Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 617
GuardianNOV 1 2023
Russia Ramps up Drone Attacks in Ukraine
Image copyright: Kostya Liberov/Libkos via Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-Russia narrative
The ease with which Russia can destroy Ukrainian air strikes has been proven time and time again, and the same will be said once Kyiv receives its F-16 fighter jets. Based on how quickly Russia has taken out dozens of Ukrainian planes and more than a thousand of its drones, the elimination of F-16s will be a fairly straightforward military objective. There is no victorious future for the Western-backed Ukraine, only prolonged defeat and misery.
Anti-Russia narrative
Despite Russia's talk about overwhelming Ukraine in the air, this war has come to a static pause, with both sides putting up equally impenetrable air defenses. Moscow has had just as hard a time breaking through the thousand-mile frontline as Kyiv, which means the underdog Ukraine has, before receiving the proper air power it needs, already stunted the supposedly stronger Kremlin.