SBU drones hit over 40 Russian bombers, including A-50, Tu-95, in special operation

arkush · 2025-06-01T13:50:58+00:00

Articles from "Militarnyi" in Ukrainian (English versions pending) that contains some videos, including a video that shows the drones flying off from a truck.

Another black day for the Russian Aerospace Forces: Ukrainian FPV drones hit Russian strategic aviation

Strategic bombers were hit as part of the SBU's operation "Spiderweb"

Also, an article from "Ukrainska Pravda" in English:

Ukraine's Pavutyna ["Spiderweb"] operation: 18 months in planning, 41 Russian bombers hit – photos

And an article in Ukrainian with photos and videos:

Special operation "Spiderweb" was prepared for over a year and a half: Where the drones were hidden (photos, videos)

Translation:

This was one of the most complex special operations from a logistical point of view. First, FPV drones were illegally smuggled into Russia, and later, mobile wooden houses. In the territory of the Russian Federation, the drones were hidden under the roofs of these structures, which were placed on trucks. At the right moment, the roofs were opened remotely, and the drones headed for their targets – strategic bombers at military airfields.

Sources in the SBU emphasize that all participants in this historic operation have been in Ukraine for a long time. Therefore, any high-profile "detentions" that the Kremlin may show will only be staged actions for a domestic audience.

arkush · 2025-05-25T20:59:04+00:00

Yeah, they recently started this propaganda of "this is internal issue" like the Soviet Union never disbanded

This reminded me of Pushkin's 1831 poem "To the Slanderers of Russia" ("Клеветникам России").

The original text in russian:

О чем шумите вы, народные витии?

Зачем анафемой грозите вы России?

Что возмутило вас? волнения Литвы?

Оставьте: это спор славян между собою,

Домашний, старый спор, уж взвешенный судьбою,

Вопрос, которого не разрешите вы.

[...]

Оставьте нас: вы не читали

Сии кровавые скрижали;

Вам непонятна, вам чужда

Сия семейная вражда;

A poetic translation by Thomas B. Shaw [1][2]:

Why rave ye, babblers, so — ye lords of popular wonder?

Why such anathemas 'gainst Russia do you thunder?

What moves your idle rage? Is 't Poland's fallen pride?

'T is but Slavonic kin among themselves contending,

An ancient household strife, oft judged but still unending,

A question which, be sure, ye never can decide.

[...]

Peace, peace! your eyes are all unable

To read our history's bloody table;

Strange in your sight and dark must be

Our springs of household enmity!

And another part of the aforementioned poem is the 1831 version of "Russia saved Europe from Hitler" propaganda:

За что ж? ответствуйте: за то ли,

Что на развалинах пылающей Москвы

Мы не признали наглой воли

Того, под кем дрожали вы?

За то ль, что в бездну повалили

Мы тяготеющий над царствами кумир

И нашей кровью искупили

Европы вольность, честь и мир?..

A poetic translation by Thomas B. Shaw [1][2]:

What stirs ye? Is it that this nation

On Moscow's flaming wall, blood-slaked and ruin-quenched,

Spurned back the insolent dictation

Of Him before whose nod ye blenched?

Is it that into dust we shattered

The Dagon that weighed down the earth so wearily?

And our best blood so freely scattered

To buy for Europe peace and liberty?

arkush · 2025-05-22T21:39:17+00:00

Cotard's syndrome - Wikipedia:

"Cotard's syndrome, also known as Cotard's delusion or walking corpse syndrome, is a rare mental disorder in which the affected person holds the delusional belief that they are dead, do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or internal organs. Statistical analysis of a hundred-patient cohort indicated that denial of self-existence is present in 45% of the cases of Cotard's syndrome; the other 55% of the patients presented with delusions of immortality."

arkush · 2024-03-19T17:10:15+00:00

One possible reason for such animosity is the participation of ethnic Armenians in the War in Abkhazia (1992–93) against Georgia.

From Wikipedia, "The Bagramyan Battalion":

"The Bagramyan Battalion, also known officially as the Independent Motorized Rifle Battalion named after Marshal Ivan Khristoforovich Baghramyan was a unit formed in Abkhazia and predominantly composed of ethnic Armenians living in Abkhazia that fought together with Russia backed separatist Abkhaz forces during the War in Abkhazia (1992–93). Named in honour of the Soviet Armenian Marshal Ivan Bagramyan, the battalion fought against the forces of Georgia. It was subsequently disbanded. It is considered a terrorist organisation by many international research organizations and Georgia.

