Waffledynamics said:

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⚔️ AFU attacks near Stepnohirsk

In West Zaporizhia, the situation is deteriorating.

Russian forces have lost control over Novoyakovlivka, now firmly held by the enemy. Pavlivka was also lost after Ukrainian drones disrupted supplies.

The AFU continues active attacks toward… pic.twitter.com/26D4Z32FEm

— Rybar in English (@rybar_en) April 7, 2026

Quote:

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AFU attacks near Stepnohirsk

In West Zaporizhia, the situation is deteriorating.

Russian forces have lost control over Novoyakovlivka, now firmly held by the enemy. Pavlivka was also lost after Ukrainian drones disrupted supplies.

The AFU continues active attacks toward Kamianske, Plavni, Stepove, and Lobkove. The situation there looks very tense.

After failing to break through in East Zaporizhia, the enemy has shifted its main efforts to this sector. If they manage to restore the line along Kamianske Stepove Maly Shcherbaky, Russian positions could be pushed back to early 2025 levels.

Overly optimistic claims about "liberated" settlements where only small groups briefly enter are problematic. The fact that the AFU is still using the crossing from Hryhorivka to reach Stepnohirsk and Plavni suggests the situation is far from stable.

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This is great, because Russia has fought hard for that approach to Zaporizhzhia (the city, not the oblast). To see it all pissed away would be beautiful.

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Would explain why Russia is rushing troops and equipment from the Donbas to reinforce Zaporizhia as posted earlier here.

Particularly significant since the Donbas is Russia's priority front.

EXPECT DELAYS: Ukraine’s GUR just knocked out Russia’s LAST railway ferry in Kerch — the ‘Slavyanin’. She was the lifeline for the entire Russian grouping in Crimea. Tank and freight cars loaded with fuel, ammo, weapons, equipment — with the Kerch bridge still damaged, everything… pic.twitter.com/aHqCpUEyxU

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) April 8, 2026

Good news: Ukraine knocked down a record 33,000 Russian drones in March. Bad news: That's because Russia is sending increasing numbers of drones against Ukraine.

"Despite the record figures, Fedorov identified jet-powered Shaheds as the most urgent challenge facing the interceptor program. Russia has been scaling up their deployment at pace, and the increased speed of these variants makes interception significantly more difficult than with earlier propeller-driven models. "The enemy is scaling their use, speed is increasing, interception is becoming more complicated. Our task is to find a technological solution," Fedorov said."

ACTION-REACTION

PJYoung said:

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EXPECT DELAYS: Ukraine’s GUR just knocked out Russia’s LAST railway ferry in Kerch — the ‘Slavyanin’. She was the lifeline for the entire Russian grouping in Crimea. Tank and freight cars loaded with fuel, ammo, weapons, equipment — with the Kerch bridge still damaged, everything… pic.twitter.com/aHqCpUEyxU

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) April 8, 2026

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sounds like Crimea is about to have some real problems if they can get their supplies... Ukraine just keeps chipping away at Crimea and its all starting to add up.

Russian Force Generation Update: The Russian military is experiencing manpower challenges and is unable to recruit enough contract soldiers to replace its frontline losses.

The Russian MoD is attempting to generate additional manpower through other sources, regardless of the… https://t.co/4LEgfJ0uhJ pic.twitter.com/vAAOEEUVQS

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) April 7, 2026

Russia's AN series of transports was designed in Ukraine and supported from there. As the war has dragged on, that's become a problem.

"In one of the disclosed letters, Aviarmont told senior Rostec officials that as of August 2025, Russia was operating about 368 aircraft from the An family, including the An-12, An-26, and An-72, across the Russian Ministry of Defense, the National Guard, and FSB aviation, and that 143 of them required repairs.

The papers point to a problem that goes beyond routine maintenance delays.

The same material says Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade formally confirmed there was no domestic production in Russia of the parts, assemblies, and components needed for An-series aircraft, leaving repair contracts exposed to delays that the company says it cannot solve on its own."

SORRY

Does anyone else ever worry that a desperate and worn out Putin may just say, "F It" and drop a nuke on Kyiv?

BoDog said:

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Does anyone else ever worry that a desperate and worn out Putin may just say, "F It" and drop a nuke on Kyiv?

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Why would he contaminate much of Ukraine (and ally Belorussia) when his driving motivation for this war is to make it part of Russia again and exploit its natural resources?

txags92 said:

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BoDog said:

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Does anyone else ever worry that a desperate and worn out Putin may just say, "F It" and drop a nuke on Kyiv?

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No. Next question.

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I mean I feel like most of the politics forum worries about this every time Ukraine makes battlefield gains.

Rossticus said:

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Russian Force Generation Update: The Russian military is experiencing manpower challenges and is unable to recruit enough contract soldiers to replace its frontline losses.

The Russian MoD is attempting to generate additional manpower through other sources, regardless of the… https://t.co/4LEgfJ0uhJ pic.twitter.com/vAAOEEUVQS

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) April 7, 2026

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People don't realize that Siberia all by itself is bigger than the whole US. Not that Ukraine is going that far east, but it gives you an idea of the enormity of Russia.

PJYoung said:

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txags92 said:

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BoDog said:

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Does anyone else ever worry that a desperate and worn out Putin may just say, "F It" and drop a nuke on Kyiv?

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No. Next question.

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I mean I feel like most of the politics forum worries about this every time Ukraine makes battlefield gains.

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There are a vanishingly small number of people on F16 who worry about it and they come here every few weeks wringing their hands and try to start the discussion of it all over again. It isn't going to happen, it isn't worth worrying about, and it isn't worth discussing (again), hence my short answer above.

