In light of yesterday’s news about the successful use of the latest interceptor against reactive Shaheds, I made the mistake of going on Facebook and reading something like the following comment: “… yesterday a reactive Shahed flew across all of Kyiv, and these idiots just watched it, and now we are listening to another fairy tale about interceptors.”
Do you know what the problem with Ukrainian Facebook is?
The thoughts of experts drown in posts from true ignoramuses (often generated by artificial intelligence), as well as in comments from ordinary people, who constantly feel that someone owes them something.
Experts on military topics (especially from specialized military groups or on LBZ directions) usually have to remain silent to avoid giving the enemy detailed information about the deployment of various forces and means.
And it seems that the air defense folks are idiots, the manufacturers are morons, but only the username sitting on the couch and hiding from the TCC or already deep in retirement and not owing anything to anyone, or just housewives/househusbands, office workers, economic front holders, powerful phone case sellers with animators, and other categories of the population are awesome. And they, poor things, suffer from ballistic and drone attacks. While the idiots from air defense “on a cigarette break” just watch (s).
Suffering – no questions there. Everyone suffers. Including the families of servicemen, who do not see them for weeks and months, and the workers of defense plants who are at 100% risk of being buried alive under concrete slabs.
So, sit in a circle, and I will tell you a little chronology of events to dispel the illusions of the God-bearing nation about their role in history.
With Independence, Ukraine received a huge group of air defense forces and means.
There were legendary Shilkas and Osas, tons of MANPADS, and powerful systems like the S-300.
It got an industry that, on one hand, could repair and maintain part of this in proper condition, and on the other, try to make its own anti-aircraft missile systems, etc. It received a huge number of highly trained specialists who knew how to do design work and understood the key term for any plant – “production culture.”
During the years of Independence, the God-bearing nation not only wasn’t going to fight anyone but also obviously wasn’t going to defend its skies, because it systematically elected to power those who:
a) sold anti-aircraft missile systems worldwide, and dismantled the rest for scrap
b) reduced funding for their applied science to almost zero, sending specialists from related institutes and factories to the market to sell lingerie, and either turned defense enterprises into shopping and entertainment centers, which are now targeted by ballistic missiles, or simply demolished and developed residential complexes on the territories, which are now targeted by drones.
c) cut the Army’s funding so much that rotten cables lay between the remaining air defense systems, and the salary of a serviceman, who was somehow supposed to protect the citizens, was less than that of a cashier in a supermarket.
d) reduced funding for fundamental science and specialized institutes to the extent that we virtually lost the ability to dream about our own technological base for advanced missile systems.
Everywhere, the idea was nurtured that “if something happens, we’ll sell grain and buy everything in the world of capitalism and global trade simply with money.”
Hello, God-bearing nation, it’s 2026 speaking to you. I have a lot of bad news for you.
But let’s go back to 2022.
By some miracle, the sky was held up by the air defense that was not only not dismantled for scrap but was also somehow revived from 2014 to 2022. The first cruise missiles and Russian aviation were destroyed by the ancient BUKs, S-300s, MiG-29s, Su-27s, and MANPADS, which were as old as I am.
Although there was no science fiction here. There was systematic work since 2014, as well as the courage, bravery, and skill of the soldiers who took to the skies and engaged in battle, “burning” their eyes on radar screens, peering into the sights of systems, and so on.
Sorry, I’m rushing a bit, skipping many details, but it is what it is.
The fact is that the “fools” from the air defense didn’t surrender the skies to the Russians and didn’t allow Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine to be turned into a new Aleppo (Google it) through carpet bombing by TU-22M3 or similar aircraft.
Then came the deliveries of Patriots, Gepards, Hawks, and aviation from allies and partners.
But suddenly, very “funny” balalaikas from the Russians appeared — Iranian Shaheds.
Laughter and jokes about subsonic buzzing suddenly turned to tears, as it turned out that the generally developed world had become unaccustomed to fighting such low-speed, cheap, and mass targets. Patriots and jet fighters were practically powerless.
Once again, the role of machine guns, mobile fire (and just fire) groups with Brownings, KPVTs, and Maxim machine guns, ZU-23-2, modernized Shilkas (also known as Rockach), old Gepards from storage bases, army aviation on the not-so-young MI-8s, S-60 guns, etc., rose.
All this was done, deployed, and emerged “on the fly” amid seas of blood and sweat, missile hits on repair bases, with the removal of air defense personnel to infantry, as some were hiding from the military registration office, causing entire front sections to crumple.
Not to mention the shortage of certain caliber shells, missiles for anti-aircraft systems, radars (because they are our “eyes”!), pickups, tablets, fuel (!), and skilled commanders (!!!).
But at a certain point, it seemed that we were overcoming the air enemy in the form of Shaheds/Gerans/Gerbers.
Then the Russians increased the altitude of drone flights, and everything that shoots bullets became helpless. No, it made sense because it covered low altitudes, where the Shaheds now didn’t dare to venture (this is what distinguishes the opinion of armchair idiots, who began to talk about the uselessness of MVG, from the thoughts of specialists. Somehow it turned out that where “useless” MVG was removed, – the Shaheds started flying low again. Oh.), yet the military and weapons manufacturers began seeking a cheap and quick solution to destroy the Shaheds.
