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⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Putin’s DELUSIONS of GRANDEUR... REALITY Hits HARD
16:14 Britain’s War With Russia Has Already Begun
33:52 Russia Just Made Its BIGGEST MISTAKE Yet… Germany Vows REVENGE
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⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Putin’s DELUSIONS of GRANDEUR... REALITY Hits HARD
16:14 Britain’s War With Russia Has Already Begun
33:52 Russia Just Made Its BIGGEST MISTAKE Yet… Germany Vows REVENGE
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
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NewsTranscript
00:01If you listen to Putin, you'd think that Russia is on the rampage in Ukraine.
00:05When he delivers any sort of report, it usually involves claims that another settlement has fallen,
00:10and that the collapse of Ukraine's defense is inevitable.
00:13But Putin has created his own reality.
00:16He labors under delusions of grandeur as his soldiers are torn to pieces on the battlefield.
00:21Putin's battlefield fiction is meeting a harsh and brutal reality.
00:25And the craziest thing is that he doesn't even seem to know it.
00:28Surrounded by liars and self-serving snakes, Putin is allowing his delusions to be fueled
00:34to the point where they have crippled Russia's ability to wage war.
00:38In an explosive Russian campaign assessment, the Institute for the Study of War, or ISW,
00:44has claimed that Putin is completely divorced from reality,
00:48due to the culture of lying among Russia's military commanders.
00:52Russia's president has nobody but himself to blame for the delusions that now warp his mind.
00:57Putin is the man who has created such a massive culture of fear inside Russia that his own commanders,
01:02who should be offering honest assessments, are more concerned with saving their own skin than they are in revealing reality.
01:09They know the truth could set them free falling out of open windows, so they lie.
01:13And Putin, ever desperate to have his ideas and approach validated, swallows all of it up and asks for more.
01:18This unwillingness to see what should be right in front of him is doing Putin more harm than good.
01:24What he sees as power projection is, in reality, a path that takes Russia further away from peace and is
01:30crippling its army inside Ukraine.
01:32Before we go on, we're real people producing researched and fact-checked military reporting.
01:38If you want to support that, subscribe, share your thoughts below, and consider becoming a member for exclusive content we
01:44don't publish publicly.
01:45We have seen plenty of evidence of how Putin's delusions are causing him to fail Russia in recent days,
01:51as the US seems to be trying to break through Putin's haze to deliver him the dose of news that
01:55he needs to hear.
01:56That was one of the main purposes of the unexpected visit that CIA director John Ratcliffe made to Moscow toward
02:02the end of August.
02:03Ratcliffe tried to warn Putin that his own intelligence agencies are lying to him about Russia's progress in Ukraine,
02:10as well as to deliver a warning about escalation against NATO, especially in Russia's current state.
02:15Putin would have none of it.
02:16As the New Voice of Ukraine reports, Putin cancelled his own meeting with Ratcliffe after reading the contents of the
02:22message that he'd brought to Russia.
02:23We don't know what that message actually said.
02:26Ratcliffe had met with intelligence officials who would have been responsible for delivering the message to Putin,
02:30and they may have adjusted the content to keep Putin away from the truth that they have been trying to
02:35hide, yet more delusion created.
02:37And now, there is a suggestion that Putin believes that Ratcliffe's visit was a sign of American weakness rather than
02:44a warning.
02:45Ratcliffe's visit set the table for the arrival of America's special envoys, Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner, in Russia.
02:50In September, the two envoys visited both Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to restart peace talks between the two
02:57nations.
02:57Putin was first up, followed by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
03:01The envoys reportedly pushed for trilateral meetings, and Zelensky seemed to agree, CNN reports.
03:07The same outlet reports that both envoys left the talks feeling confident of achieving a good resolution.
03:13However, that simply doesn't seem possible for the simple reason that it appears Putin delivered the same maximalist demands for
03:19peace that he's been making since talks began.
03:22Ukraine must cede Donetsk, resulting in the Donbass being handed over to Russia.
03:27Without that, there can be no peace, Putin claims.
03:30It's here that Putin's delusions become so deep that you would hit the wreck of the Titanic before reaching the
03:35end of them.
03:36The demand to cede is being made by a man who thinks he holds all of the cards in Donetsk.
03:41He doesn't, and we'll explain why in a moment.
03:43First, what we're seeing in all of this is a man who is the victim of the system of misinformation
03:48that he has created around himself.
03:49As the ISW puts it, the Russian military systematically misinforms Putin about the state of the frontline,
03:56in part due to the pervasive culture of lying within the Russian armed forces that mill bloggers refer to as
04:02beautiful reports.
04:04The sweeping advances that serve as the backbone of Putin's claims that Ukraine should cede simply aren't happening,
04:10meaning that Putin has no real idea of what's happening on the battlefield.
04:13Putin is now in the strange position in which he is so obsessed with the Ukraine war
04:17that it has taken over every aspect of his thinking, yet at the same time he knows so little about
04:22what's actually happening
04:23due to his own commanders that the obsession is worthless.
04:26And this isn't a new phenomenon.
04:28The Atlantic wrote about it on July 1st, noting a scripted TV interview where Putin appeared actively bored
04:34by questions about governing Russia and instead insisted on speaking about battlefield minutiae,
04:39the point where he even named a specific street in Donetsk where he claimed that Russian forces had gained some
04:44ground.
04:45Nobody can actually confirm this street was taken, least of all Putin.
04:49But the fact that Putin brought it up at all may also show us that it's not just the exaggerated
04:54gains
04:55that his commanders are reporting that are the problem.
04:57Putin himself seems to think that even the smallest gains are worthy of national attention,
05:02telling us that he is grasping for any positive news that could support his demands for peace.
05:06This is all happening at a time when 81% of Russians claim they want an end to the war,
05:12per a survey carried out by the Kyiv-based Institute for Conflict Studies and Analysis of Russia in May 2026.
05:19And so we come back to Donetsk. It's here that Putin's delusions are at their strongest.
05:24When he's not naming individual streets that Russia has supposedly captured, Putin is making much grander claims.
05:30For instance, September 1st saw Putin claim that Russian soldiers had captured 270 square kilometers of Donetsk in August,
05:37as part of Russia's attempts to advance on Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.
05:41On top of that, Putin said a large grouping of Ukrainian troops had been surrounded.
05:46It all sounds very impressive until you realize that none of it is true.
