Ukrainian Air Defenses Are Increasingly Ineffective Against Russian Drones
JudgeNap.com | November 12, 2025
Data shows that Ukraine’s ability to shoot down incoming Russian drones has decreased in recent months.
Ukrainian Air Force data analyzed by ABC News shows that in October, it was only able to down 4,200 of the 5,300 drones fired by Russia. At the start of the year, Kiev was able to down 90% of the drones fired by Moscow’s troops. That number decreased to 85% in August and September, before falling to under 80% in October.
In addition to drones, Ukrainian forces are struggling to intercept Russian missiles. “Ukraine’s ballistic missile interception rate improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but it plummeted to 6% in September, despite fewer launches,” according to the Financial Times.
The gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses have led to widespread blackouts. “These days, in most regions, repair crews, power engineers, and utility services are virtually working around the clock,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday. “The Russians have increased their striking power.”
Aside from slumping interception rates, Kiev faces other challenges in maintaining its air defences. The Patriot air defense system is the most effective against Russian missiles, but faces supply chain issues.
The US can produce only 600 Patriot interceptors per year. In July, The Guardian reported that the US only had 25% of the interceptors it needed to execute its battle plans. Additionally, there is already a backlog of countries awaiting delivery of Patriot interceptors.
Kiev is also seeking more Patriot systems to fire the interceptors. Washington has already pushed its NATO allies to transfer its systems to Kiev, promising to move any country that sends Patriots to Ukraine to the top of the list for replacement.
Earlier this month, Germany transferred two Patriot systems to Ukraine. However, President Zelensky said that Kiev needed an additional 25 systems.
Cost is another factor that makes sustaining Ukraine’s air defenses increasingly difficult. The Western interceptors are far more expensive than the Russian munitions. Moscow can also produce offensive weapons faster than Kiev’s backers can build interceptors.
Mike Fredenburg argued at Responsible Statecraft that these factors could prove fatal for Kiev. “This distortion obscures the reality that Russia’s cost-effective missile production provides a big advantage in sustainability,” he wrote. “While high Western missile costs, combined with US difficulties in rapidly expanding missile production, is a huge disadvantage in any kind of sustained conflict, and could be a fatal disadvantage in going up against a peer competitor that can throw thousands of missiles at our ships and even attack U.S.-based military facilities.”
West-Russia war becoming inevitable – Serbian president
RT | November 12, 2025
A direct military confrontation between Western nations and Russia is becoming unavoidable, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has warned, citing widespread rearmament efforts across Europe.
Speaking during a televised interview on Tuesday, Vucic said the possibility of such a war is no longer hypothetical, pointing to an acceleration of military spending. The European Union seeks rapid militarization over a perceived threat from Russia, which Moscow has dismissed as misleading political rhetoric aimed at distracting from internal economic troubles.
“My conclusion is that there is a growing certainty that a war between Europe and Russia will happen,” Vucic said. “They are preparing for war – or for defense, as they call it. Romania, Poland, Finland, smaller countries too. And the Russians as well.”
“Everyone is preparing,” the president continued. “What can come from that? Only conflict.” He added that Serbia itself is caught “between a rock and a hard place,” and therefore must also strengthen its military readiness.
Although Serbia continues to pursue EU membership, its application has effectively been frozen due to Belgrade’s refusal to adopt sanctions and other measures targeting Moscow. The two nations maintain deep cultural and historical ties, and Russia remains one of Serbia’s key energy suppliers.
Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO and the EU of provoking instability in Europe through continued expansion and by ignoring Russian proposals for a shared continental security architecture, which it says could have prevented the current confrontation over Ukraine.
NATO to deploy 800,000 troops in case of war with Russia – German general
RT | November 8, 2025
Berlin is prepared for a war with Moscow and stands ready to facilitate the deployment of 800,000 NATO troops towards the Russian border, the head of the nation’s joint operations command, Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, has said.
The hypothetical deployment is part of Operations Plan Germany, which was revealed last year. The 1,000-page-long document governs Berlin’s response if Article 5 of the NATO treaty is triggered in a confrontation with Moscow. It includes turning Germany into a major logistics hub for the deployment of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and pieces of equipment from various NATO nations against Russia. The deployment must be completed within 180 days of the start of the conflict.
According to Sollfrank, the plan may be implemented sooner rather than later. “Russia possesses a very large military potential despite the war in Ukraine,” he told an annual Bundeswehr conference in Berlin on Friday, adding that “Russia is already capable of [launching] a limited attack on the NATO territory.”
Speaking to Reuters the same day, the general claimed that Moscow could do it “as early as tomorrow.” German officials have increasingly spoken of the alleged Russian threat while taking an increasingly belligerent stance towards Moscow.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has previously declared that diplomatic options for resolving the Ukraine conflict are “exhausted” and doubled down on providing weapons to Kiev.
