Ukraine had received 6 F-16 fighter jets. On Monday, during a mass Russian missile and drone attack, 16.7% of them came down. A local administration was first to announce the death of its pilot.

The F-16 trained pilots, not the airplanes, are a resource that is missing most in Ukraine.

There were various theories how the plane was terminated. The Ukrainian Air Force Command made a hero out of its pilot. Stephen Bryen is quoting the Russian source Rybar:

The Ukrainian Air Force Command has released an official obituary for pilot Oleksii Mesia, who was flying an F-16 fighter jet.

According to the text, the fighter he was piloting was hunting Russian cruise missiles and kamikaze drones during the massive missile strike on August 26. It claims he shot down three cruise missiles and one UAV, but was killed himself. This wording suggests that the F-16 either was shot down by Ukraine's own air defenses, which were also engaging the missiles and drones, or crashed into one of the aerial targets, which has happened before.

However parliament member Mariana Bezuglaya, known for her previous criticism of General Zaluzny and other military staff, has claimed that the F-16 was shot down as a result of "friendly fire" (machine translation):

Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep: Patriot Airdefense System Vs. Ukrainian F-16 – 1:0

News & views related to the war in Palestine …

News & views related to the war in Ukraine …

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …

The former advisor to the former Ukrainian President Zelenski, Alexey Arestovich, posted this map:

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Arestovich expects two Russian operations to envelope the Ukrainian troops on the frontline.

Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep: The Collapse Of The Donbas Front

The Anglo-American colonial project in Palestine has launched another war to remove the indigenous population from its land.

Israel launches major operation in West Bank; Palestinian officials say 9 killed – Washington Post

TEL AVIV — Israel launched a major operation in multiple cities in the West Bank on Wednesday involving hundreds of troops.

The troops were sent in with air support and bulldozers, according to an Israeli military official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military operation. Eyewitnesses cited drones scanning the skies and armored personnel carriers carrying troops on the ground.

The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet, the country’s internal security service, announced in a brief joint statement they were launching a counterterrorism operation in Jenin and Tulkarm. Operations were also reported in al-Fara’a refugee camp, near Tubas. At least nine Palestinians have been killed since midnight, the Health Ministry in Ramallah said. Seven were taken to a hospital in Tubas and two to a hospital in Jenin, it said.

Since June 1967, when the Zionist launched a war against its Arab neighbors, it has illegally occupied the West Bank and Gaza.

Today Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz tweeted in Hebrew (machine translation):

Cont. reading: Israel Starts Ethnic Cleansing In West Bank

Whenever the Russian forces conduct mass missiles strikes against Ukraine the Ukrainian air defense troops claim that the shot down a lot of them, often the majority.

After yesterday's wave of strikes which hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure Ukrainian media repeated such claims:

Russia's largest attack: Ukraine's defence forces destroy over 200 out of 236 Russian missiles and drones – Ukrainska Pravda

Russia launched 236 aerial weapons on Ukraine on Monday, 26 August. Ukraine's air defence downed 102 missiles and 99 attack drones.

Source: Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, on social media.
…
All available weapons and equipment were used to repel the air attack: aircraft, anti-aircraft missile troops of the Air Force, mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian defence forces, and electronic warfare units. A total of 201 air targets were shot down in the air combat: 102 missiles and 99 attack UAVs:
– 1 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile;
– 1 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missile;
– 1 Kh-22 cruise missile;
– 99 Kh-101, Kalibr cruise missiles, and Kh-59/69 guided missiles;
– 99 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs.

This adds up to a claimed success rate of 80.3% against missiles and 90.8% against drones.

These numbers are fantasy.

At the same time the Ukrainian government walks around hat in hand to collect money for more air defense systems. If the historically high success rates were real there would be no need to ask for more systems.

That all does not sum up. (There are additional reasons to doubt these claims.)

Just a week ago the Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Syrski had published more realistic numbers.

Cont. reading: Ukraine’s Air Defense Success Numbers Are Likely Fake

On the Ukrainian independence day former President Zelenski announced that Ukraine's forces would soon use a "rocket driven drone":

On 24 August, during the Saturday ceremonies for Ukraine's Independence Day, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that today, Ukrainian forces for the first time targeted enemy troops with a new long-range drone.

– This is our new method of retaliating against the aggressor. The enemy was hit. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. All the developers, manufacturers, and our soldiers. I am proud of you, Zelensky said during his speech, quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda portal.