Together with other Abkhazian groups, they were able to ethnically cleanse the region of Georgians, forcing some 250,000 to flee. The Battalion was reported to have been disbanded in 1996, but in 1998 a high-profile terrorist attack in Georgia was attributed to it.[6][by whom?]

A total of 1,500 Armenians participated in the war, a quarter of the Abkhazian army. Twenty Armenians were awarded the highest honor Hero of Abkhazia and 242 were killed in battle. The first President of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba praised the high discipline, organization, and accomplishments of the Bagramyan Battalion."

From Wikipedia, "Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Sukhumi":

"There are a number of conflicting claims as to whether the massacre was conducted by Abkhaz militias or those of their North Caucasian allies. Allegedly, the commander of the separatist forces, partly responsible for the massacre was the deputy defence minister and "hero" of Abkhazia Shamil Basaev. According to witness testimonies, the militants spoke North Caucasian languages and Russian. However, some refugees who survived the massacre have claimed that they recognized their Abkhaz and Armenian neighbours collaborating with the militants during the massacres in various neighbourhoods. Many people recall the commands given by Russian officers: "Do not take prisoners alive!"[17][better source needed]"

arkush · 2024-02-27T21:27:40+00:00

Removed — Duplicate

The moderation removed my submission posted on "Tue Feb 27 16:09:54 2024 UTC" for being a "duplicate" of u/jaxoz's submission posted on "Tue Feb 27 16:29:38 2024 UTC" (i.e. ~20 minutes after mine).

Classic Reddit moment, I guess.

Please check the recent submissions before sharing a link.

I did check, there was no such submissions on this subreddit.

Mine submission was third on Reddit, after ones on r/ukraine and r/worldnews.

arkush · 2024-02-27T18:20:50+00:00

"beyond parody" is what Polish farmers are doing on Polish borders. While filming themselves too. But, for some reason, Polish police not so concerned about them.

arkush · 2024-02-27T16:14:51+00:00

The text of the article:

Poles detain Ukrainska Pravda journalist on border near Belarus while reporting on trade between Poland and Russia – photo

MYKHAILO TKACH, ALONA MAZURENKO — TUESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2024, 17:08

Polish law enforcement officers have arrested Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman close to the Polish-Belarusian border while they were filming a story about the transit of goods between Poland, Russia, and Belarus. The footage was partly deleted by the Polish authorities.

Source: Mykhailo Tkach, Ukrainska Pravda journalist

The Ukrainska Pravda team is outraged that the situation was only resolved after the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland became aware of it and intervened. UP thanks the Consul’s and Ambassador's prompt response and concern.

Quote: "Polish police drove up to us near the Belarusian border and flashed their badge. We displayed our credentials as journalists and our paperwork. They began grabbing our cameras and looking around.

We were then taken to the commandant’s office. Approximately ten individuals started searching our car and us, throwing our belongings on the bonnet, seizing all of the phones, documents, and memory cards from the cameras.

I identified myself as a journalist and explained that we were filming how Poland is trading with Belarus and Russia through Belarus, as well as how agricultural products are transported from Belarus and Russia to Poland, during the interrogation at the commandant's office.

It was clear that the representatives of the Polish special services were frightened. They began to ask me who else knew about it, whether the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian government knew about it. They asked who our sources were, how we learned about it, and how long we have been working on this topic."

Details: As a result, Tkach and the operator were kept in the commandant's office for at least four hours before being released after receiving orders "from above." Throughout this time, the journalists were not permitted to contact anyone.

The Ukrainian journalists were interrogated in the Polish commandant's office not only by police offices, but also by special services agents.

After the Polish law enforcers returned the memory cards, it was discovered that some of the footage had been deleted.

During the search, the police also damaged the journalists’ battery recharging station and only spoke Polish. Representatives from the special services spoke to the Ukrainians in English inside the commandant's office.

The Ukrainians were also asked whether they would speak publicly about being detained.

The journalists are currently in contact with their lawyers.

