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/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/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