On Friday, both he and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany’s existence in its present form was threatened by Russia. “It is not alarmism… when I say that our way of life is in danger,” Pistorius told the military conference.
Moscow has repeatedly stated it has no intention of attacking NATO. It also dismissed Berlin’s claims as “nonsense” aimed at justifying skyrocketing military spending. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously warned that Germany demonstrates “clear signs of re-Nazification.”
Politico reported last month that Germany’s rearmament plans would cost it €377 billion ($440 billion).
Finnish Politician Warns NATO Chief: Stop Arming Ukraine or Risk Nuclear War
Sputnik – 09.11.2025
Armando Mema, a member of Finland’s Freedom Alliance party, said on Sunday that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine to avoid a nuclear war.
“Secretary Rutte should stop sending weapons to Ukraine if he is truly concerned about a nuclear War. NATO should stop expanding to Ukraine, if we don’t want to end up in a nuclear War,” Mema said on X.
Rutte, despite his supposed concern about nuclear rhetoric, “forgot to rebuke” Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken for his threats to “wipe out Russia with nuclear weapons,” Mema added.
On Saturday, Rutte told Welt am Sonntag newspaper that NATO intends to place greater emphasis on its nuclear capabilities to deter adversaries more effectively in the future. He said that Russia is using “dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric,” and people in the West should not panic because NATO has a strong nuclear deterrent that helps preserve peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is not brandishing its nuclear weapons, but is pursuing a policy of nuclear deterrence. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has said that the West’s destructive actions have undermined the foundations for constructive dialogue between nuclear-armed countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that a number of persistent challenges have accumulated in the strategic sphere, primarily related to destabilizing doctrinal approaches and military-technical programs of Western countries.
Russia calls Trump’s bluff on Tomahawks for Ukraine
Strategic Culture Foundation | November 7, 2025
For more than a month, U.S. President Donald Trump has been conjuring with the idea of supplying nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. This week, however, he told reporters that he had backed away from the prospect.
Several weeks ago, shortly after Trump announced he was considering arming Ukraine with Tomahawks, our weekly editorial on October 3 warned that “all bets are off for a peace deal”. We contended that the American president, by considering such a move, was not genuine in his diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year conflict. “Trump is acting as a big-mouth poker player who has very few cards to play… betting that his boorish tough talk and the hype about sending Tomahawks to Ukraine… will somehow intimidate Russia to sit at the negotiating table and accept a half-baked peace deal.”
Moscow has not been intimidated to rush a peace deal on Trump’s or NATO’s terms of an immediate ceasefire, insisting instead that a resolution to the conflict must involve a substantive international security treaty and the eradication of root causes, including the Nazi nature of the Kiev regime and NATO’s historic expansionism.
When Trump was asked this week if he was still considering supplying the iconic missile to Ukraine, he said: “No, not really.”
That was after weeks of demurring; he might, he might not, we’ll see, and so on. What changed his mind?
In the last phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, on October 16, it was reported that Putin sternly warned that supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks was an escalation too far. He indicated that the weapon would not change the battlefield situation in Ukraine’s favor but that it would bring the U.S. and Russia directly into confrontation.
Sixty-three years after the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, with John F Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, this was an uncanny echo of that critical moment when the world faced nuclear war.
Trump subsequently claimed that he asked Putin, “Would you mind if I send Tomahawks to Ukraine?” We can only imagine Putin’s terse response.
The lame question from Trump suggests that the American president was not actually serious about the proposal and that the whole prior and subsequent reporting of his musings was a bluff aimed at unnerving Moscow.
The Tomahawk has a range of about 2,000-2,500 km and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It would also require U.S. participation to launch it from Ukrainian territory. If the missile were fired at St Petersburg or Moscow, Russia would have no choice but to consider it a possible preemptive nuclear attack.
Thus, it is averred, Trump was told that if he went ahead with his insane idea to supply Ukraine, then he had better be prepared to accept responsibility for starting World War III.
The day after the phone call with Putin, on October 17, Trump hosted the Ukrainian puppet president at the White House, whereupon Trump started backpedaling on the Tomahawks. He said that the U.S. needs to retain stockpiles for its own security interests and may not be able to supply Ukraine. “We need Tomahawks for the United States, too. We can’t deplete our country,” said Trump.
Though pointedly, last week, the Pentagon announced that there were no inventory limitations and that the White House was clear to send Tomahawks to Ukraine if President Trump made that determination.
Well, it looks like Trump has chosen caution to be the better part of valor, or should we say, bluffing. At least for now, anyway.
Still, the insanity of NATO’s war psychosis is always looming. Trump’s erratic and egotistical whims make him an unreliable interlocutor.