05:50Here's the dose of reality that Putin needs. Several doses, actually.
05:54Starting with the territory capture claims, Putin's statement is around 180 square kilometers off.
06:00That's according to the ISW, which says that Russia managed to occupy 90.35 square kilometers in Ukraine,
06:07not the 270 that Putin claims.
06:09Bear in mind that the ISW's figures cover all of Ukraine, not just Donetsk.
06:14Even if we take the successful infiltrations into account, which the ISW doesn't classify as true occupation,
06:20because you can't occupy anything with a couple of soldiers who are hiding and hoping that drones don't find them,
06:25Russia still only captured 123.53 square kilometers, which is less than half of what Putin claimed.
06:32It only gets worse from here for Putin.
06:34He has set 15 deadlines for the fall of Donetsk since the beginning of the invasion,
06:39and not a single one of them has come close to being met.
06:42Right now the deadline is December 31st, despite the fact that all of the fortress belts still needs to be
06:47claimed.
06:48Even in Konstantinivka, where Russia has made its best progress in Donetsk,
06:52the fighting still rages after 11 months, and it will be a long time until the city falls.
06:58Still, let's take Putin's December 31st deadline as given.
07:01That means Russia has a little under four months to claim the 19% or so of Donetsk that remains
07:06to be captured.
07:07That just isn't going to happen.
07:09At least not if Russia's rate of advance stays anywhere near what it is right now.
07:13But before we explain more, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show.
07:17If you haven't subscribed yet, now's the perfect time to hit the button.
07:20And if you want to know the moment that we publish a new video, enable notifications to get alerts.
07:25The ISW reports that Russia's rate of advance across the entire Ukraine theater was 2.91 km2 per day in
07:32August.
07:33Donetsk, which is where Russia has deployed its priority forces, has an even slower rate of advance than the average
07:382.36 km2 per day.
07:40At this rate, it will take Russia until October 2, 2032 to seize the rest of Donetsk, which is so
07:48long that it would happen after the next state Duma elections, which will follow those set for this fall.
07:53By October 2, 2032, Putin will be five days away from turning 80.
07:57He might not even be alive by the time that Donetsk falls unless Russia can manage some massive turnaround with
08:02an army that has spent four and a half years being sapped of its most skilled professionals in Ukraine's meat
08:07grinder.
08:08Speaking of the scale of death, Russia is making some massive trades in blood just to get its hands on
08:13small scraps of territory that it's taking in Donetsk and the rest of Ukraine.
08:17We see that in the daily casualty rates. On September 5th, Russia lost 1,390 soldiers to death, injury or
08:24capture. On September 6th, it was 1,540 soldiers.
08:29These numbers aren't outliers. They've become standard for Russia, meaning Putin's forces regularly trade well over 1,000 casualties for
08:37between two and three square kilometers every day.
08:39So not only are those soldiers moving slowly, but their advance is unsustainable unless Putin decides to mobilize to make
08:46up for the sheer scale of Russia's losses.
08:49And by the way, all of this is happening without considering the urban battles to come in Donetsk.
08:54Whatever advances Russia has made, it hasn't pushed into the fortress belt cities in any considerable fashion.
09:00Territory is being taken on the outskirts, often dozens of kilometers away from those cities.
09:04If you think the rate of advance is slow now, just wait until those soldiers finally make it into the
09:09fortress belt cities themselves, where urban combat awaits, and the already slow pace will reduce to an absolute crawl.
09:16Every urban battlefield in the fortress belt is an attritional nightmare filled with drones and perfect for ambushes.
09:23Ukraine's soldiers know these streets, Russia's forces don't, and it will be no surprise to see Russia losing upwards of
09:292,000 soldiers per day once they reach the fortress belt cities.
09:33When Putin calls on Ukraine to cede Donetsk, this is the reality that needs to be presented to him.
09:38Ukraine would love to declare peace, but it's in no rush, as it knows that it will take six years
09:44or more for Putin to obtain by force what he wants to gain through negotiation.
09:48And even beyond that, Ukraine has no reason to even consider ceding this territory to Russia.
09:53Why?
09:54Again, the ISW has the answer.
09:56Putin is unlikely to stop at Donetsk, even if it were handed over to him today.
10:00Russia's leader would just see that as a sign of Ukraine's weakness, meaning he would push for more and more
10:05until he has all of Ukraine.
10:07It's better for Ukraine to leave Putin lost in his own delusions as it tears Russia's forces to shreds on
10:12the battlefield.
10:13Donetsk may be the epicenter of misinformation that is being shoveled into Putin's head by his commanders.
10:18However, there are plenty of other regions and settlements about which Putin has made grand claims that have turned out
10:24to be utterly untrue.
10:25We'll start with Sumy.
10:27On September 1st, Putin claimed that Russia's forces were creating a security zone along the border between Russia and Ukraine
10:33inside the Ukrainian region of Sumy.
10:36Over the past month, 14 settlements have come under the control of the Russian forces, including Kazachia Lopan, and yesterday,
10:42the city of Svyatohirsk, Putin declared.
10:45The claim about Svyatohirsk simply isn't true.
10:48On September 7th, a video was published on Telegram by Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps commander, Andrey Biletsky.
10:54It showed Ukrainian soldiers in the Svyatohirsk city center, as Biletsky declared,
10:59I want to address Russia's military and military political leadership.
11:02Take off your clown noses and colorful wigs.
11:04Don't make fools of yourselves.
11:06The 60th Mechanized Brigade of the 3rd Army Corps has full control of the city.
11:11In fact, this is our rear area.
11:12That mention of the city being a rear area means that Ukraine's control extends several kilometers beyond the settlement's borders,
11:19telling us that Russia is nowhere near achieving what Putin claimed had already happened on September 1st.
11:25If Putin is wrong about this city, the odds are high that he's wrong about at least some, if not
11:29all, of the other 14 settlements he claims.
11:32As the Kyiv Post points out, none of Putin's claims could be independently verified.
11:36Next, we head to the Kharkiv region, which is where Kazachia Lopan is located.
11:40Remember, Putin claimed that the settlement was also under Russian control.
11:44Has been since August, if you believe what Russia has to say.
11:47But it looks like Putin had been fed even more false information.
11:51There is still plenty of fighting in and around this village, but there is certainly no occupation.