The rocket-drone system, produced indigenously by Ukraine and gracefully named "Paljanica" (like the traditional Ukrainian wheat flour bread, which symbolizes hospitality and happiness), is a military innovation. During the official ceremonies, Zelensky stressed that it is a weapon of a "completely new class". He emphasized that "it is difficult to counteract it, but very easy to understand why."

The work on the rocket-drone was carried out in secrecy.

Zelenski published a video that shows a second of the cruise missile in flight.

HI Sutton of Covert Shores created this picture from it.

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This is not a drone but a turbojet driven cruise missile. Ukraine announced that it has been tested and could be used soon:

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov promised Monday the weapon would be used again soon in response to the overnight attack on Ukraine.

“Ukraine is preparing its response. Weapons of its own production,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “This once again proves that for victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes on the enemy’s military facilities.”

A Ukrainian military video hinted that its range is up to 700 kilometers (430 miles) — on par with the U.S.-supplied ATACMS. It showed a map with various airfields, including Russia’s Savasleyka air base, which lies within that range, adding that the Palianytsia can reach at least 20 Russian airfields.

Russia has expected longer range missile strikes for some time and its defenses are positioned appropriately. Another Ukrainian 'wonder weapon' will not impress it. Ukraine claims that the cruise missile was developed by itself:

One of the specialists involved in the long-range missile project said it was “a completely new development, from scratch” that began about 18 months ago.

“This is not an extension of an old Soviet project,” said the specialist, speaking on condition of anonymity to safeguard the project’s secrecy. The missile has a solid-fuel booster that accelerates it, followed by a jet engine, the specialist said.
…
The specialist and Fedorov said each missile costs less than $1 million, and the military is turning to the private sector to bring down production costs further. “The private market generates solutions incredibly quickly,” the minister said.

I doubt that Ukraine has created its own cruise missile. There are too many parts of such systems, especially the navigation and targeting modules, that need high end solutions to be able to counter Russian electronic warfare measures and to deceive Russian air defenses. It expect that these will be derivatives from western projects.

Aside from that all Ukraine's weapon and especially missile manufacturing facilities have been hit several times by Russian missiles. This morning a new large missile and drone attack again hit "the critical power infrastructure of Ukrainian defence industry". Next to other infrastructure today's strike damaged three irreplaceable 750 kilovolt transformer stations and several 330 kv stations.

The new Ukrainian cruise missile was probably designed by the U.S. or UK and its various modules will likely be assembled in Poland instead of Ukraine. Still, it will be a hassle to produce many of these. That is likely the reason why the Ukrainian leadership is begging daily to allow it to use long range missiles produced by the U.S. or Britain to hit targets within Russia.

So far the U.S. has blocked such moves because it fears retaliation by Russia. Russia has threatened to deliver such weapons from Russian production to U.S. enemies should the U.S. proceed and allow Ukraine to hit with U.S. weapons within Russia.

A "Ukrainian" cruise missile would of course eliminate that problem.

News & views related to the war in Palestine …

News & views related to the war in Ukraine …

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

Palestine:

• Aug 19 – Media Claim "Hamas Rejects …" Deal That's Not Offered
• Aug 23 – Dire Warnings As Israel's Fascists Have Taken Over The Rein
  Related:
  – The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer – Electronic Intifada

  – What Ceasefire? – American Conservative
  – U.S. insists Gaza cease-fire deal is close, but diplomats are skeptical – Washington Post
  – Even if a Gaza ceasefire is agreed, Israel has made clear it reserves the right to resume the war with Hamas – CNN

  – Gallant: Ben Gvir’s ‘irresponsible actions’ endanger Israel’s security – Times of Israel
  – Israel faces collapse 'in less than a year' if war of attrition continues: Retired general – The Cradle

  – Hezbollah thought to have targeted Mossad HQ near Tel Aviv in ‘mostly’ foiled barrage – Times of Israel
  – "mostly foiled" = "hit decoys" or "didn't happen"?
  – Hezbollah’s Deterrence: A Turning Point in the Middle East conflict – Elijah Magnier

Ukraine:

• Aug 19 – Britain Claims To Have Helped With The Ukrainian Invasion Of Russia
• Aug 21 – Ukraine SitRep: Western Media Dismiss Ukraine's Kursk Offensive
  Related:
  – New Details on the Role of Western Contractors in Kursk Assault: Polish and French Spoken Widely – Military Watch
  – U.S. debates support for Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia – Washington Post
  – Poorly trained recruits contribute to loss of Ukrainian territory on eastern front, commanders say – AP

