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Today’s focus: Ukrainian military’s largest air raid on Moscow, Russian military set to advance on Poltava? Ukrainian special forces take out Iranian commander in Russia, Lai Ching-te exposes secrets and questions the Chinese Communist Party; massacre of police officers and gun theft in Changchun, eight-country coalition attacks China again, half of the Chinese willing to lead the way.
Since the Ukrainian army entered Russian territory, the Russia-Ukraine war has escalated into a tit-for-tat situation. So when Ukraine was massively bombed by Russia on its Independence Day, I believed Ukraine would retaliate in a similar fashion. As expected, Ukraine launched the largest air raid on Moscow since the start of the war.
In the early hours of September 1, precisely from the evening of August 31 to the morning of September 1, the Ukrainian army deployed around 160 attack drones to conduct a large-scale air raid on 15 regions in Russia, including Moscow. Russian official media claimed that the Russian military shot down all 158 Ukrainian drones, with no casualties, fires, or disruption of power supply. Frankly speaking, I am now confused about whether this official propaganda is from whom learned from whom – Russia or China? Or have they been learning from each other for mutual progress?
Seeing is believing, first let’s take a look at the video captured by Moscow residents showing a Ukrainian attack drone flying brazenly into the Moscow area, diving to bomb a Moscow refinery.
Let’s also see the scene of Ukrainian drones attacking the Gazprom power plant on the outskirts of Moscow.
This large-scale drone attack by Ukraine on Moscow mainly targeted the refineries and power plants around Moscow. In other words, Zelensky wants everyone in Moscow, from Putin to ordinary people, to directly feel the consequences of war. The impact is significant, with one of Russia’s largest Moscow refineries hit. This refinery has an annual capacity of 12 million tons and can process 240,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The refinery is only 15 kilometers from the Kremlin, located in the urban area of Moscow. Before hitting the refinery, in the early hours of the night, Ukrainian drones had already struck two Moscow power plants in the northwest and south suburbs of the Kremlin.
In addition, Ukrainian drones also damaged a major power plant in the central region of Russia – a thermal power plant in the Tver region, ranking eighth among all power plants in Russia.
In my opinion, although destroying several power plants and refineries causes huge losses, it may not be catastrophic. What’s terrifying is that this drone attack by Ukraine has exposed vulnerabilities in Russia’s supposedly airtight air defense system.
Take a look at the diagram of Moscow’s supposedly most tightly defended air defense network. These densely packed shield-shaped symbols represent Russia’s deployed air defense systems in Moscow, including at least 22 sets of S-300 or S-400 air defense systems, and even the latest two sets of Russia’s most advanced S-500 air defense systems, along with other medium and short-range air defense systems such as “Strela” and “Thor,” forming a multi-layered defense network. The defense of Moscow’s power plants and refineries is a top priority. While this global tightest air defense network can be felt from this diagram, it failed against Ukraine’s drone attack.
Imagine, what if the Ukrainian drones had attacked the center of Moscow or the Kremlin instead of the power plants and refineries? What if instead of hundreds, there were thousands of drones attacking? What if the Ukrainian military used their successfully test-fired homemade long-range missiles alongside drones? How dreadful would the outcome be?
As Ukraine launched a massive air raid on Moscow, the Poltava region of Ukraine, also known as the “Red Army Village” frontline, is facing relentless attacks by tens of thousands of Russian troops. The UK Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that Russian troops are now less than 10 kilometers from Poltava.
The Ukrainian General Staff released a report on the situation on August 31, reporting a total of 183 battles on the Ukrainian front line. The fiercest battles took place in Poltava, where there were 55 intense skirmishes in one day. Russian forces attacked ten settlements, with the most concentrated attacks occurring near Novhorodivka. In fact, a few days ago, Russian forces broke through the first line of defense near the “Red Army Village,” leading to the occupation of most of Novhorodivka by Russian forces. The “Red Army Village” is the last line of defense for Poltava, and if it falls, Poltava, a transportation hub, faces a huge risk of being cut off by Russian forces.