11:56On September 2nd, Ukraine's 14th Army Corps declared that Ukraine still fully controls the village in a telegram post where
12:02they said,
12:02The latest statements by Russian propagandists and Putin personally about the capture of Kazachia Lopan in the Kharkiv region traditionally
12:10do not correspond to reality.
12:12The settlement is under the control of the Ukrainian defense forces.
12:16Apart from taking the village over, Russia has suffered heavy losses in its attempts, amounting to 178 soldiers dead and
12:22another 210 wounded.
12:24You are probably noticing a trend here. Putin makes a claim. Ukraine denies and then provides proof that Russia's leader
12:30is talking out of his rear end.
12:32And we have seen something similar in several other parts of Sumy.
12:35Russia has claimed over the past few weeks that it has captured the settlements of Pisarivka and Novokonstantinivka.
12:41Neither claim is true. Ukraine's cursed group of forces denied the latter claims on August 25th.
12:46And it doesn't seem as though Russia has made any progress in Novokonstantinivka since.
12:51And it just keeps on going. Putin has also claimed that Russia has managed a major victory by encircling 2
12:56,000 Ukrainian soldiers in northeastern Kharkiv over a 460 square kilometer pocket of territory.
13:03Beyond there being no credible evidence to suggest that this pocket exists or that there is a Ukrainian grouping of
13:08that size being surrounded by Russian forces,
13:10this particular claim even drew backlash from Russian military bloggers.
13:15Rybar, who has over 1.5 million Telegram followers and is one of Russia's most influential pro-war bloggers,
13:21says that the far more likely situation is that the territory Russia's soldiers were trying to attack in Kharkiv likely
13:27contained very few Ukrainian ground troops,
13:30a point where those troops don't even hold the territory at all.
13:33That doesn't mean Russia holds it either. Instead, what is happening is that the territory is filled to the brim
13:38with Ukrainian drones,
13:39along with other defenses.
13:42Russia has encircled a kill zone, not a Ukrainian troop gathering.
13:46And that means any attempt made to close the circle Putin claims has formed will just lead to mass casualties
13:51for Russia and barely any for Ukraine.
13:54Yes, Russia might eventually occupy the territory, but only after untold hundreds if not thousands of Russian troops meeting their
14:01ends due to Ukraine's drones.
14:04Perhaps the best rebuke comes from the armed forces of Ukraine, which highlights what Putin's claims about the so-called
14:09Vovchansk Cauldron are really all about.
14:12The inflating of an information bubble called Vovchansk Cauldron has been going on for the past three months.
14:17The enemy media is creating a victorious backdrop.
14:20The main thing is to hold fake elections and manufactured public support to the Russian state, especially in the border
14:26areas of the Belgorod region, Ukraine declares.
14:29This about sums it up.
14:31Putin is just repeating what his commanders are telling him because he likes what he hears,
14:34and he believes that saying it often enough will lead to a good result in upcoming elections.
14:38We don't know if Putin actually believes any of the words that are coming out of his mouth regarding all
14:43of these claims.
14:44Frankly, Putin probably doesn't even know if he believes them.
14:47He just says what he's told by people who create false narratives because they know that Putin doesn't really want
14:52to see reality.
14:54The battlefield fiction is real in Putin's mind because he wants it to be.
14:58And that makes this fiction dangerous on two levels.
15:00For Russia itself, Putin having no idea what's happening to the point where he regurgitates easily disproven lies actively harms
15:07Russia's ability to wage war.
15:09How is the country's military supposed to be effective when Putin has essentially tricked himself into thinking that a failing
15:15strategy is producing results?
15:17There is a widespread culture of lying in the Russian military, and it's only going to lead to more Russian
15:22deaths in Donetsk,
15:23as well as the complete failure of Putin and his negotiators to recognize their real position whenever they come to
15:29the table for negotiations.
15:31Those negotiations will crumble every single time because Russia insists on them being based on a version of reality that
15:36nobody but Putin can see.
15:38So more soldiers will die, and Russia's dire economic situation will only get worse, all because of Putin.
15:45Ukraine, Europe and NATO won't mind those bad outcomes of the battlefield fiction, even if Ukraine would prefer to negotiate
15:51a fair peace based on reality.
15:53Far more worrying for all three is the second danger, which is that Putin's delusions may now be so grand
15:58that he actually believes that Russia has established itself as a powerhouse that is capable of taking on and defeating
16:04NATO.
16:05Putin seems to believe the lies, and he's not telling those lies on purpose if the ISW is right, and
16:11it's Russia's military commanders who are feeding him this information.
16:15For years, military analysts have asked the question, where will Russia invade next?
16:20Common answers have historically included the Baltic states and Poland, with some also suggesting that the Kremlin could look north
16:28and try to take over territories belonging to Finland or Norway.
16:32Few people, however, would have suggested the United Kingdom, an island nation located more than a thousand miles from the
16:38Russian border, as the next target in Moscow's sights.
16:41Now, it not only looks like war between Russia and the UK is a very real possibility, but may in
16:48fact have already begun.
16:49The relationship between these two countries has been up and down throughout history.
16:54They allied against Napoleon in the early 19th century, fought one another during the Crimean Wars several decades later, became
17:01allies again through both world wars, then clash once more during the Cold War.
17:06Relations seemed to be stabilizing somewhat during the early 2010s, but rapidly sailed in 2014, when Russia seized control of
17:14Crimea, triggering the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
17:17The UK, like other Western powers, sided with Ukraine and imposed several waves of sanctions against Russian banks, businesses and
17:24political figures.
17:25It went on to become one of Kyiv's strongest supporters.
17:29But before we explain how, if you want to enjoy instant access to exclusive content and additional in-depth military
17:36reports, consider becoming a member of the channel today.
17:39Now, according to data collected by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, one of the leading research institutes for
17:45global economic affairs, Britain delivered 22.5 billion euros or $26.2 billion of bilateral aid to Ukraine between January
17:5524, 2022 and June 30, 2026, including 15.9 billion euros of military assistance,
18:035.15 billion euros of financial aid and 1.46 billion euros in humanitarian support.
18:10That places the UK third on the list of the countries that have sent the most aid to Ukraine, behind
18:15Germany in second place and the US in first.
18:18From sending drones and air defense missiles directly to Kyiv, to training Ukrainian military personnel and signing battlefield technology sharing
18:26agreements, the UK has gone above and beyond in its support.
