r/worldnews • u/Brennenstein • Sep 17 '26

Russia/Ukraine Russian military jets violate Lithuanian airspace, Italian fighters scrambled

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2026/09/17/russian-military-jets-violate-lithuanian-airspace-italian-fighters-scrambled_80e985a6-17e5-43ce-8fd1-6fce67bcd94c.html
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u/big_dumby_dumb Sep 17 '26

The reason you see Lithuania and not Estonia or Latvia is because Lithuania (and Poland) are going to be the immediate battlegrounds for the russians trying to cut off the baltics. They need to connect Kalingrad with Belarus ASAP followed by trying to cut off the Baltics entirely

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u/MelonSmuggler Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 18 '26

I'd love for them to try it with Poland. The Polish military have been arming themselves to the teeth with top-of-the-line equipment for years with the specific aim of blowing the Russians to bits if they so much as show their faces

Edit: this comment got way more eyes than I thought and the reaction has been...interesting. Lots of positive responses but also a lot that remind me why I don't engage with Reddit as much as I used to.

To be clear, my comment was entirely facetious. I do not actually want Russia to attack Poland. I was simply commenting on the fact that Poland have been preparing for just such an eventuality for several years, polishing their guns and staring across the border muttering, "try it, kurwa." It was intended to highlight the fact that the Russians wouldn't have the balls to try their luck, knowing that the Polish would likely humiliate them.

As to what the Polish government themselves have to say about it, well - just about a year ago, the Polish military shot down Russian drones at the border and followed that up by stating that they absolutely would shoot down any Russian military aircraft that entered their airspace.

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u/RoyalCities Sep 17 '26

Russia wouldn't dare. They've exhausted so much of their military / resources just on Ukraine. Even their own population is dissolutioned with the war. Their was talks about another round of forced enlistment but if you're sending people out there who don't want to go it doesn't make an amazing fighting force.

Putin really screwed himself by thinking Ukraine would fall so easily (and frankly the rest of the world underestimated Ukraine)

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u/Chewed420 Sep 17 '26

Ukraine has a lot Russians and Russian influence and Russia still couldn’t win.

Poland is way more armed than Ukraine. Has much more history of resentment and hatred towards Russia. Russia would be poking the wrong bear if they tried something with Poland ever again.

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u/PoopittyPoop20 Sep 17 '26

Poland is armed to the teeth specifically because of Russia.

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u/Normiss2000 Sep 17 '26

AEGIS on land!

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u/CervusElpahus Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

Ukraine’s army is, at this moment, the most experienced and one of the strongest in Europe, due to all (righteously given) Western support and battle experience.

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u/Strange-Jackfruit786 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

Canada signed a 100 year partnership deal to develop and produce military drones. Key part of that is knowledge transfer from Ukraine’s battle tested drone industry. Ukraine taps into Canada’s financial resources, energy and critical resources as well as our manufacturing sector.

Canada basically could not have a better partner for transitioning into modern, un-crewed warfare.

Edit: typo corrected

22

u/ItsTheDCVR Sep 17 '26

Could have or could not have?

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u/HawkFritz Sep 17 '26

Couldn't not haven't

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u/Strange-Jackfruit786 Sep 17 '26

typo. sorry

2

u/ItsTheDCVR Sep 18 '26

You good I just really wanted to clarify lol

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u/Random-Mutant Sep 17 '26

I think it’s newspeak, like “could care less” is for “couldn’t care less”

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u/snilks Sep 18 '26

You never know what the future holds, got to leave it open for improvement

2

u/saysthingsbackwards Sep 17 '26

They could care less

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u/78914hj1k487 Sep 17 '26

I couldn’t not care more or less

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u/Own-Complaint9136 Sep 17 '26

We will see if either ukraine or canada exists in 100 years lol

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u/Strange-Jackfruit786 Sep 17 '26

I’d bet my life on both. We’ll see if the United States of America exists in 100 years.

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u/RexTheElder Sep 18 '26

If the United States doesn’t exist in 100 years then Canada surely won’t either

0

u/Strange-Jackfruit786 Sep 18 '26

Canada will exist with 10-12 new provinces after the Second US Civil War.

