Russia Ramps up Drone Attacks in Ukraine
The Facts
Ukrainian authorities said Friday that Russia launched a wave of nighttime drone and missile attacks across 10 of Ukraine's 24 regions, adding that Moscow had expanded the number of drones it uses in its routine overnight attacks as winter approaches. Kyiv's Air Force said it intercepted 24 of Russia's 38 Shahed drones as well as one Kh-59 cruise missile.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it unloaded "15 multiple-launch precision by weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles," targeting Ukrainian "missile and artillery armament depots, armament and military hardware storage facilities, and temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian troops, nationalists and foreign mercenaries." It said it wiped out production sites of UAVs, naval drones, and groups of foreign instructors and mercenary soldiers.
The Spin
Pro-Russia narrative
The ease with which Russia can destroy Ukrainian air strikes has been proven time and time again, and the same will be said once Kyiv receives its F-16 fighter jets. Based on how quickly Russia has taken out dozens of Ukrainian planes and more than a thousand of its drones, the elimination of F-16s will be a fairly straightforward military objective. There is no victorious future for the Western-backed Ukraine, only prolonged defeat and misery.
Anti-Russia narrative
Despite Russia's talk about overwhelming Ukraine in the air, this war has come to a static pause, with both sides putting up equally impenetrable air defenses. Moscow has had just as hard a time breaking through the thousand-mile frontline as Kyiv, which means the underdog Ukraine has, before receiving the proper air power it needs, already stunted the supposedly stronger Kremlin.