The Ukrainian president warned airlines, insurers and foreign governments that the growing scale of Kyiv’s drone operations would make Russian airspace increasingly unsafe for aircraft.

  • bstix@feddit.dk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    13 hours ago

    It already was unsafe for aircraft from most countries anyway. This is just a kind warning for Russia and China who still flies there. It’ll be interesting to see what China does. It was only yesterday that someone here wrote how he preferred the Chinese airlines because they flew the fast route over Russia. Guess you need to reconsider that.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      8 hours ago

      It’ll be interesting to see what China does.

      If the Ukrainians shoot down a Chinese civilian airliner, they would be fucking themselves at a level that has not been seen since Pearl Harbor.

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 hours ago

        I doubt Ukrainian drones can even fly that high. This is a kind warning to let people know that russian air defense is going to be so keyed up that they’ll likely shoot down civilian airliners. Again.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          2 hours ago

          I doubt Ukrainian drones can even fly that high.

          Drones aren’t the only tool in the kit. There’s no shortage of anti-air defenses that can hit commercial airliners, especially as they’re taking off or landing.

          This is a kind warning to let people know that russian air defense is going to be so keyed up that they’ll likely shoot down civilian airliners.

          If a civilian aircraft is shot down, the Ukrainians will almost certainly insist the Russians did it themselves. Idk how many people will believe them, after Zelensky basically painted a target on every Russian airport.

      • aquovie@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        5 hours ago

        While Ukraine has a huge domestic drone assembly industry, I’m sure a lot of the basic chips and radios are still coming from China. It’s not hyperbole to say the war hinges on that supply continuing.

        OTOH, Russia AA loves shooting down civilian airliners and they’re going to be getting twitchy around airports now.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        8 hours ago

        I don’t think anyone was suggesting the ukrainians would do that. Buuuut if a Chinese aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Russian airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

        • doben@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          8 hours ago

          Of course, killing however many civilians is always just collateral, if the right side does it.

          • Tango@piefed.caOP
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            6 hours ago

            WTF is even the point that you’re trying to argue? That Ukraine should roll over and allow itself to be conquered? I doubt whether that’s the point you’re making, so please explain the underlying point of your argument, because it’s not as self-evident as you seem to think it is.

            • doben@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              3 hours ago

              Don’t fantasise about war crimes, just because you think you’re on the right team. It’s not that complicated.

                • doben@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 hours ago

                  Let’s not pretend Ukraine ultra echodot up there was articulating a pragmatic and neutral scenario. But if you do, you can also pretend to have entirely identical feelings on similar scenarios involving other players.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Russians would do that. Buuuut if a German aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Ukrainian airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Israelis would do that. Buuuut if a Spanish aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Palestinian airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Lebanese would do that. Buuuut if a US aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Israeli airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Iranians would do that. Buuuut if a Israeli aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in the Emirate’s airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Saudis would do that. Buuuut if a Iranian aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Yemeni airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the US-Americans would do that. Buuuut if a Russian aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Cuban airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Venezuelans would do that. Buuuut if a US aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Cuban airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the Chinese would do that. Buuuut if a US aircraft aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Taiwanese airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  I don’t think anyone was suggesting the French would do that. Buuuut if a Mali aircraft ended up colliding with a drone after being warned not to fly in Burkina Faso airspace, well then it’s just an unfortunate accident and it could have been avoided had they heeded the warning.

                  Or, you could admit that you make differences, depending on who’s who.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      8 hours ago

      The entire world is taking a hard fascist turn. Trying to single out any one country misses the forest for the trees.

      But if you’re wondering why people were extremely leery at Ukraine early on, well… there are reasons. Still, much more of a problem with Canadian fascists than Ukrainian ones.

    • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 day ago

      But Ukraine IS a nazi state! They do nazi civilians as valid targets, they do nazi committing war crimes as a positive, they certainly do nazi Russians having any success in Ukraine!

      ;-)

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Lots of countries have ignorant dick heads. The key is to not let them be in charge.

      • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        I thought the script was that Europeans are all Nazis and the only true democracy is the USSR and it’s faithful and loving Father Stalin/Lennon/Putin. /S

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          8 hours ago

          Well Russia started the war so obviously they’ve got to be the innocent ones, stands to reason.

    • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      81
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      Anyone still hanging on to that russian fairy tale must be either missing around half a brain or getting paid by the FSB.

        • Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          Holy crap they do. I just bumped into a bunch in technology. One guy told me Russia is a victim of "imperialist encirclement ". I was just commenting on a supposed laser weapon they may or may not have.

          • doben@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            17
            ·
            22 hours ago

            Which is in fact true, this is part of the US‘s pivot to Asia (since Obama). If you‘d care you could read about that stuff in their National Security Strategy papers, like the one from 2022 under Biden and from 2025 under Trump.

            China is the main threat for western Capitalism, most importantly for the US Empire, as they are the currency monopoly, military bully and world hegemon. Russia as the strongest ally of China protects China‘s northern land mass border just by existing. For that it‘s important to balkanize Russia (the U.S. Helsinki Commission actually calls it „Decolonizing Russia: A Moral and Strategic Imperative“). This means to forcefully break the country up into smaller, more manageable regions.

            Anyway, the general idea for Europe is to take care of Russia, so the US is able to focus on the indo-pacific, meaning China. It‘s the geo-strategic reality of the western block to remain (or regain) world dominance. It‘s capitalism in it‘s highest stage, imperialism.

            This is a very common political analysis, not only shared by communists. It‘s just that most folks on lemmy are basing their political understanding on vibes and what western corporate media tells them. It‘s a choice to go beyond that.

            • Fluke@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              13
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              13 hours ago

              I fail to see how that makes it okay for Putin’s Russia to commit the atrocities it has, and continues to.

              Even purely from the Russian POV, the repercussions of the economic damage being inflicted, the sheer number of working age men being ground to paste, will hold the country back for generations to come.

              Beyond that, it gives the rest of the world justification to tighten the noose faster than ever.

              To gain what exactly? Bearing in mind we’re into what, year 5? of the “3 day Special Military Operation”.

              • doben@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                arrow-down
                9
                ·
                edit-2
                9 hours ago

                Curious, you are the very “folks on Lemmy (that) are basing their political understanding on vibes and what western corporate media tells them.”
                If you’re unable to see, I’d suggest to do something against that. Maybe see a doctor, get a service dog or something.

                I’m not sure what to tell you, that will satisfy you (there’s nothing, because you’re weird like that). You’re commenting that on a post about the Ukrainian president openly threatening to commit state terrorism, while you are also defending that by whatabouting with some weird ass “but they did it first” with questionable logic in another comment, merely reproducing western narratives.

                I don’t think you understand the Russian POV, or that of any state outside the imperial core for that matter, because I don’t believe you even take these states seriously at all. All I see is chauvinism.

                Beyond that, the rest of the world, outside of the western block, is not tightening any noose on Russia, quite the contrary, as they understand, that this is a proxy war and NATO is actively working to destroy the country for their own ambitions towards world domination since well over a decade now, using Ukraine as a battleground to do so.

                To gain what exactly?

                Ya, I think I answered that with my previous comment. Maybe read it again and try to understand its contents.

                • audrbox@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  7 hours ago

                  Behold the tankie, who uses their big ol’ unpropagandized brain to cartwheel through a series of sociopolitical facts that sound like they’re relevant to the conversation but that if you think through for more than a few seconds, you realize are not actually saying anything

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              8 hours ago

              Which is in fact true

              It does get very tiresome to see people reject decades of Cold War and post-Soviet collapse history, because the (US-backed) fascist dictator of Russia turned on his western handlers.

              Anyway, the general idea for Europe is to take care of Russia, so the US is able to focus on the indo-pacific, meaning China. It‘s the geo-strategic reality of the western block to remain (or regain) world dominance. It‘s capitalism in it‘s highest stage, imperialism.