Selections:

• Aug 20 – The Coronation Of Harris
  Related:
  – RFK Jr endorses Trump, opens fire on US neocons (re Ukraine) – Asia Times
  – As RFK Jr. Backs Trump, Here's the Secretive Billionaire Plutocrat Funding Them Both – Common Dreams
  – At the DNC, Kamala Harris has a billionaire problem on her hands – Fortune
  – "She's completely incompetent!" | Norman Finkelstein is not impressed with Kamala Harris (video)
  – The Problem Isn't The US Having The Wrong President, The Problem Is The US Empire's Existence – Caitlin Johnstone

Andrew Kloster @ARKloster – 23:57 UTC · Aug 24, 2024

BREAKING: Cornel West is dropping out and endorsing Trump.

“A brother can’t in good conscience endorse a pro-war, fake black, code-switching hussy whose ancestors owned slaves. I’m proud to stand with Donald John Trump.”

U.S. Navy Defeat:

• Aug 24 – "The Houthis have defeated the US Navy"
  Related:
  – Navy Could Sideline 17 Support Ships Due to Manpower Issues– USNI News
  – The US Navy's warship production is in its worst state in 25 years. What's behind it? – Independent
  – Yemen's Houthis release video showing explosions on an oil tanker which they claim to have attacked – Sky

—
Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-202

Tom Sharpe writes naval related opinion columns for The Telegraph.

How it started:

Alastair Crooke is a former MI6 agent and negotiator of hostage releases in the Middle East. He has an intimate knowledge of Israel.

Recently Crooke has written a lot about the internal changes in Israel. The supremacist settlers have taken over the rein:

An eschatological Right-wing cult now holds the majority in cabinet – and wields a vigilante militia ready to attack the military establishment, and the Israeli state. No one was arrested for the attack and take-over of the two bases. They do not dare.

Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, former Chief of Staff of the IDF, who also served as Israel’s Defence Minister, had this to say in a video interview on the forces taking over in Israel:

“When you talk about Smotrich and Ben Gvir: They have a Rabbi. His name is Dov Lior. He is the Rabbi of the Jewish Underground, who intended to blow up the Dome of the Rock – and before that the buses in Jerusalem. Why? In order to hurry up the ‘Last War’. Do you [not] hear them talking in terms of the Last War; or of Smotrich’s concept of ‘subjugation’? Read the article he published in Shiloh in 2017. First of all, this concept rests on Jewish supremacy: Mein Kampf in reverse”.

“My hair stands on end when I say that – as he said it. I learned and grew up in the house of Holocaust survivors and ‘never again’. It is Mein Kampf in reverse: Jewish supremacy: and therefore [Smotrich] says: “My wife won’t go into a room with an Arab”. It is anchored in ideology. And then actually what he aspires to – as soon as possible – is to go to a big war. A war of Gog and Magog. How do you start the flames? A massacre like the [1994] Cave of the Patriarchs? Baruch Goldstein is a student of this Rabbi. Ben Gvir has hung up Goldstein’s picture [in his house]”.

"This is what goes into the decision-making process in the Israeli government”.

Rabbi Dov Lior has been described by Netanyahu as the “élite unit that leads Israel”, because of his influence and control over the settler forces. The 1948 Irgun, drawing heavily on the Mizrahim, is being reborn?

Isn’t it time that the western ruling structures raised their eyes from their reverie, and read the runes that manifest all around them? Some serious players don’t think as you westerners do; they seek Gog and Magog (the prophecy that “the children of Israel” will be victorious in the battle of Armageddon). That is what you risk.

Here is another warning.

Cont. reading: Dire Warnings As Israel’s Fascists Have Taken Over The Rein

News & views related to the war in Palestine …

News & views related to the war in Ukraine …

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …

Two weeks ago, when the Ukrainian army started its incursion into Russia's Kursk region, I had expected the Russia army to dispel the Ukrainians within a few days. That did not happen as it took time to bring enough troops towards that new frontline.

I also underestimated the size of the force the Ukrainians had made available for the operation. It is now estimated to be in the range of 10,000 to 30,000.

For now the Ukrainian army attack has mostly be stopped though it is still trying to expand what it holds in the very rural area.

Be that as it may – the operation, even when sustained longer, makes little sense.

It gives a temporary moral high to the Ukrainian army and may allow Zelenski and the British sponsors of this operation to prolong the war.