18:30It has also taken on a leading diplomatic role as the war has progressed, setting up the Coalition of the
18:36Willing, a group of nations dedicated to supporting Ukraine's future security,
18:41as well as signing a landmark 100-year partnership with Kyiv and being one of the loudest voices condemning Russia's
18:46invasion and attempting to hold the Vladimir Putin regime to account for its reckless and illegal actions.
18:52And while other nations may have eased off slightly on their support for Ukraine as the war has continued far
18:58longer than anyone initially expected,
19:00the UK's commitment has only seemed to grow stronger with time.
19:04Indeed, Britain has pledged to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, promising a minimum of 3 billion
19:09pounds or $4.07 billion of military support through to 2031 and beyond if necessary.
19:16Naturally, Russia has taken a very dim view of Britain's actions.
19:21It added the UK to its list of unfriendly countries in 2022 and has since gone on to portray the
19:26island nation as the root cause of all of its problems,
19:29with Russian security service officials calling the country the main instigator of global conflict and the puppet master of Ukraine's
19:36secret services,
19:37and many media figures labelling the UK as public enemy number one in Moscow.
19:42A BBC report into anti-British reporting in Russian media revealed that reports and political news stories talking about the
19:48UK, often in a negative light, have greatly increased since the invasion began in 2022.
19:54Many pro-Putin political talk shows have condemned Great Britain for its support of Ukraine, claiming that its actions have
20:01only served to prolong the war and cause additional deaths and needless suffering.
20:05Some have even accused London of attempting to destabilise Russia from within through acts of sabotage and funding anti-Kremlin
20:12activists,
20:13and Britain's intelligence agencies are often labeled the masterminds behind Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil, like the Operation Spiderweb drone
20:21strikes of June 2025.
20:23Additionally, former UK Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer have both been the subjects of significantly more airtime on
20:31Russian news and political programs than Russia's own Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin,
20:36with Johnson accused of derailing early attempts at peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and Starmer cast as the villainous
20:42leader of Europe's campaign to keep the war going.
20:45What's more, the phrase, Anglicanka Gadit, which originated during the First Crimean War and translates to the Englishwoman Does the
20:53Dirty, has also seen a surge in usage across Russian newspapers,
20:57telegram channels and talk shows in recent years.
20:59In short, Russia has become almost obsessed with the United Kingdom, with politicians like Andrei Gurlylov calling on the country's
21:07scientists to develop a biological weapon that specifically targets those of Anglo-Saxon DNA,
21:13and pro-Putin propagandists like Vladimir Solyov suggesting that Moscow should bomb the British Isles to oblivion.
21:19As John Loff, senior research fellow at the new Eurasian strategy centre think-tank puts it,
21:25the Kremlin has recast the UK as public enemy number one, a shift rooted in long-term strategy and amplified
21:31by the Ukraine war.
21:33The system needs an external enemy for public consumption and regime cohesion, and the Kremlin's desire to be nice to
21:39the US, for the moment, leaves the UK a convenient punch bag.
21:42Russia's rage towards Great Britain reached a head in August 2026, when news reports revealed that Ukraine had officially started
21:50using British-made drones in some of its long-range strikes on Russian territory.
21:54British newspaper, The Times, spoke to sources with the Ukrainian armed forces, who confirmed that the jet-powered Neand drone,
22:02which is made by British aerospace and arms company BAE Systems, as well as another unnamed British drone,
22:08have both been used for strikes on oil refineries near Moscow and targets in other Russian regions.
22:13And Russia didn't take too kindly to that.
22:16The Russian embassy in London issued a strongly worded statement containing a thinly veiled threat.
22:21Reports that the Kyiv regime is using British drones to carry out strikes deep inside Russian territory confirmed that London
22:28is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis,
22:32while hypocritically professing a desire for peace.
22:35The deeper its involvement in the conflict, and the greater its support for Kyiv's terrorist machinery, the higher the price
22:41it will pay.
22:41Former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Fedorov went on to warn the BBC that British drone factories could suffer some
22:49sort of retaliation from semi-military or unknown forces.
22:53He argued that Vladimir Putin was under increasing pressure to take action against the UK, which could include cyber attacks
23:00or political measures.
23:02Sooner or later, there might not only be verbal, but maybe some visible reaction from Russia towards the UK.
23:08Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also accused the UK of adding fuel to the fire, and claimed that the country was
23:15becoming a more active participant in the war,
23:17which could in theory be used as a pretext for the Kremlin to attack it.
23:21Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin went further, sharing a list of 23 potential targets that Russia could strike
23:29in the United Kingdom,
23:30including military and industrial hubs in locations like Glasgow, Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Bristol.
23:37And Vladimir Solyov, who is no stranger to making extreme statements on Russian state TV, once again urged the Kremlin
23:43to attack Britain without delay.
23:46Give the British three days to learn to breathe underwater, then hit them with Poseidon.
23:50Solyov was referring to the 2M39 Poseidon, an autonomous nuclear-powered torpedo capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear warheads.
23:59It was one of six new nuclear weapons unveiled by Putin back in 2018, with the Russian president claiming that
24:05one of these weapons had been successfully tested in October 2025.
24:10Little is known about the Poseidon's design or exact technical specifications, but it's believed to be capable of generating enough
24:17force to create a tsunami along an enemy's coastline,
24:20which would present a catastrophic threat to an island country like the United Kingdom.
24:24But despite all these threats and warnings, the UK didn't back down.
24:29New Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited Kyiv to confirm that the UK will provide Ukraine with the classified blueprint it
24:36needs to begin manufacture of the British-French Scalp cruise missile.
24:40This should bolster Ukraine's missile strike capabilities, allowing it to expand its attacks on protected targets like Russian command posts.
24:47Burnham went on to affirm his country's unwavering support for Ukraine.
24:52This is the UK doing what it's long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100% against
24:58this illegal war led by Vladimir Putin.
25:00We're providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself, and that's been the British position all the way through this
25:06conflict.
25:07Now, if this is the kind of insight you want more of, make sure you're subscribed to the military show,
25:13we break it down like this every week.
25:15On the surface, it may seem that the Kremlin is merely projecting power and making empty threats towards the United
25:22Kingdom, without actually taking any definitive action against it.
25:25Dig deeper, however, and there's evidence to prove that Russia has been waging a silent war against Great Britain for
25:32several years already.
25:33It's not a war that involves tanks, bombs or drones, but is instead oriented around cyber warfare, sabotage operations, espionage
25:42and covert proxy agents operating on behalf of the Kremlin within Britain's borders.