Following his “disappointing” meeting with the Ukrainian puppet, Vladimir Zelensky, last month, the European NATO warmongers have stepped up lobbying for the Tomahawks. NATO chief Mark Rutte met with Trump in the White House on October 22 to discuss the matter, no doubt reflecting the anxiety of the European elite that Trump was going soft on the idea.
This week, the former NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, came up with the scheme of Germany supplying its Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine as a way to pressure Trump to follow up with Tomahawks.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olha Stefanishyna, also reportedly claimed that “discussions” with the Trump administration for the cruise missile are “still ongoing”.
In this context, there are reports of British intelligence working on a false-flag provocation to blow up the Zaporozyhe Nuclear Power Plant, the biggest civilian plant in Europe, causing mass casualties and blaming it on Russia, even though Russia is in control of the ZNPP. Such an extreme provocation could be used to sway the White House.
For now, it seems, Trump has encountered the uncomfortable reality of his and NATO’s psychological games by desisting from supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine.
Similar reality checks are going on elsewhere. The imminent defeat of NATO’s Ukrainian proxy army in Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) and Kupyansk is one such rude awakening from NATO’s illusions that Western media have been spinning for the past four years. Only last month, Trump was talking about green-lighting a counter-offensive by Ukraine against Russia and taking back territory.
Pertinent, too, was the unveiling last week of Russia’s breakthrough nuclear-capable weapons, the Burevestnik cruise missile that can fly unlimited distances, and the Poseidon torpedo, both of which are invulnerable to U.S. defenses. That would also seem to be a moment of realization for the NATO warmongers that their fantasies of defeating Russia are futile.
Another dousing with cold water is the potential deployment of Russian hypersonic missiles in Venezuela to upgrade the Latin American country’s air defenses amid U.S. aggression. It is reported this week that Trump is now having second thoughts about his (illegal) threats to attack Venezuela, fearing the military operation could end in abject failure with deaths of U.S. servicemen, at a time when voters are souring big time on the 47th president.
Bullies usually only operate with impunity and delusions about their strength until reality punches them in the face.
Trump’s throwing around the idea of Tomahawks to Ukraine seems to have hit him like a boomerang. One might hope that he can retain some common sense and restrain the transatlantic War Party.
NATO Intends to Place Greater Emphasis on Its Nuclear Capabilities – Secretary General
Sputnik – 08.11.2025
NATO intends to place greater emphasis on its nuclear capabilities in the future in order to deter adversaries more effectively, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview.
“It is important that we communicate more with our societies about nuclear deterrence to ensure they understand how it contributes to our collective security,” Rutte said.
Russia allegedly uses “dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric,” Rutte also said, adding that in this regard, the West “should know that there is no reason to panic, because NATO has a powerful nuclear deterrent that serves to preserve peace.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is not brandishing its nuclear weapons, but is pursuing a policy of nuclear deterrence. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has said that the West’s destructive actions have undermined the foundations for constructive dialogue between nuclear-armed countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that a number of persistent challenges have accumulated in the strategic sphere, primarily related to destabilizing doctrinal approaches and military-technical programs of Western countries.
What Solutions Could Pave the Way to Putin-Trump Summit?
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 07.11.2025
A few key issues must be resolved between the US and Russia before the Budapest peace summit can happen, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stated. What’s he driving at?
At least three issues concerning Ukraine require careful consideration, according to Michael Maloof, former senior security policy analyst in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense.
- First, Russia won’t give up what it holds; it also made it clear that Ukraine should withdraw from the new Russian regions. As of yet, the Kiev regime has resisted the option, the pundit explains to Sputnik.
- Second, it’s the security arrangement: “In a post-settlement period, do you allow Western forces into Ukraine at all? Because then it becomes ipso facto a NATO bastion. And that’s the thing that [President Vladimir] Putin is trying to avoid,” Maloof says. Russia has repeatedly warned that the deployment of a military contingent involving NATO countries in Ukraine could trigger an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences. The Russian Foreign Ministry assessed the EU and UK’s calls for intervening as “openly provocative and predatory”.
- Third, the US also needs to make sure its NATO allies comply with any agreement it signs with Russia.
Once those issues are solved, Russia and the US “can get on with their own bilateral areas of interest in a more geostrategic fashion,” including new arms control and nuclear weapons.
“So you have issues that are overriding the Ukraine issue that need to bring Russia-US relations back in sync so that we can lessen the temperature in the world,” Maloof concludes.
Daniel Davis: Pokrovsk Has Fallen & the Collapse Accelerates
Glenn Diesen | November 6, 2025
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis is a 4x combat veteran, the recipient of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, and is the host of the Daniel Davis Deep Dive YouTube channel. Lt. Col. Davis discusses why Pokrovsk fell so quickly toward the end and outlines the wider consequences for the war.