The plan in Kiev is not to negotiate but to prolong the war and to convince the west to further finance it. This would have the advantage of moving billions of additional dollar from western sources into the various pockets in Kiev with Zelenski and Yermak cashing in the largest share of it.

But all this comes at the cost of the Ukrainian defense in Donbas.

The Kursk incursion took so many troops from the defense of the Donbas that the front lines there can no longer be held up. It has also diverted scarce artillery ammunition which the Donbas defenders now lack. The Ukrainian defense in Donbas is currently crumbling with the Russian side taking several villages per day.

There was some hope expressed that Russia would divert troops from its Donbas attack towards Kursk. But the Kursk operation is on Russian ground where the Russian army is allowed to use conscript unit to defend the country. Conscripts are not allowed to take part in the operation within Ukraine. This gives the Russian army a large reserve that it can use against the incursion. It should be sufficient to end it.

Even at the beginning of the operation some supporters of Ukraine had feared that the incursion would break the Donbas defense:

Tatarigami_UA @Tatarigami_UA – 14:23 UTC · Aug 6, 2024

The situation in the Pokrovsk direction is critical, with defenses in several areas collapsed and yet to stabilize, largely due to a shortage of personnel. Diverting nearly a brigade to launch an assault on Kursk Oblast, which lacks strategic sense, borders on mental disability.

Various western oriented media have now taken a similar view:

Cont. reading: Ukraine SitRep: Western Media Dismiss Ukraine’s Kursk Offensive

The Democrats are hailing themselves for the successful coup (archived) they had launched against President Joe Biden. When their new candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, took part in the primaries she did not get one delegate. In this years primaries Joe Biden had won a majority.

He was removed un-cerimoniously because a few billionaire donors and some party bosses in the backroom thought he might lose the election.

All that leaves no doubt about how democratic the Democrats really are.

I doubt that Harris has better chances to win than Biden. The few times I have heard her talking she did could not formulate anything of substance. My impression is that she is an empty vessel, a shell with nothing in there. Her campaign website has no link of reference to any of her policies. She seems to have no program.

Why then would anyone vote for her?

Her current promotion in Dem friendly media will not hold up during the whole campaign.

The elections are Donald Trump's to lose. He should again promote policies which will help the lower income strata. Cheaper health care, a higher minimum wage and other such policies will win votes. Promoting crypto, because some donor PAC will pay for it, does not. Ending wars is popular. Launching new ones isn't.

Running proudly and loudly on a few of the popular things should be enough for Trump to win.

Yves Smith is discussing the Washington Post report on Russia-Ukraine negotiation to end the infrastructure attacks:

An Admission of Russian Long-Term Weakness or More Complex Calculation?

I had previously discussed the WaPo piece here.

Yves suggests that the negotiations, if they really have happened as described, were an Ukrainian ruse to distract Russia from the Ukrainian preparation of the Kursk oblast incursion. The talks were useless for Russia, she says. She doubts that Russia would favor to stop the attacks on the Ukrainian electricity generating and network capabilities. She suggests that the Ukrainian attacks on Russia create little damage. It disagree with that view.

The winter will already become very difficult for Ukrainian civilians. There is no need to increase the damage on Ukrainian infrastructure beyond the already achieved level.

The Ukrainian attacks have so far created repairable damage in Russia. But that may not be the case forever. One day one of such attacks could in fact create some real catastrophe. The attacks are also binding lots of Russian resources. One needs a huge number of soldiers and equipment to give at least some protection to the most exposed sites. The Russian economy is currently short on men. Not diverting some 100,000 men for local air defense purposes can make a difference.

I believe that Russia was genuinely interested in making such deal. But the Ukrainian attack on Kursk oblast blew it apart.

There are new suggestion on how the Ukrainian incursion into Russia was prepared for.

The Times in London claims that it largely followed a British plan (archived):

Cont. reading: Britain Claims To Have Helped With The Ukrainian Invasion Of Russia

Axios claims that Hamas rejects a ceasefire deal with Israel:

Hamas rejects new U.S. proposal for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal

The opener:

Hamas on Sunday rejected an updated U.S. proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for moving the goalposts and the U.S. for indulging him.

Seven paragraphs later we learn:

Zoom in: More specifically, Hamas objects to the fact that the proposal doesn't include a permanent ceasefire or comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

There is no ceasefire deal.

How then could Hamas reject a ceasefire deal?

There is only a potential agreement on a pause in the fighting to hand over to Israel the hostages it wants to retrieve.

Which is nothing anyone in the situation in Gaza could agree to.