security and know the addresses and locations of ‘Ukrainian’ and ‘joint’ enterprises producing UAVs and components for Ukraine on the territory of their countries,” the ministry said.

[I’m guessing that Russians believe with all their little hearts that destroying Ukrainians with drones is fair, but Ukrainians destroying military targets and refineries in Russia with drones is totally unfair. The Russians got things backwards and upside down about who started this war in the first place, so it not surprising they are confused about the fairness of many other things.]

*********************

Czechs summon Russian ambassador over threats against companies

By Reuters | April 16, 2026 12:37 PM CDT

https://www.reuters.com/world/czechs-summon-russian-ambassador-over-th
reats-against-companies-2026-04-16/

PRAGUE, April 16 (Reuters) - The Czech foreign ministry said on Thursday it had ?summoned the Russian ambassador over threats ?against Czech companies.

The ministry said the move was prompted by a Russian defence ministry report ?and comments by former Russian ?President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now deputy ?chair of Russia's Security Council.

"The statements ?were directed against several Czech companies that ?were identified as possible targets of Russian attacks," the ministry said.

Russia's defence ministry warned on Wednesday ?that plans by some European countries ?to step up drone supplies to Ukraine were ?dragging ?those countries deeper into a war with Russia. It published a list of factories and enterprises in European countries that ?it alleged ?produce drones ?or drone components.

Medvedev said in a subsequent post on X ?that the list published by ?the ?military amounted to potential targets for Russia's armed forces.

"When strikes become a reality depends ?on ?what comes next. Sleep ?well, European partners!" he said.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Friday, April 17, 2026 7:51 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Zelenskyy: All cruise missiles shot down in latest attack, but problems remain

The President revealed what Ukrainian troops lack to protect the skies

By Daryna Vialko | Thu, April 16, 2026 - 19:30

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/zelenskyy-all-cruise-missiles-shot-dow
n-in-1776356614.html

Ukrainian defenders managed to destroy all cruise missiles launched by Russian forces over the past day during the latest attack. F-16 fighter jets took part in intercepting the targets, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a doorstep briefing with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.

Read also: Ukraine faces critical Patriot shortage, Zelenskyy says

He noted that Ukraine’s air defense systems are performing very well, with 90% of aerial targets being destroyed. At the same time, the only major problem for Ukraine is a shortage of interceptors for ballistic missiles.

"We have interceptors, we have F-16s, we have other systems such as Patriot, IRIS-T, NASAMS, we are destroying (drones and missiles — ed.). For example, today our F-16s and other systems destroyed all cruise missiles," he said.

Zelenskyy also added that he discussed the shortage of ballistic interceptors during his meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister.

Earlier, Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force, emphasized that F-16s played a significant role in intercepting Russian cruise missiles on April 15–16.

Air defense operations

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, on the evening of April 15, Russian forces launched 20 Kh-101 cruise missiles at Ukraine.

Later, Russia used five Iskander-K cruise missiles in the attack.

The Air Force reported that 19 out of 20 Kh-101 missiles and 4 out of 5 Iskander-K missiles were shot down.

*****************

Ukraine's Patriot missile shortage grows as Russian attacks intensify

The issue is very serious, the Air Force said

By Kateryna Danishevska | Thu, April 16, 2026 – 11:38

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukraine-s-patriot-shortage-grows-as-ru
ssian-1776328074.html

. . . due to the intensity of Russian attacks, the military is forced to conserve ammunition.

"Our people are trained 24/7 and not only know how to successfully intercept ballistic threats, using missiles rationally, not several at once, but trying to save them for later," Ihnat explained.

He added that the systems operate even in difficult conditions, including severe frost, but the key problem remains the supply of missiles.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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