25:47And it's having a serious impact on British infrastructure, impacting everything from logistics systems to hospitals, with everyday citizens feeling
25:55the effects.
25:56The shadowy entity responsible for this is the Special Activity Service, or SSD, a specialized clandestine structure that incorporates elements
26:05from Russia's military agency GRU Unit 29155, and is tasked with carrying out operations against the Western world.
26:13Unit 29155 is well known to UK intelligence, since it was directly linked to the attempted assassinations of Sergei Skripal,
26:21a former Russian military intelligence officer who served as a double agent for British intelligence during the 1990s and early
26:272000s, and his daughter Yulia in 2018.
26:30Other GR units are also involved with the SSD, and each brings its own area of expertise to the table.
26:37Some are proficient in cyber operations, for example, like Unit 26165, otherwise known as Fancy Bear.
26:44Together, these Russian teams have been wreaking havoc on Britain's critical infrastructure and essential services. In June 2024, for example,
26:53the London-based healthcare provider Synovus, which provides pathology services to hospitals around the British capital, suffered a serious ransomware
27:01attack.
27:02Computer systems suddenly became unusable, reams of patient information were stolen, and numerous healthcare organizations suffered serious disruption to their
27:10services.
27:1111,000 outpatient appointments and elective procedures had to be delayed as a result of the attack, including 97 cancer
27:18treatments, and organs meant for donations and transplants also had to be hurriedly diverted to other facilities.
27:24The financial damage of the attack was estimated at around £32.7 million, or $44.3 million, and the incident
27:33also contributed to the death of a patient, as well as forcing thousands more to wait longer for the care
27:38and attention they needed.
27:39After an investigation, it was discovered that a Russian cyber criminal group was responsible.
27:44In January 2026, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, reported that Russian state-aligned hacker groups were regularly targeting
27:54British organizations to disrupt their networks and force their sites offline.
27:59A few months later, in April, the NCSC also revealed that the Fancy Bear unit had been compromising vulnerable internet
28:06routers across the United Kingdom to manipulate internet traffic and possibly steal people's passwords and other private information.
28:13But it's not only in the digital realm that Russia's war is being waged.
28:17Moscow has also been hiring Kremlin sympathizers within the UK to commit crimes on its behalf.
28:23Back in March 2024, for example, a warehouse filled with supplies for Ukraine, including Starlink satellite equipment and humanitarian aid,
28:31suddenly went up in flames.
28:33It turned out that a couple of British men, Dylan Earle and Jake Reeves, had been hired by the Russian
28:38Wagner mercenary group to orchestrate the attack.
28:41They'd also been instructed to carry out an additional arson attack and even a kidnapping, but were caught before they
28:47could go any further.
28:48Should Russia wish to cause chaos at Britain's drone plants or defense firm headquarters, it could repeat this tactic, paying
28:55off local criminals to damage warehouses or logistic locations, for example.
28:59And Russia isn't stopping there. Since the UK is an island country, it relies enormously on undersea cables that carry
29:0799% of the nation's international telecommunications and data traffic.
29:11There's also underwater energy pipelines that are vital for keeping lights on and homes heated up and down the British
29:17Isles.
29:18Russia understands this, and it knows that cutting or damaging those cables and pipelines would be one of the best
29:24ways to plunge the UK into an unprecedented crisis.
29:27In April 2026, the UK defense secretary at the time, John Healy, revealed that Russia had carried out a covert
29:35submarine operation in waters not far from the British coastline.
29:38The operation involved in a cooler class submarine, along with two additional deep sea subs, and fueled fears both in
29:45the UK and across the West in general that Russia could be plotting to target undersea infrastructure and future hybrid
29:51warfare operations.
29:52So, while the UK may not have to deal with Russian drones in its skies or bombs hitting its cities,
29:58it's still having to deal with the consequences of antagonizing one of the most aggressive powers on the planet.
30:03And those consequences come at a serious financial cost.
30:07The British government recently announced additional investment towards strengthening the protections of its subsea cables, for example,
30:13and has committed £100 million towards P-8 submarine hunting aircraft to help the UK detect and deter underwater threats.
30:24It's pledged over £5 billion or $6.8 billion for drones and autonomous systems to deter Russian aggression,
30:31with an extra £600 million or $818 million going into British intelligence services to help them combat growing state threats.
30:39Then there are the financial implications of the many cyber attacks targeting the UK's critical infrastructure that have been attributed
30:46to Russia in recent years.
30:482024 saw close to 85,000 British businesses suffer a significant cyber attack, costing a grand total of £14.7
30:56billion or $20 billion, or around 0.5% of the UK's entire annual GDP.
31:02Russia wasn't behind every single one of those attacks, but it was believed to be a major player in many
31:07of them.
31:08And if the Kremlin's hackers were able to pull off a large-scale strike against Britain's hospitals, logistics or transport
31:14infrastructure, the costs could quickly spiral.
31:17A single week of serious disruption to Britain's train services, for example, could cost the UK around £1.8 billion
31:23or $2.5 billion, according to the UK government.
31:27Millions of travellers and commuters would also suffer the effects, businesses would struggle to operate,
31:33and various parts of the country's economy would have to temporarily shut down until the problem was resolved,
31:38showing how even a single targeted cyber attack can easily result in surprisingly broad consequences for society as a whole.
31:45Fortunately, the UK appears to understand the risks it faces.
31:49It knows that the Kremlin has a rich history of lies, propaganda and empty threats, but it has no intention
31:55of underestimating its opponent.
31:57Indeed, a recent report from The Telegraph revealed that the Cabinet Office has accelerated Home Defence Programme plans
32:03to help the UK prepare for a major nationwide emergency in case Russia strikes one of the country's critical sectors
32:10at some point in the next few years.
32:12It's led by COBRA, a national emergency committee, and includes plans for the War Book,
32:17a classified blueprint for how the UK can transition if and when a crisis or military conflict begins to unfold.
32:23This plan was already being worked on, but reportedly had an original deadline of 2035.
32:29That deadline has now been brought forward to 2030 for at least some parts of the plan, with one source
32:34stating,
32:35We do need to accelerate preparedness in a range of threat areas, which means in the next few years, not
32:40the next decade.
32:41This appears to tie into rising concerns across Europe and the West in general that Russia could launch some sort
32:47of attack on a NATO nation before 2030.
