Never underestimate the underdog.

And never . . . EVER . . . underestimate the people of Ukraine!

For the past three years and three months — and particularly during the four months of the current U.S. administration — Vladimir Putin has been leading the world on a merry chase, proclaiming his desire to end the “special military operation” against Ukraine while carrying on an unceasing barrage of bombs, missiles, drones and ground forces, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of military troops and civilians on both sides of the conflict.

And Donald Trump has continued to make excuses for his “friend” in the Kremlin, swallowing whole the platitudes, the side-eyed flattery, and the outright lies. He has even aided Putin by pressing Ukraine to make concessions that Trump himself would never consider making to an aggressor.

Worse, Trump humiliated Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the Oval Office in front of the world’s media, calling him down for wearing his country’s military-style shirt instead of a business suit, and for not saying “Thank you, O Great and Powerful Benefactor” often enough — or obsequiously enough — to satisfy Trump’s bloated ego.

But now — on the eve of a scheduled meeting in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations — Ukraine has proven to Putin, to Trump, and to the world that it is not a weakling to be taken advantage of, but a nation of strong and capable people determined and able to fight back on Russia’s own terms.

What they did yesterday was so brilliantly conceived, so intricately planned, and so audaciously carried out that it almost defies description. According to early reports, over a period of 18 months, scores of small drones have been smuggled into Russia, stored in special compartments on freight trucks, driven to four or more separate locations thousands of miles apart, and finally — and successfully — launched remotely toward nearby air bases.

As Ukrainian defense analyst Serhii Kuzan told Ukrainian TV: “No intelligence operation in the world has done anything like this before. These strategic bombers are capable of launching long-range strikes against us. There are only 120 of them and we struck 40. That’s an incredible figure.” [Paul Adams, BBC, June 1, 2025.]

The bombers to which Kuzan referred included strategic missile-carrying aircraft that are no longer in production, and will be difficult or impossible for Russia to replace. Ukrainian military blogger Oleksandr Kovalenko, describing the impact as “enormous,” wrote on Telegram:

“The extent of the damage is such that the Russian military-industrial complex, in its current state, is unlikely to be able to restore them in the near future. Today, the Russian Aerospace Forces lost not just two of their rarest aircraft, but truly two unicorns in the herd.” [Id.]

While the extent of the physical and monetary loss has not yet been verified, the psychological effect of the operation cannot be understated. One BBC journalist, Svyatoslav Khomenko, was recently told by a Ukrainian official:

“The biggest problem is that the Americans have convinced themselves we’ve already lost the war. And from that assumption everything else follows.” [Id.]

In addition, Ukrainian defense journalist Illia Ponomarenko had this to say on X, obviously referring to that disgraceful Oval Office performance:

“This is what happens when a proud nation under attack doesn’t listen to all those: ‘Ukraine has only six months left.’ ‘You have no cards.’ ‘Just surrender for peace, Russia cannot lose.’” [Id.]

And a tweet from the journal Business Ukraine offered this comment:

“It turns out Ukraine does have some cards after all. Today Zelensky played the King of Drones.” [Id.]

Svyatoslav Khomenko’s unnamed Ukrainian official summed it up rather nicely:

“[The Americans] begin acting as if their role is to negotiate for us the softest possible terms of surrender. And then they’re offended when we don’t thank them. But of course we don’t — because we don’t believe we’ve been defeated.” [Id.]

Vladimir Putin wanted this war; he started it on February 24, 2022; and he has kept it going despite offers of peace talks and negotiations. But now it has hit home . . . and hard. Someone should have warned him to be careful what he wished for.

Well done, Ukraine! I look forward to seeing what happens in Istanbul today . . . but with trepidation, because how Putin will react is anyone’s guess.

As of this writing, the Russian delegation is said to have already arrived in Istanbul; and Kyiv has reported that its delegation will be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, backed by at least a dozen other officials. [RFE/RL, June 2, 2025.]

Stay tuned.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/2/25