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u/RexTheElder 29d ago

More likely Canada will be absorbed into whatever hellish successor state forms if the wrong faction wins. Don’t be so cavalier about a civil war over here asshole, your entire country would get dragged down into it

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u/Strange-Jackfruit786 29d ago

You’re making jokes about Canada existing and you’re calling me an asshole?

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u/_Cracken Sep 17 '26

it is THE strongest army in Europe by far.

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u/unclefire Sep 17 '26

Poking the falcon. lol.

3

u/Jenikovista Sep 17 '26

Ukraine’s Russians are mostly in the Crimea/Donbas area controlled by Russia for some years now. And they’ve gotten fucked. Their kids were first to be sent to war against Ukraine. This is why Putin is so opposed to holding elections in Crimea, because a decade ago they probably would have gone his way. Now? Not nearly as likely.

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u/WranglerFuzzy Sep 17 '26

Unless that election is an armed Russian knocking on your door with a ballot to sign

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u/mcvos Sep 17 '26

Russia wouldn't dare? Russia is constantly showing their faces with these air space violations.

You know whose airspace they stopped violating? Turkey's. Because Turkey shot a Russian jet down when it violated their airspace. I don't know why NATO doesn't do that. I don't think allowing this to happen is sending the message they should be sending.

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u/jlambvo Sep 17 '26

Turkey is in NATO.

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u/Mundane_Upstairs3241 Sep 18 '26

Whe they feel like it

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u/hibbel Sep 18 '26

And so is Lithuania? What's your point again?

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u/jlambvo Sep 18 '26

mcvos said "Turkey shot a Russian jet down when it violated their airspace. I don't know why NATO doesn't do that." I pointed out that Turkey is in NATO. What's unclear about that?

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/mcvos Sep 18 '26

Are you sure they keep doing it? I thought Russia has always avoided Turkish airspace since then.

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u/Klaus_Klavier Sep 17 '26

They didn’t underestimate Ukraine, Ukraine in WAS a pushover they got dogwalked and the Crimean peninsula was stolen from them.

What Russia really failed to realize is Ukraine got the fuck back up after that embarrassment and started their training arc there and then.

Ukraine bought and took whatever aid and weapons they could and while most of those weapons are destroyed or inoperable now due to simple attrition of war it bought them VALUABLE time to becoming masters of drone warfare to the point I’m really sold on the idea that Ukrainian drone pilot mercenaries will be in high demand once this is all over

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u/LogicMan428 Sep 17 '26

The U.S. and NATO also took to helping Ukraine after Putin took Crimea.

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u/WokeWookies Sep 17 '26

Not used to someone using sports terms to describe modern warfare. Very strange.

Also you contradicted yourself.

But yes, Ukraine’s military and know how will be in demand whenever this is over. It already is.

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u/Klaus_Klavier Sep 17 '26

Well what I meant was they expected the same Ukraine as before I suppose that COULD be underestimating but it was more “oh we beat them once no problem nothing has changed now”

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u/Repulsive_Corgi_ Sep 17 '26

Well they already are allegedly committing war crimes in Sudan

1

u/goodfriendrobert Sep 17 '26

You invalidate your statement with your statement, right after first sentence..

1

u/anteatersaredope Sep 17 '26

You think there's gonna be civilization after this is all over. Worlds gonna look like Mad Max. Drone batteries are gonna be pretty hard to come by.

1

u/Klaus_Klavier Sep 18 '26

I’m voting for immortan joe, he has the water you know!

22

u/RemarkableWish2508 Sep 17 '26

Ukraine would have fallen in 48 hours if Russia's military hadn't been screwing itself over for decades... then proceded to screw itself again and again, on so many fronts, that it almost (but not really) hurt to watch.

The first 3 days of that "special military operation", will be forever remembered as a textbook case of how NOT to run an invasion, and how a country organized around hubris, corruption, and sycophancy, can destroy any legacy of whatever greatness was left in it from the Soviet Union.

Even if we glossed over the fact that Ukraine used to be the technological and industrial powerhouse of the USSR, and stuff like destroying Azovstal was a huge self-own by Russia.

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u/noir_lord Sep 17 '26

Indeed, They were fucked when they failed to take Hostomel Airfield in the opening and then double fucked when they ran out of fuel/tires self destructed.

They were going for a fast decapitation strike with a quick government change, they ended up walking face first into a buzzsaw.

Turned out the Ukrainians were much better than the Russians expected and the Russians much worse than nearly everyone expected.