32:50NATO's Secretary-General Mark Reuter and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have both warned that this is a very real possibility,
32:58calling on countries across the alliance to ready themselves for war.
33:01Sakir Starmer, a former UK Prime Minister, echoed those warnings, stating that Putin might decide to strike the alliance as
33:08soon as 2030.
33:09The UK needs to be ready by then, and it needs both its military and the general public to understand
33:14the threat that lies ahead.
33:16As such, the British military will be involved in Operation Alberston Shadow in 2027, which will be the largest ever
33:23national home defence exercise run by COBRA.
33:26The general public, meanwhile, are set to be educated about national resilience in the coming months,
33:31with public awareness campaigns oriented around things like stockpiling food, water and candles, just in case disaster strikes.
33:38And so, while it may not be rolling out troops or fighting frontline battles, the UK is in many ways
33:44already at war with Russia,
33:46and it's a war that's likely to get significantly more intense and visible in the months and years to come.
33:51At this point, we're starting to think it's pathological.
33:55This constant poking of NATO that Putin insists on engaging in was already bad enough.
34:00But now it's gone too far.
34:02Russia just made its biggest mistake yet by targeting a NATO airport in Germany.
34:07Leipzig has become the epicentre for an escalation in Russian hybrid activity and Germany has had enough.
34:13It's not just accusing Russia of sending drones to Leipzig airport.
34:17One of the country's lawmakers says revenge is needed right now.
34:22And that revenge may come in the shape of a weapon with a certain bullish inspiration.
34:26August was the month that Putin stumbled into a blunder so massive,
34:30it changed how some in Germany approached the country's entire relationship with Russia.
34:35A trio of incidents, all involving Leipzig airport, have put German lawmakers on edge
34:40and left some calling for an escalation of their own to send a message to Putin that Berlin can't be
34:46pushed around.
34:47The first incident occurred just before midnight on August 4th,
34:51when authorities at Leipzig airport were forced to divert several flights,
34:55one carrying passengers to other airports after a sighting of an unidentified flying object.
35:01That object didn't stay unidentified for very long.
35:04It was a drone and Germany had to act.
35:06A bomb disposal robot was deployed to handle the drone,
35:09which was discovered flying perilously close to a Ukrainian cargo plane.
35:13It was later confirmed that the drone was loaded with explosives and a detonator,
35:18suggesting that it hadn't been sent as a vague threat.
35:21It was there to do damage.
35:23CNN reports that investigators now believe that the only reason the drone didn't detonate
35:27was a technical malfunction.
35:29But before we continue, if you're enjoying the video, consider subscribing and let us know your thoughts below.
35:35You can also become a channel member for access to exclusive content we don't publish publicly.
35:40Germany was put on notice, and it wasn't long before another incident involving the same airport occurred.
35:45This one involved a collision.
35:47On August 5th, the Aviation Herald reported an incident that flew somewhat under the radar during the furore involving the
35:54explosive drone.
35:55An EAT Leipzig Boeing 757-200 freighter flying from Marseille collided with an unknown object while on its final approach
36:04to Leipzig airport.
36:05Thankfully, the object doesn't seem to have been carrying an explosive payload.
36:09The aircraft sustained minor damage, and it was diverted to Hanover airport, where it landed safely.
36:15The object the plane collided with appears to have been flying at about 400 meters at the time of the
36:20incident.
36:21By August 6th, and with the first drone handled, a search was underway at Leipzig airport,
36:25as investigators looked for any debris from what was later determined to be a drone that had collided with the
36:30aircraft.
36:31The location of these two incidents was no coincidence.
36:34Leipzig airport is one of Europe's leading cargo hubs, and it's proven especially useful to Ukraine in its fight against
36:40Russia.
36:41The airport regularly hosts Ukrainian Antonov Airlines transport aircraft.
36:45In fact, the first drone discovered at Leipzig was loitering in the vicinity of four of these aircraft before it
36:51was discovered and disposed of.
36:53The pieces were all starting to come together.
36:56However, Germany wasn't quite ready to point the finger of blame at the obvious culprit.
37:00Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt would only say that his country was facing daily hybrid warfare attacks from abroad.
37:08Espionage, sabotage, cyber attacks, or covert operations by foreign powers aimed at destabilizing Germany or inflicting direct harm are a
37:16constant reality, Dobrindt declared.
37:19Russia wasn't named, but the vagueness in Dobrindt's words wouldn't last for much longer.
37:24About a week later on August 14th, German investigators discovered a third drone at Leipzig airport.
37:30And this time that drone was found alongside a small cache of military-grade explosives, suggesting that there may have
37:36been a plot in progress involving saboteurs who intended to collect those explosives and launch an attack.
37:42The drone was discovered in an area named Kabulske Tal, which lies just west of Leipzig airport, and it was
37:48accompanied by about 50 grams of suspected military explosive.
37:51German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave us the first hint that Germany had finally had enough.
37:56They will pay for this, he declared, though he, like his interior minister, stopped short of saying who they were.
38:03But the message was clear, some form of revenge is coming.
38:07Some time has passed since these incidents, and Germany's investigators have been working tirelessly to determine who was behind all
38:14of these drones.
38:15Now, finally, Germany is ready to say who was behind the attacks.
38:18It's Russia, because of course it's Russia.
38:21On September 1st, the BBC reported that Germany had officially stated that the Kremlin is behind everything.
38:27Dobrid, who was previously wary of mentioning Russia by name, said that the attacks fit the well-established pattern of
38:34Russian hybrid operations in Europe.
38:36And he added that it's a safe assumption that Germany is likely to be targeted again.
38:41Several measures were announced, which we'll be getting to soon, but Russia, as Russia so often does, is denying everything.
38:47Those denials are coming thick and fast.
38:50Russian propagandists are already calling Germany's claims of Russian involvement false and unprecedented,
38:55which is a pair of lies so massive that if Putin were Pinocchio, he wouldn't stand a chance of ever
39:00becoming a real boy.
39:02Putin himself has gone a step further, claiming that German authorities have planted evidence designed to implicate Moscow in the
39:08drone attacks.
39:09Of course, Russia's president provided no evidence for this claim.
39:12He thinks that he doesn't need to.
39:14Simply saying that it's all fake is enough to serve Putin's narrative that NATO is looking to string Russia up
39:19in any way that it can.
39:20These claims of no involvement have been accompanied by the usual threats from Russia, as it tries to assert its
39:26dominance in the situation.