The battles that day were exceptionally fierce. The Ukrainian 59th Brigade released a video showing the brigade repelling an attack by 16 heavy armored vehicles and infantry of the Russian military, destroying 12 armored vehicles and forcing the Russian troops to retreat. The subsequent Russian battle damage report confirmed 93 soldiers killed and wounded.
As Russian forces advance closer to the city suburbs, the pace of the offensive has slowed down. The Ukrainian National Guard’s Karadag Brigade, as a newly deployed force on the battlefield, engaged Russian forces in multiple directions, with intense warfare making the weakly protected infantry vulnerable. A video shows the Karadag Brigade using tank fire to attack a Russian infantry fighting vehicle hidden under a bridge.
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces deploy a large number of attack drones on the battlefield. However, with the advancement of anti-drone technology, drone attacks can no longer be indiscriminate as before. On September 2, a Taiwanese volunteer in the Ukrainian army on the eastern front said their positions had drone jammers. He witnessed Russian drones dropping in front of their positions. However, the jammers currently used still have weaknesses: they cannot distinguish between friend and foe. As soon as they see or hear any drone presence on the battlefield, they immediately activate the jammers. The Taiwanese volunteer also revealed that the drones they previously used could carry three mortar rounds each.
Recently, the Ukrainian military has introduced a new measure in drone use. In order to clear out Russian troops hidden in forests, the Ukrainian army has begun deploying drones carrying thermite canisters. Once flown over the trees where Russian troops are concealed, the thermite is ignited, generating temperatures as high as 2,500°C, making the fires almost impossible to extinguish.
On September 1, Israeli sources revealed that Ukrainian special forces took out Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Morasari in Russia. Morasari specialized in delivering Iranian-made Shahed attack drones to Russia, which are the mainstay of the recent massive Russian air raids on Ukraine. If confirmed by Ukrainian officials, this implies that Ukraine and Israel have begun collaborating to eliminate a common enemy.
In wars between modern nations, the initiators often use “for the benefit of the country and the nation” as a pretext, even a phrase like “for the unity and territorial integrity of the motherland” can mask all unjust actions. What surprised me was that Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te recently, in an interview with Taiwanese media, not only exposed the secrets of the Chinese Communist Party but also dragged Russia into it. Lai Ching-te directly questioned the CCP: if you want territorial integrity, why not demand the return of Chinese territory occupied by Russia? I wonder how the Chinese nationalists will react to this.
For the CCP, they know they have committed numerous wrongdoings, they know the Chinese people know about their wrongdoings, and they know as long as they hold onto the guns, depriving the Chinese people of all means of resistance, they can continue their days of misdeeds. Therefore, what the CCP fears the most is Chinese people having weapons. On September 2, a major incident occurred in Changchun, Jilin Province, where police rifles were seized!
The cause of the gun-snatching incident in Changchun is now unclear – it is said to be due to a dispute with the property management, the police were called, then a knife was drawn, guns snatched, two shots fired, followed by the hostage-taking, with reports of three deaths. People posted online saying: even delivery is not allowed, I am not allowed to go down to pick up. Riot police vehicles line up, riot police holding sniper rifles outside. See how a person with a gun can mobilize so many under the CCP.
A netizen on Twitter commented: the current Chinese society is like this massive powder keg, one spark and it will ignite! Another replied: there will be more incidents like this, just see which straw will break the camel’s back. And someone lamented: no wonder I saw Taiwanese people say that to prevent the CCP from attacking Taiwan, just discreetly arm the Chinese people, no need for the Taiwanese military to act, a hundred thousand guns in the hands of the Chinese people can take down the CCP.
On August 28, someone initiated an online referendum: Chinese compatriots, if the eight-country coalition attacks China again, will you take up arms to resist the attack? Within five days, about seven thousand people voted, with 27.7% saying they would resist, 6.5% saying they would not resist, 17.6% saying they would just watch, and shockingly, 48.2% of Chinese said they would help the eight-country coalition.
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