Ukraine Is In More Danger Than It Seems

Winter is coming.
Winter is coming. Photographer: Oleksandr Klymenko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
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By the end of last week, Russia’s state TV news anchors were cock-a-hoop over Ukraine’s evident plight as it ran out of interceptors for the Patriot missile batteries needed to stop Moscow’s ballistic missiles. Anything Russia targets can now be destroyed, including Kyiv’s air defenses, they gloated: “All Ukraine’s drone industry is being methodically taken down.”

Of course, had you been getting your news from Russian TV for the last five years, you’d have known with absolute certainty that President Vladimir Putin would never invade Ukraine, and once he did that the Ukrainians would never fight back because they’re really Russians. Four years after they did fight back you’d have no clue that your own troops are sustaining massive casualties to move forward at a rate slower than in the trench warfare of World War I. So, not a reliable witness.

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