Someone (I don’t know who, but please award them Hero of Ukraine. I’m not joking. Or if it’s a civilian – some civilian analog of the highest state award) thought to turn an FPV drone into a flying death for Russian balalaikas.
This led to the emergence of interceptor drones. Flyers, stingers, lithuans, and others buzzed into the sky, searching for targets and striking them. Engineers worked around the clock (!) seeking solutions to complex technical challenges, traveling with manufacturers to positions, freezing at minus 20, and trudging through mud and grime.
No matter what Facebook scribes said about needing anti-aircraft missiles or that drones are nonsense, interceptor drones from a dozen domestic manufacturers in the hands of ordinary mobilized men and women busted the teeth of the Russian Federation in its attempt to overwhelm Ukraine with thousands of ordinary geraniums, gerberas, parodies, lightning, and more.
The sky was burning.
This is a historical fact, documented in hundreds of combat action journals.
If the authors of the term “idiots with AA” finally joined the Army and took shifts at the positions, at control points, or near pilots and radar screens, they would shut their mouths, take a vow of silence, and gnaw off their own fingers not to write nonsense in comments.
It’s very easy to criticize the hits because they happened, but it’s hard to acknowledge the thousands of intercepted targets that didn’t reach peaceful cities because… they didn’t hit anything, and the scribes did not experience it firsthand.
Because they were intercepted, destroyed, driven into the ground, or died from targeted strikes on AA positions, since AA positions are a priority for the enemy.
(Eternal glory to all the warriors who performed air defense tasks, didn’t leave their posts, and tracked the targets to the end, directing weapons at them).
In the fields, fragments of enemy drones are collected by the police and DSNS, but armchair experts won’t work in the police because they’re “cops,” and not in the DSNS – because, come on, it’s a dangerous job, and they don’t pay as much as at a smartphone case shop.
Besides, in everything mentioned above, we’ve bracketed out a huge layer of work on tactics of using available forces and means, which was crucial. You can have an endless number of bullets and missiles, but if you shoot in the wrong place or wrong way, it’s useless.
Why am I not writing in detail about this?
Because it’s not for social media.
At the same time, in this part, Ukraine severely lacked and still lacks professional commanders.
Now, we’ve reached the next iteration. Turbojet geraniums, banderoles. Different altitudes, application logic, practical ineffectiveness of bullets and regular multirotor intercept drones.
Design bureaus are working again. Solutions are being sought again. Months of trial and error, nights on ranges, premature joy, and overconfident announcements.
A bunch of “bottlenecks” in the details of jet interceptors, because we remember the specialists at the market with underwear, destroyed high-tech factories, and the reluctance of partners to sell us anything, because they need it themselves, as full-scale World War III is approaching (hello, civilian. Still indulging in the illusion that what you read in the news doesn’t hint at anything? Can’t draw analogies? Time is ticking. Think).
… The drone interceptor first hummed evenly, the nozzle scattering light dust from under the catapult. The pilot very smoothly brought the throttle to full, and the roar of the jet engine made the ears pop so much that it was necessary to slightly open the mouth. Chunks of earth and stalks of unharvested crops flew everywhere, and the body’s shiny machine seemed to barely begin to vibrate, trying to shoot into the sky.
The “Launch” key activated the nervous system of the catapult’s electric line hitch mechanism, and the bird, without stopping for a second, rushed into the low leaden sky, looking with indifferent camera lenses for the dangerous Geran-5.
I turned to the operator with a stunned smile. Words were unnecessary. The pilot had to slow down so as not to accidentally overtake the target…
You know the rest, because you read it in the news.
Victory is far off, because there are many nuances, but we will win. Then we’ll start losing again. And winning again.
But we have no choice but to end this war in a winning phase of the cycle.
Ukraine stands. Ukraine fights.
Despite the heavy legacy from a God-bearing people who don’t like to pay taxes very much (just look at those corrupt officials) and don’t really want to go to the military recruitment center, because not everyone, it turns out, is born for war, hundreds of thousands of people selflessly seek solutions to new threats and for the 5th year do not give up.
Because it’s easiest to whine and say we’re all doomed. It’s easiest to try to live a simulation of a peaceful life, not to notice the war and complain about fate.
It’s harder to join the Defense Forces or at least study math/physics/chemistry/electrotechnics to join the development teams.
It’s extraordinarily difficult to build a country with institutions that think about the future, not about fleeing to Vienna as their leaders do.
And no one promised it would be easy.
However, what is definitely easy is not to criticize the combat work of the military on social media if you’re a civilian.
There are many problems in the Army. In the air defense too. But that’s a headache for the military and military-political leadership, and certainly no reason to call anyone “idiots”. Come and show how it’s done.
Therefore.
“I believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine” should mean “I trust the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, because the Army is still all we have and will remain for all of us through the next few very difficult years for the entire world.
Almost everyone here in the Ranks wants to win this war and return home. Home to where the house stands and everyone is alive. Including relatives, friends, acquaintances, unknown neighbors, that barista lady from the coffee shop, the primary school teacher, the “auntie at the checkout” in the supermarket, the grandmother near the entrance and all the children on all playgrounds and in all classes.
Thank you for your attention.
Have a peaceful evening and pay attention to air raid signals.
Collage: ArmiyaInform