              Okay, but have you considered that China Bad and we need to save all those good-hearted, liberty-loving, free-market Australians and Philippians and Taiwanese from the oppressive yoke of The Red Dragon?

              It‘s just that most folks on lemmy are basing their political understanding on vibes and what western corporate media tells them.

              Nonsense. I’m immune to propaganda because I’m smart.

              Only you idiot tankies have been fooled.

              • 5318008@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                8 hours ago

                I’m immune to propaganda because I’m smart.

                That’s not how that works. A smart person would recognize that there are degrees of smartness and degrees of immunity. Even if we accept that smarter people are less susceptible to propaganda, there is no threshold of smartness that grants immunity to propaganda.

                The most important service one can provide to a kind-of-smart person is to tell them when they’ve said something stupid. I’m happy to provide this service. Please rate 5 stars.

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  8 hours ago

                  A smart person would recognize that there are degrees of smartness and degrees of immunity.

                  And I’m the smartest person, therefore I enjoy the maximum amount of immunity.

                  there is no threshold of smartness that grants immunity to propaganda.

                  Just be smarter, idiot.

                  The most important service one can provide to a kind-of-smart person is to tell them when they’ve said something stupid.

                  Impossible for me to say something stupid. It is actually stupid to suggest what I said wasn’t the Immaculate Truth as Delivered By God.

                  The only people who would suggest what I said wasn’t stupid are

                  a) Idiots

                  b) A vast and sinister conspiracy of malicious actors attempting to destroy me, everyone I hold dear, and my country.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        Russia doesn’t pay those guys; just like it doesn’t pay the Alberta hillbillies it lies to about separation and ‘RoC’ and other conservative slop.

        It pays the bot farms.

        • Nobody@anarchist.nexus
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          25
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          Russia pays the bot farms and some of the mouthpieces. Tim Pool and his ilk that got caught taking money from Moscow.

  • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    If I were a master tactitcian, I would say this publicly knowing that Russia will not restrict its own airspace to avoid pissing off the people he really doesn’t want to piss off.

    But when the Russians see the drones, they will not be booking flights. I imagine pilots may avoid flying all together. This will neuter air transport.

    Everything must be done by ground - train or automotive. Ukraine can then target russian transport infrastructure to inhibit the movement of troops, supplies, weapons, and important economic streams.

    Wars are not won by out killing the enemy. Wars are won when logistics are halted.

    Cut off the food, water, fuel and ammo to the front line, and it shatters.

    • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 day ago

      It’s also gives Ukraine an out if a civilian plane is hit. They should do there due diligence but if there is a plane flying and it sucks a drone into the engine. It wouldn’t be a big suprise.

  • MutantTailThing@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    48
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    This may be a bit off-topic, but I think we can draw a parallel between Putins clusterfuck of a clown war and Trumps operation Epstein fury.

    Turns out if you purge your entire military leadership and replace them with incompetent corrupt sycophantic asslickers before you do the funny, you’re in for a bad time.

    • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 day ago

      There was a learning period where the USA saw what ukraine can do with a larger force. Russia lost because of corruption America is not doing well because of incompetence.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      13 hours ago

      I don’t think they could reliably get people to that area to launch drones, but I also don’t think it would be particularly useful to do. MAYBE to further distract Russian air defenses, but as a certified Armchair Strategist, I don’t really see any other advantage in doing it. Maybe if Russia was fighting someone else around there, but I don’t think they’re particularly keen on attacking Alaska currently.

    • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      Is there a tactical advantage to hitting there. Considering Russia military is struggling to get equipment to other parts of Russia that shows how much Russia has lost control of there own airspace.

      • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        21 hours ago

        i don’t think so it’s just that the post reminded me of the eastern part of the country and the trans-siberian rail.

    • testaccount372920@piefed.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      2 days ago

      Not yet, but they can reach past the Ural mountains, they’ve hit targets in Yekaterinburg and Omsk. Most Russians live west of the Urals, so disrupting all that airspace is enough to disrupt personal life and production facilities. It won’t disrupt resource extraction related logistics, but that’s because that was never by air to begin with.