39:28The spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, has already declared that Russia will respond to anything Germany does
39:35in a mirror image fashion.
39:37She also claimed that Berlin is sponsoring terrorism due to its support of Ukraine.
39:41We think the lady does protest too much.
39:44And she unwittingly or otherwise just served up Russia's motive for the Leipzig airport incidents on a platter.
39:51The reality is that the evidence has mounted and it's obvious that Russia is behind these attacks.
39:56CNN reports that Germany's investigators have examined the drones used very closely.
40:01The way those drones were made and the explosives either loaded into them or supplied alongside them all point toward
40:07a high degree of sophistication.
40:09The investigators also say that these drones point toward the way that Russia operates in Ukraine and that it seems
40:14likely that Russia either sent low-level operators into Germany or perhaps employed domestic saboteurs to carry out the attacks.
40:21The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutter, also declared that the entire organization stands behind Germany's Russia-centric response to
40:29these Leipzig incidents, stating,
40:30The evidence is clear and I welcome the measures announced by Germany in response.
40:35Before he also named the likely culprit, adding,
40:37Russia's attempts to intimidate us to undermine our unity and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and will fail.
40:44The point we're making here is that when we tell you that Germany is taking revenge on Russia,
40:48there is plenty of evidence that explains why Russia is the target, despite its protestations.
40:53But we have yet to cover that revenge.
40:55We can break it down into two categories,
40:58what Germany has done and what it may be planning to do.
41:01We'll cover both in a moment.
41:02But first, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show.
41:06If this is the kind of insight that you want to see,
41:08make sure you're subscribed to the channel and have notifications enabled.
41:12We'll start with what some in Germany want the country to do in retaliation.
41:15On September 1st, Euromiden Press reported that Wolfgang Kubicki,
41:20who is the chair of the Free Democratic Party in Germany,
41:23has proposed that Berlin should summon the Russian ambassador to Germany
41:26and remind him that Germany has powerful Taurus cruise missiles that it could send to Ukraine
41:31if Russia doesn't halt its hybrid attacks.
41:34The idea, at least right now, is to use the missiles as leverage against Russia.
41:38If Russia stops, then the German bull stays dormant.
41:41But if more drones arrive at airports or any other hybrid attacks happen,
41:45that bull will be unleashed by way of Ukraine.
41:47Kubicki says that any reasonable person would take this course of action.
41:51He is clearly trying to spark a debate.
41:53At several points during the war in Ukraine,
41:55the idea of Germany sending Taurus missiles into Ukraine has been raised and then quashed.
42:00Germany is wary of an escalation.
42:02In 2025, Germany ruled out sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine,
42:06preferring instead to fund other long-range systems that aren't made in Germany.
42:11Merz reiterated this stance in March 2026,
42:13going so far as to claim that Ukraine no longer needs Taurus missiles
42:16because it has built a long-range arsenal to be feared.
42:19Today, Ukraine itself has long-range weapons in its depots,
42:22which it has built itself, partly with our help,
42:25and which are significantly more effective
42:27than the relatively small number of Taurus cruise missiles we could have delivered,
42:30Merz declared.
42:31This would have been frustrating for Ukraine to hear,
42:33especially as Merz had claimed he would send Taurus missiles when he was running for Chancellor.
42:38For Ukraine, any effective weapon it can get is a good weapon,
42:41and that's without even considering the strong message that sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine
42:46would send to Putin when it comes to Germany's support.
42:49Germany's stance hasn't changed.
42:51Just a couple of months before Kubitsky's recommendation,
42:53the German parliament rejected a renewed proposal to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
42:57The draft revolution, which also called for increased Patriot Pact-2 missile production
43:02and more military and humanitarian aid to be sent to Ukraine,
43:05was roundly defeated, with a vote of 79-4 and 510 against.
43:10However, there's something important about this proposal.
43:13It was submitted before Russia's Leipzig airport attacks.
43:16Putin's blunder here is that he may have just given Germany more of a reason
43:19than it's ever had before to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
43:22At the very least, Russia's actions have sparked a deeper conversation among Germany's lawmakers,
43:27and that's a step in the right direction for Ukraine.
43:30Not necessarily the huge step that Ukraine wants to see.
43:33The Free Democratic Party has always supported the idea of sending more weapons to Ukraine,
43:37and the party doesn't currently hold any seats in Germany's parliament,
43:41meaning it's unable to affect votes directly.
43:43But as long as Taurus is on the tongues of potential lawmakers,
43:47there's a possibility it will be used by Germany as revenge for Leipzig.
43:50If it is, Ukraine will be getting a powerful weapon.
43:54Taurus is a cruise missile capable of traveling more than 500 kilometers
43:57and armed with tandem warheads weighing 481 kilograms.
44:01So it packs range and firepower.
44:04It also has a low-level terrain-following navigation system,
44:07allowing it to hug the ground so it's difficult for air defenses to track it.
44:11And with its turbojet propulsion system, the Taurus can hit speeds up to Mach 0.94.
44:16The tandem warheads are the star of the show here, and despite what Mertz claims,
44:20they're the reason why Taurus offers something that Ukraine doesn't really have in its arsenal.
44:24Taurus is armed with the Mephisto penetrator warhead, which is designed to breach hardened targets.
44:30The first stage of the warhead, called the pre-charge,
44:33breaches the target's outer defenses, splitting concrete or armor apart.
44:37That literally creates an opening for the second stage of the warhead, which is a high-energy explosive charge,
44:43to penetrate deep into the target before detonation, ensuring maximum destruction is achieved.
44:49Mertz may be playing a little too coy when he says that Ukraine doesn't need Taurus.
44:53Ukraine will be able to use this missile to destroy all sorts of targets in the occupied territories and Russia
44:59itself,
44:59and Putin knows it.
45:01Back in June 2025, when the debate about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine was raging,
45:06Putin warned Germany not to send the missiles.
45:09What is this if not the involvement of the Federal Republic in a direct armed conflict with the Russian Federation?
45:14It can't be called anything else, Putin said at the time.
45:17Ironic words given what Russia has just done at Leipzig airport.
45:21Putin speaking about Taurus in this way indicates that he is scared of the missile and what it could do.
45:25Germany has an opportunity to make a big move by supplying Taurus to Ukraine.
45:30Whether it makes that move is yet to be seen.