Daniel Davis Deep Dive: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielDavisDeepDive/videos
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NATO chief urges West to prepare for long-term confrontation with Russia
RT | November 6, 2025
NATO member-states must boost military production to be ready for a prolonged standoff with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, which are challenging the “global rules,” the bloc’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has said.
Speaking to Western defense contractors at the NATO-Industry Forum in Bucharest on Thursday, Rutte told the bloc’s arms makers that “there is more cash on the table and even more will flow” amid NATO’s rearmament push.
Moscow has rejected claims it harbors any aggressive intentions towards the US-led military bloc, saying such allegations are being used by politicians in the US and EU to scare the populations and justify huge increases in military spending. Russia also believes that NATO’s deepening involvement in Ukraine was instrumental in escalating the conflict in 2022.
Rutte labeled the fighting between Moscow and Kiev a “threat” to the bloc and he claimed that “the danger posed by Russia will not end when this war does. For the foreseeable future, Russia will remain a destabilizing force in Europe and the world.”
“And Russia is not alone in its efforts to undermine the global rules. As you know, it is working with China, with North Korea, with Iran, and others. They are increasing their defense industrial collaboration to unprecedented levels. They are preparing for long-term confrontation,” the secretary-general said.
He noted the pledge by NATO members to hike military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, but claimed that “cash alone cannot provide security. We need the capabilities. We need the equipment, real firepower, and of course… the most advanced tech.” This would require the bloc’s defense industry “increasing production and shortening delivery times,” Rutte stressed.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted to Rutte’s comments by asking him to clarify what “global rules” he was talking about and publish their “full list” on NATO’s website.
Moscow, Beijing, and the rest of “the global majority, have always declared their commitment to international law, while NATO has repeatedly violated this law with its aggressive actions and illegitimate coalitions: the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, the bombing of Yugoslavia, and so on,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Europe Abandons Reason; China and Russia Will Not Back Down to Trump
Prof. Glenn Diesen on Radio Mrežnica
Glenn Diesen | November 5, 2025
I had the pleasure of discussing the strategic vacuum and irrational policies of Europe, and why China and Russia will not back down to Trump’s efforts to restore US global primacy
Hungary Not Obliged to Fund Ukraine, No Reason to Do So – Orban
Sputnik – 03.11.2025
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Hungary is not obliged to finance Ukraine and has no moral, political or economic reason to do so.
Orban quoted an article in British magazine The Economist — which calculated that Ukraine would need $400 billion over the next four years to continue the war against Russia
The sum would cover weapons, reconstruction, pensions and salaries, the magazine reported.
“Once again, Europe is expected to foot the bill,” Orban wrote on X. “There’s no one else left willing to pick up the tab.”
“That’s why Brussels is so agitated. That’s why they want to seize frozen Russian assets, overhaul the EU funding system, and take on new loans,” he charged.
“We reject this. It’s not Hungary’s job to finance Ukraine,” Orban insisted. “We have no reason to do so: not politically, not economically, not morally.”
He said Hungary was not alone in that viewpoint, but Budapest was the most outspoken in expressing its opinion.
That was why Hungary is under attack from Brussels, Orban added, accusing EU of seeking to install a compliant government in Budapest.
Russia insists that arms supplies to Ukraine hinder peace talks, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict and are “playing with fire.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any cargo of weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russian attacks.
The Kremlin has stated that the West’s weapons shipments to Ukraine will not encourage peace talks and can only have a negative effect.
Russia reacts to NATO state minister’s threat to ‘wipe Moscow off the map’
RT | October 29, 2025
Russia has accused Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken of irresponsible rhetoric after he suggested that NATO could “wipe Moscow off the map.”
In an interview with De Morgen newspaper published on Monday, Francken brushed off concerns that the currently shelved delivery of US-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine could trigger an all-out war between Russia and NATO. He argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not use nuclear weapons because the US-led alliance “will wipe Moscow off the map.” Francken added that he did not fear a conventional attack on Brussels since it would result in Moscow getting “flattened.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko told the Russian daily RBC on Wednesday that Francken’s words were in line with “the atmosphere of military psychosis” prevalent in Western Europe.
The Russian Embassy in Belgium condemned Francken’s “provocative and irresponsible” statements as “sheer absurdity and total disconnect from reality.”
“Francken’s escapades are the most glaring manifestation of the militarist frenzy that is increasingly consuming the European war party,” the embassy said. It added that EU officials like Francken are “posing a threat to the continent’s future and [are] capable of plunging it into a new war.”
Moscow has repeatedly stated that the flooding of Ukraine with Western weapons would not stop its troops but only cause further escalation.