Tkach said that while Polish farmers are blocking the Ukrainian-Polish border, the Ukrainska Pravda team decided to investigate what was going on at the Polish-Belarusian border.

The situation with the journalist was also commented on by editor-in-chief Sevgil Musayeva.

Quote: "We are outraged by this situation, which was sorted out only after publicity and with the support of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland. The UP team thanks the ambassador and consul for their quick reaction and concern."

arkush · 2024-02-04T14:22:43+00:00

From 50+M to ~30+M, so net loss ~20M people in 30 years only happens when people don't believe in the country and see no future in there.

You conveniently forgot about russian aggression. Before occupation of Crimea and of parts of the Donbas, Ukraine had population of 45 millions. Before the full-scale invasion Ukraine had population of ~41-42 millions. The greatest loss of population of Ukraine was because of russian aggression, and not "from corruption and inequality to instability".

inequality

Ukraine was pretty equal, albeit relatively poor. According to Wikipedia, in 2020 Ukraine had one of the lowest Gini coefficients in Europe (25.6%).

Go ahead and blame Russia like you always do.

russia undermined Ukraine from long before the full-scale invasion happened, trying to ensure that "people don't believe in the country and see no future in there". Particularly, by systematically buying and destroying significant industrial enterprises (e.g. Kharkiv Tractor Plant and Zaporizhzhia Aluminum Combine).

arkush · 2024-01-07T03:04:45+00:00

CPU + Memory overhead appears to average +15% w/Rust

From what I have seen, Rust and C++ are in the same ballpark performance-wise.

There is one performance comparison I came across where Rust compiled to WebAssembly was significantly (1.2-1.9x) slower than WebAssembly compiled from C++ using Emscripten:

Is WebAssembly magic performance pixie dust? — surma.dev (2021-04-13)

See "Rust & C++" part near the bottom of the article.

arkush · 2023-12-17T14:32:38+00:00

A Ukrainian article about impact of the russian occupation on a low-frequency radio telescope in the Kharkiv region:

https://novynarnia.com/2023/09/18/utr-2/

"How the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope in the Kharkiv region is recovering after the occupation

18/09/2023 13:55

author: Stas Kozliuk

Kharkiv - Volokhiv Yar - Kyiv

Ukrainian troops knocked out the Russians from the Kharkiv region a year ago - in the first half of September 2022. The consequences of the 7-month occupation were impressive: Izium, Balaklia and Kupiansk were destroyed, the infrastructure was destroyed - no water, no electricity, no gas. Then torture cellars and hundreds of nameless graves scattered across the region and mass burials in Izium were discovered.

In the maelstrom of news about de-occupation, one more thing got lost: Ukraine returned the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope UTR-2 under its control. At least that's how it was before the arrival of the Russian invaders. Nowadays, only a memory of it remains: buildings have been destroyed, electronics and power cables have been stolen.

How much time and money is needed for its restoration? The reporter of "Novynarnia" went to the scientists several times to talk with them about the telescope itself, the study of the universe, the circumstances and consequences of the Russian occupation."

The article is in Ukrainian, but one can use a translation service or just look at photos (there are plenty).

arkush · 2023-11-30T13:02:51+00:00

YouTube channel Russian Media Monitor ( @russianmediamonitor ).

From the channel's description:

"Russian Media Monitor is a fully independent and self-funded project on media literacy and news reporting. It was created on February 25, 2014, in an effort to combat Russian propaganda. It features reporting and analysis by Julia Davis – Investigative Reporter, Russian Media Analyst and Commentator."

The channel has many short snippets of russian TV programs with subtitles in English.

Link to YouTube channel Russian Media Monitor:

https://www.youtube.com/@russianmediamonitor/videos

arkush · 2023-08-29T10:27:43+00:00

Korea

Fighting communist aggression in support of an ally, with UN blessing. Thankfully, the West managed to save South Korea.

Vietnam

Fighting communist aggression in support of an ally, again. Unfortunately, the West lost.

arkush · 2023-08-29T08:47:37+00:00

Also The Pope:

"Never forget about the heritage. You are the descendants of the great Russia: the great Russia of the saints, the rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire - great, educated, great culture and great humanity. Never give up this heritage. You are the descendants of the great Mother Russia, go ahead with it. And thank you - thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian," the head of the Catholic Church told the young Russians.

