Ukraine attacked Moscow on Wednesday with at least 11 drones that were shot down by air defences in what Russian officials called one of the biggest drone strikes on the capital since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.

The war, largely a grinding artillery and drone battle across the fields, forests and villages of eastern Ukraine, escalated on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thousands of soldiers over the border into Russia’s western Kursk region.

For months, Ukraine has also fought an increasingly damaging drone war against the refineries and airfields of Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, though major drone attacks on the Moscow region - with a population of over 21 million - have been rarer.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences destroyed a total of 45 drones over Russian territory, including 11 over the Moscow region, 23 over the border region of Bryansk, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    22 days ago

    Also the problem with terrorism and retaliation is that terrorism is a guerrilla tactic, and the attacker cannot be located.

    Conflating a terrorist group with the host population that it inhabits leads to sloppy retaliation and hence escalation of the conflict.

    Retaliation is the way to end a conflict, but terrorism prevents retaliation by its nature.

    • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      22 days ago

      This is absolutely true .

      Which is why the Russians were so foolish as to commit blatant terrorism while leaving their calling cards.

      We made an example of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, those lessons held. The same is needed here to imprint the lesson.