Gen. Patton’s grandson, BEN PATTON:

I visited one of Ukraine's command-and-control centers with my team. It was safe, 30 or 40 miles from the front. You go inside, and it looks like Newark Airport on steroids.

100 feet of LED displays with real-time statistics: tank or… pic.twitter.com/FRqlnW39ns

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) April 9, 2026

74OA said:

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BoDog said:

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Does anyone else ever worry that a desperate and worn out Putin may just say, "F It" and drop a nuke on Kyiv?

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Why would he contaminate much of Ukraine (and ally Belorussia) when his driving motivation for this war is to make it part of Russia again and exploit its natural resources?

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Because he will come to the realization that is never going to happen (atleast in his lifetime)....

Anti-drone rounds in 556. This could help with the drone craziness popping up everywhere if they can get production ramped up.

That's a great development. "Gun-Armor" race continues....

Good to be proven wrong every once in a while

Wouldn't we beg for the same if we were in his position!

Here's an updated look at total aid for Ukraine from the US and Europe, and it doesn't even remotely approach the suggested $1T.

Scroll down to charts: TRACKER

I think versions of this are coming to all parts of the globe in the years ahead.

" Drones will soon strike thousands of kilometers away, in swarms that are hard to stop.
Ukraine and US are allies, and Americans should understand that. No country can defend alone; the world must act together against aggression."
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian company Carmine Sky has begun installing towers equipped with Sky Sentinel remotely controlled turrets to counter Russian drones, including Shaheds. https://t.co/qfyyfEzGuL pic.twitter.com/DgMMN5SAN4

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 11, 2026

A command post from where operators operate remotely controlled Sky Sentinel turrets equipped with M2 Browning machine guns and repel Russian drone attacks. Control is carried out using regular Xbox controllers https://t.co/HPPZLRYxwW pic.twitter.com/f5FtmGuZU2

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 11, 2026

That looks like it would be fun.
A real like Xbox game.

Cant help but feel like John Browning would be impressed.

PJYoung said:

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I think versions of this are coming to all parts of the globe in the years ahead.

" Drones will soon strike thousands of kilometers away, in swarms that are hard to stop.
Ukraine and US are allies, and Americans should understand that. No country can defend alone; the world must act together against aggression."
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian company Carmine Sky has begun installing towers equipped with Sky Sentinel remotely controlled turrets to counter Russian drones, including Shaheds. https://t.co/qfyyfEzGuL pic.twitter.com/DgMMN5SAN4

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 11, 2026

A command post from where operators operate remotely controlled Sky Sentinel turrets equipped with M2 Browning machine guns and repel Russian drone attacks. Control is carried out using regular Xbox controllers https://t.co/HPPZLRYxwW pic.twitter.com/f5FtmGuZU2

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 11, 2026

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And Skynet smiled…

74OA said:

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IIRC, Ukraine did this quite effectively on its border with Belorussia.

"Restoring wild forests, peat bogs and wetlands on Europe's borders would establish defensive barriers that are hard to cross for enemy armored units, at a fraction of the cost of concrete anti-tank ditches while bringing environmental benefits, researchers said."

REWILDING

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Brilliant! I suspect it also would tend to "funnel" an enemy to where you want them.

"Defensive rewilding physically changes the geography of potential conflict zones, creating terrain impassible to mechanized forces or channeling them into kill zones, thereby raising the cost of aggression, the researchers said. Meanwhile, a restored peat land or dense forest won't be seen as threatening and is a way to build up defense without escalating a regional arms race."

This appears to be the future of war; Its frightening. Combined arms with infantry, armor, and drones. Great presentation of how the Ukrainians have adapted to use the 3 working together in a recent battle.

Norway is providing Ukraine with its latest counter-UAV point defense tech mounted on a Ukrainian made armored vehicle. Sounds like it is yet another APKWS-based system.

"Kongsberg said the vehicle can use 70mm laser-guided rockets as part of its interception suite. These rockets offer a direct way to engage airborne targets, including drones and certain missile threats, without relying solely on larger and more expensive air defense missiles. For a battlefield where low-cost drones are used in large numbers, that kind of layered defense has become increasingly important."

HUNTER

Ukraine's extensive domestic arms industry continues to crank out new and improved missiles of various types.

"The Koral missile differs, however, in that it should provide a much greater range than most of the currently fielded FrankenSAMs, as well as an anti-ballistic missile capability. If all goes to plan, this will provide a replacement for longer-ranged Soviet-era systems, as well as a supplement to the costly Patriot and SAMP/T, the reliable supply of which cannot be guaranteed, certainly not in the numbers Ukraine requires."

SAM

Putin accidentally creating a high-tech regional military power of the first order on its doorstep has to be one of the funniest self-owns in history. https://t.co/a34EMyIdq1

— Scott Barber (@thescottbarber) April 14, 2026

Since Putin shields ethnic Russians from the horrors of war by not sending conscripts to fight in Ukraine, he depends on volunteers enticed by signing bonuses or criminal sentence commutations. Appears that pool is becoming exhausted.

Recruitment in Russia is slowing down. In Q1 of 2026, numbers were down by 20% compared to last year. This change is evident in both official statements and budget data. On average, it was 800 new contract soldiers per day this year. pic.twitter.com/6zSZlYnASh

— Janis Kluge (@jakluge) April 13, 2026

Of course, there's this growing disincentive to service, which Putin can no longer conceal from potential recruits.

"Ukraine currently has a military advantage over Russia, according to Finnish President Alexander Stubb, with Moscow experiencing personnel losses at a rate five times higher than Kyiv's, largely due to Ukraine's steadily improving drone kill rates. "I think Ukraine is in a much better place than it has been at any stage in this horrific war the killing ratio right now is 1:5, one Ukrainian soldier to five Russian soldiers."

MEATGRINDER