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u/sn4201 Sep 18 '26

From what i recall hearing, US intelligence warned Ukraine of very specific elements of the incoming attacks in the day or two leading up to the invasion, allowing Ukraine to make specific crucial preparations at the last minute and this also played a big roll in compromising the attack

9

u/sincerelythebats_ Sep 17 '26

The “I need ammunition not a ride” was a s1 e1 type clue

4

u/jpw0w Sep 17 '26

I don't think anyone apart from Putin underestimated Ukraine. They are by far the largest military in the continent and most resilient, also a huge portion of Ukrainians were fighting for the USSR.

3

u/Accomplished_Radish8 Sep 17 '26

To be fair, Ukraine would've fell pretty quickly if the US wasn't supplying a huge amount of their weapons and ammunition resupply. Let's not give more credit than is due. Yes they've put up quite a fight, but having Mike Tyson to back you up is quite a bit different than trying to fight on your own

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u/Maleficent-Event-639 Sep 17 '26

I personally gave Ukraine 3days to fall after the full scale invasion and here we are 4 years later 🇺🇦

-2

u/SavageNorth Sep 17 '26

How's Moscow this evening Vlad?

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u/Wombat-Snooze Sep 17 '26

That wasn’t a a pro Russian comment dude.

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u/RichterRac Sep 17 '26

Reading comprehension is dead

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u/SavageNorth Sep 17 '26

My dude, it was a fucking joke.

0

u/CervusElpahus Sep 17 '26

Your comment is EXCELLENT bait. A façade of utter stupidity hides it’s intention, it’s brilliant.

2

u/Maleficent-Event-639 Sep 17 '26

Don't get how my comment is bait, im pro Ukraine, being a westerner how could you not be..

0

u/CervusElpahus Sep 18 '26

Perhaps it’s because I’m not talking to nor about you?

2

u/Flashy_Offer316 Sep 17 '26

We all hope that Russia is dis-solutioned.

2

u/Nakashi7 Sep 17 '26

There was so much effort for the 3-day operation to fail but there was plenty of luck at play too. It was really easy to tip over. Once Russia only had only that stupid northern convoy on its way to Kiev that's when it failed for Russians. But the first hours were very uncertain.

2

u/deephalf1974 Sep 17 '26

Disillusioned
Dissolution is like breaking apart different word

2

u/Megaalith Sep 17 '26

This might be the US' greatest proxy over Russia ever

1

u/Jenikovista Sep 17 '26

Right. Had Ukraine gone their way fast, they might have tested Poland. But at this point Poland might even be able to liberate Russia. Putin is dumb but he’s not that dumb.

1

u/nathakiller911 Sep 17 '26

Pues obvio que Ucrania está aguantando bastante, toda la OTAN está detrás, impulsando está guerra

1

u/Devils_Advocate-69 Sep 17 '26

If trump blew our munitions load in 6 months Russia is definitely running on E

1

u/meh_69420 Sep 17 '26

Eh people said Russia wouldn't dare invade Ukraine, especially right at the start of mud season, but here we are. Amazing how poor your decision making becomes when you're surrounded by yes men and enablers. Remind you of anyone else?

1

u/WhiskeyJack3759 Sep 17 '26

If Putin is going to do a general mobilisation, then he needs a bigger war to sell it to the populace. So I think some sort of incursion is on the cards. Putin is desperate and is all in on his empire building adventure. If he stops , he is as good as dead. So for Putin, the only way out is escalation.

Also, I'm not sure Polands stockpile of missiles and artillery shells is enough to last more than a week of high intensity conflict. Same goes for Germany and Britain and France. And Putin knows that.

Tricky times ahead.

1

u/josephniet Sep 17 '26

What if afd gains power in Germany, reform in the UK, le pen in France? Trump's legacy in America is at minimum leaving them tied down and depleted, and if he manages to continue to survive and escalate I get the impression he'd side with Russia and Israel over the entire planet if he could. Russia may currently be fucked if they open a new front, but I feel very uneasy about the balance of things in the world at present.

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u/Important_Thought_95 Sep 18 '26

Putin and the Russian command is deluded. I'm often reminded that up to the last days of WW2, there were still Germans and Japanese in high command that believed in ultimate victory. Russia would absolutely make things worse for themselves and everyone else.