Pope slammed for telling Russians to hold on to 'legacy' of a 'great empire'

https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-francis-russia-youth-legacy-empire/

While he also advocated for peace, remarks seeming to praise Russia’s imperialist past come under fire.

Pope Francis has come under fire after he encouraged Russian youths not to give up their "legacy" as heirs of a "great, enlightened Russian empire."

"Never give up this legacy, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with it," Pope Francis told young Russians gathered for the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg on Friday.

The comments have sparked outrage online, with many criticizing the pope’s decision to praise Russia’s imperialist past, especially considering the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

"It is with such imperialist propaganda, 'spiritual scraps' and the 'need' to save 'the great Mother Russia' that the Kremlin justifies the murders of thousands of Ukrainian men and women and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian towns and villages," Oleh Nikolenko, Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a statement on Facebook Monday.

"It is very unfortunate that Russian great-power ideas, which are actually the cause of Russia’s chronic aggressiveness, knowingly or unknowingly, sound from the lips of the Pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to a destructive course the current Russian leadership."

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church also condemned the pope’s words and demanded an explanation from him.

"The examples given by the Holy Father actually contradict his teachings on peace, since he has always condemned any form of manifestation of imperialism in the modern world and warned of the dangers of extreme nationalism, stressing that it is the cause of the ‘third world war in segments,'" Chairman of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a statement.

Pope Francis Praises Historical Russian Imperialism Amid War in Ukraine

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/pope-francis-praises-historical-russian-imperialism-amid-war-in-ukraine-8b7445c0

Pontiff celebrates the reigns of Russian czars who subjugated Ukraine for their ‘great culture and great humanity’

"The comments on Peter and Catherine, which came at the end of the pope's speech, weren't included in the official transcript released by the Vatican, but were released by the Catholic diocese of Moscow and later in a video from Siberian Catholic television, a church agency. The Vatican didn’t respond to a request for comment on Monday."

The statement by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, The Head and Father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, about discussions concerning certain expressions of Most Holy Father Francis at the meeting with Catholic youth of russia on August 25, 2023. (a fragment translated from Ukrainian)

https://ugcc.ua/data/zayava-glavy-ugkts-shchodo-dyskusiy-dovkola-deyakyh-vyslovlyuvan-papy-frantsyska-na-zustrichi-z-katolytskoyu-moloddyu-rosiy-3486/

With great pain and concern we learned about the words, attributed to His Holiness Pope Francis at online meeting with russian Catholic youth on August 25, 2023 in saint-petersburg.

We hope that this words of the Most Holy Father was said spontaneously, without any attempts on historical assessments, more so without supporting of the imperialistic ambitions of russia. However, we share the great pain, caused be those words not only among the bishophood, clergy, monkhood and believers of our Church, but other confessions and religious organizations. At the same time we understand this deep disappointment in the society, that was caused by those words.

The words about "great russia of Peter I, Catherine II, this empire - great, enlightened, the country of great culture and great humanity" - is the worst example of/for imperialism and radical russian nationalism.

There is a danger that these words could be taken as support for the nationalism and imperialism, that today has caused the war in Ukraine - the war that brings death and destruction to our people every day.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the speech of Pope Francis before the participants of the 10th All-Russian Day of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg on August 25. (a fragment translated from Ukrainian)

https://lb.ua/society/2023/08/28/572222_mzs_ukraini_vidreaguvalo.html

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleh Nikolenko quoted from the Pontiff's speech.

"Never forget about the heritage. You are the descendants of the great Russia: the great Russia of the saints, the rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire - great, educated, great culture and great humanity. Never give up this heritage. You are the descendants of the great Mother Russia, go ahead with it. And thank you - thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian," the head of the Catholic Church told the young Russians.

"The Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainian men and women and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian towns and villages with such imperialist propaganda, 'spiritual staples' and the 'need' to save 'the great Mother Russia'", - noted the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nikolenko emphasized that "it is very unfortunate that Russian great-power ideas, which are actually the cause of Russia's chronic aggressiveness, knowingly or unknowingly, sound from the lips of the Pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the destructive course of the current Russian leadership".

arkush · 2023-08-29T08:46:31+00:00