    • Tango@piefed.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      15 hours ago

      Except Zelenskyy specifically said that Ukraine WON’T target civilian aircraft. He said that there are going to be more and more drones in Russian airspace which will, naturally, make flying in that airspace riskier and more prone to collisions. He doesn’t want Ukraine to get blamed if a civilian aircraft flies into one of the many drones swarming Russian airspace, or if it gets hit by all the Russian AA firing on those drones. Since when is pointing out that warzones are dangerous, terrorism?

    • ddplf@szmer.info
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      17 hours ago

      Boy you’re gonna be pissed when I tell you what’s Russia been doin past 4 years

      • Vlado@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        16 hours ago

        He won’t. He’ll just have a million of “convenient” reasons why Russian terrorism is good, because it’s a terrorism against “bad west” and fascists and liberals. Like all of those ml bots always do.

      • chloroken@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        31
        ·
        16 hours ago

        Shooting civilian airplanes is terrorism. No amount of whinging will save you.

        • Fluke@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          15
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          13 hours ago

          Russia has downed at least two civilian aircraft in recent years.

          Way to prove a point.

        • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          18
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          16 hours ago

          The Ukrainian president warned airlines, insurers and foreign governments that the growing scale of Kyiv’s drone operations would make Russian airspace increasingly unsafe for aircraft.

          You don’t even have to read the article, it’s right here in the summary. Where does it say they will target civilian planes?

          • 3abas@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            12 hours ago

            Netanyahu insists the IDF doesn’t target civilians.

            There’s a lesson to learn about taking leaders of governments’ words at face value that y’all refuse to learn.

            I don’t think Ukraine is targeting or planning to target civilian aircraft, but it’s incredibly stupid to base that conclusion on “he said he won’t do it” or “he didn’t explicitly say he’d do it”.

            • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              12 hours ago

              Lmao, a little terrorism is fine, as a treat.

              I’m assuming he meant ‘threat’ and that we’re talking about what was said here, not about what someone might do or not do. But maybe he did mean ‘treat’…

              • 3abas@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                9 hours ago

                If I go back to my Netanyahu example, “we warned you and told you to get out of the dangerous warzone” is used as a coded threat for “we’re gonna bomb your entire neighborhood and it’s your fault for being in a warzone.”

                The same argument could be made here, by stating that Russian airspace is closed, it could be a coded threat with the prolitical out of “we told them it’s dangerous”.

                Obviously war zones are dangerous, one should wonder why it needs to be stated. I think it’s more chest puffing and “look how well we’re doing”, but if a couple civilian aircraft suddenly start colliding with Ukrainian drones, I would no longer be confident that it wasn’t a threat.

                He does support Israel unconditionally, so I wouldn’t put it past him to consider it as an option, I don’t think he’s stupid enough to think it’s an advantageous option or one he could politically survive. I do think it’s just boasting about having an edge.

                I don’t think it’s a threat, it very much could be one, he doesn’t have to literally come out and say it.

  • nullify3112@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    29
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Is Zelensky gonna pull an MH17 on Russia? As much as I support Ukraine, that would be a bad look… I guess the context will be different since there is now a warning and I doubt Ukraine would target jet liners like that intentionally but still, it’s getting into “does the end really justify the means” territory

    • Tango@piefed.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      24 hours ago

      He’s not saying “we’re gonna target civilian aircraft”, he’s saying “we’re starting to really like using drones to hit various targets in Russia and are planning on doing more of that, so civilian aircraft might wanna avoid flying through Russia because it’s gonna be hard to fly around all the drones there”.

    • Nautalax@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 day ago

      By credibly warning that he intends to close the airspace he can make airlines think twice about flying in Russia in general and near Ukraine in particular, likely damaging the Russian economy even without actually lifting a finger. Who knows how serious he is

    • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 day ago

      No, but its an active war zone and he is providing a clear warning that its extremely hazardous