45:32While the debate about Taurus missiles heats back up,
45:35there are several things that Germany has actively done both to respond to the Leipzig incidents
45:39and to prepare itself for what many in the country view as an inevitable conflict with Russia.
45:44Once Germany confirmed that Russia was behind the drones it discovered,
45:48Berlin announced the pending closure of several Russian institutions inside Germany.
45:52These include the Bonn Consulate, which is set to be closed on September 18th.
45:56Germany will also end its operating agreement with Russian House,
45:59which is a Kremlin-backed cultural center that is often viewed as a hub of Russian propaganda inside Germany.
46:05Germany's foreign minister, Johan Waderpoel, has also announced that Germany will implement tighter entry controls for Russian nationals.
46:12And he added that Germany will also start putting more pressure on Russia's shadow fleet.
46:16Though he hasn't said how. Pressure could mean anything from increased observation to conducting seizures.
46:21Zakharova has already labeled these moves anti-Russian action.
46:25That's how you know they're getting under the Kremlin's collective skin.
46:28Some, including a member of parliament in Merz's own Christian Democrats party named Roderich Kizaveta,
46:34say that these measures fall short of what's required to send a real message to Moscow.
46:38But they are a start, and Kizaveta's statement lends more fuel to the fire,
46:42that Taurus is the real response that will force Russia to back off.
46:46Beyond these reactive moves, Germany has also been beefing itself up to prepare for a fight with Russia.
46:51In mid-August, German lawmakers signed into law a major overhaul in how the country's intelligence agencies operate.
46:57Those agencies now have more power than they've had in decades,
47:01especially when it comes to taking action against foreign threats.
47:03They will have more latitude to conduct non-lethal operations against enemies,
47:08such as hacking servers and carrying out sabotage against potential hackers.
47:11Germany also voted to introduce a voluntary military service program,
47:15targeting 18-year-olds in a move that is clearly designed to shore up interest in military service among young
47:21people.
47:22That move sparked a wave of protests throughout schools,
47:25though it currently amounts to young men having to fill out a form indicating whether they're willing to join the
47:30armed forces.
47:31Women can also fill out the form, though doing so will be voluntary.
47:34And on top of this, Germany is committed to higher defense spending,
47:37as it will pour 2.69% of its gross domestic product, or GDP, into its military in 2026.
47:44That's a substantial increase over the 1.43% of GDP Germany spent in 2021,
47:49and it also brings Berlin in line with current NATO spending recommendations.
47:53So, moves are clearly being made.
47:56Taurus heading to Ukraine, or even simply being used as leverage, would be the icing on the cake of Germany's
48:01revenge.
48:01We can say one thing for certain, something has to be done.
48:04And not just because of what's happened at Leipzig airport.
48:07Russia clearly isn't intending to slow down its hybrid campaign, and evidence of that comes from Brandenburg.
48:13On September 1, the news broke that German authorities had reported an attempt to attack energy infrastructure
48:18at one of the country's largest power plants.
48:21Specifically, homemade explosives and incendiary devices were found close to an electrical substation in Ternalprylak,
48:28close to the lignite-fired power station in Brandenburg.
48:31Reports suggest that a homemade rocket was found at the site, along with several other improvised devices.
48:36The targeted substation connects the Jenswalder power plant to Germany's 50Hz transmission grid,
48:42making it a major target for potential saboteurs.
48:45Reuters reports that the number of devices found at the site has now reached double digits,
48:49and Germany isn't ruling out the possibility that foreign powers are involved.
48:53Russia seems like a likely suspect here.
48:55However, it's also worth noting that Germany currently has an issue with extremist groups carrying out acts of sabotage.
49:01Back in January, a group named Falkengrupper claimed responsibility for an attack on a cable bridge
49:07at the Lichterfeld power station in Berlin, which left 35,000 households and almost 2,000 businesses without electricity.
49:14Still, the timing this time around seems to line up with Russia.
49:18After a trio of drone incidents at Leipzig airport, any other evidence of attempted sabotage will inevitably be linked to
49:24the Kremlin.
49:24Power stations are also the precise types of targets Russia likes to hit in its efforts to disrupt.
49:30Ukraine is evidence of that.
49:32Every winter brings with it Russian attacks against Ukraine's power grid and energy infrastructure.
49:37So, an attack against a German power station is right in the Kremlin's wheelhouse.
49:42Investigations into the Brandenburg incident are ongoing.
49:44What Germany now faces, as it tries to measure its responses and the scale of the revenge it should be
49:49taking,
49:49is a very important question.
49:51When does the line between provocation and an act of war get crossed?
49:55Is it when drones laden with explosives get sent to an airport?
49:58What about when a drone actively hits an incoming aircraft?
50:02Or when caches of explosives are being found across the country?
50:05We've seen all three of these incidents happen in the space of a month,
50:09showing us that Russia is very clearly willing to escalate as it tests German and NATO patients.
50:14Speaking to CNN, former Chief of Staff of the German Defense Ministry, Niko Lange says,
50:19that though the West often distinguishes between hybrid and conventional war, Russia doesn't.
50:24The suggestion is that Russia already believes itself to be at war with Germany,
50:28but Berlin doesn't know it yet, or is acting as though the war isn't happening.
50:31It was an attack on Germany, and we should treat this as if the explosives would have worked in the
50:36way they were intended,
50:37because the intention clearly was to have a plane that was just refilled,
50:40so it was full of kerosene, a plane go up in flames with military-grade explosives, Lange says.
50:46It's difficult to argue with him.
50:47Germany has already vowed revenge for what Russia has done at Leipzig airport.
50:51So far that revenge is unlikely to cause any sleepless nights in the Kremlin,
50:55but if Taurus missiles make their way into Ukraine, that will keep Putin and his cronies awake at night.
51:01Germany would be sending an undeniable message, and in doing so,
51:04it would finally hit back after a campaign of hybrid warfare that has so far seen the fight be one
51:10-sided in Russia's favour.
51:12As Germany contemplates its retaliation,
51:14NATO is sending signals to Russia that the bear Putin keeps on poking is going to bite back.
51:19The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad has been threatened by a NATO exercise on its border
51:24that was unusually large and included a new type of aircraft never seen in one of these exercises before.
51:30Find out what all of this means by watching our video.
51:33But before you go, everything you see here is researched, verified and produced by real people.
51:38If you value that, subscribe, comment below and consider becoming a member for access to exclusive content.
51:45And thank you as always for watching.
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