Sweden allows Ukraine to strike on Russian territory with its supplied weapons.
"Ukraine is subject to an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression by Russia. Ukraine has the right under international law to defend itself through acts of war directed against the territory of the opponent as long as the acts of war comply with the laws of war. Sweden supports international law and Ukraine's right to defend itself," Defense Minister Pål Jonson said.
@Ooops@noelreports Tube artillery apparently falls under the US restriction (judging from complaints by Ukrainians on the ground at least, US officials are incredibly evasive about the specifics) so yes, absolutely, 100%, it qualifies. Sure, GMLRS would be better but having one of the best long range systems available for counter-battery against positions in Belgorod and Kursk is not an empty gesture
This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)
@sundogplanets Well at at least that one probably isn't radioactive (cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954) but maybe worth mentioning people should be aware of the risk of toxic propellants and unfired pyros before dragging it into the truck
"I deleted keys generated by our TV for 5 straight minutes. 5 Minutes of like 200BPM clicking. I restarted. Everything worked again. I laughed so hard I cried. I felt like I'd solved a murder."
Also "A Ukrainian defense official confirmed to TWZ that Ukraine had received “help from partners” to produce an updated guidance system for the S-200. “The missile itself has a good maneuvering system, so if provided with proper guidance is quite a modern weapon,”"
One can imagine replacing the 70s GNC with modern stuff would give you a fair bit of mass to play with. And if you can deliver it ballistically to the target area and have a modern seeker take over 🤔
Also raises the question whether the earlier apparent use as a not-very-effective ballistic land attack missile were actually tests. OTOH, with adequate guidance, it should make a pretty decent land attack missile too
Politico "The Biden administration warned Russia that attacking Ukraine’s energy grid and using North Korean-provided missiles would lead the U.S. to reconsider sending ATACMS to Ukraine" (Good: If you're going to restrict weapons in the name of "escalation management" those restrictions should also be subject to the other guy's behavior)
Reportedly, footage of a Ukrainian #YAK52 shooting down a Russian UAV. Gunner in the back with a rifle seems fairly dubious, but a moderately high performance prop plane with modern sights seems like it could be pretty effective for Shahed hunting away from the front lines
"…Holod has revealed a significant increase in illegal arms trafficking in the Belgorod region. Presently, people can buy Kalashnikov assault rifles, hand grenades and even silenced pistols used by special forces for prices ranging from $300 to $350"
Remember at the start of the invasion, when Russian propagandists claimed western aid to #Ukraine would end up in the hands of criminals and terrorists in Europe? https://notes.citeam.org/mobi-april-29-30-2024
"Defense Ministry working to limit satellite imaging of Ukrainian territory"
Unless that work involves lasers, I suspect it effect will be limited (though making it more difficult for Russia to get their hands on western commercial imagery is probably worthwhile)
Cameron's "Kyiv can use British weapons inside Russia" been circulating for about a day without a walk-back 🤨
If an actual policy change you'd expect some Storm Shadow strikes to follow shortly