I assume it only takes a few days to redeploy planes from other regions, there's no need to wait for any damaged ones to be repaired. There's no immediate threat around any of the other borders.
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www.timesofisrael.com
It wasn't hearsay, I believe the US government would know if the planes were hit in flight or on the ground.
I hope there's a realistic plan in the works, waiting for the Russian army to bleed itself to death might take some time and every day this war goes on both sides lose. So there are two options, give the Ukrainians the means to push the Russians back fast or start considering making some compromises at the negotiation table. How things stand today, there's no reason for Russia to make peace while not achieving any of its objectives, they still have military capabilities, there is no major civil unrest back home, sanctions will take a while to have any significant effect on military operations. They won't suddenly grow a conscience and by the time Russia can't afford the war, half of Ukraine will look like Syria. Who will fork out the trillion needed to rebuild and improve the country?
Russia could allow passenger airliners to be maintained by third-party firms in a bid to help its domestic carriers hit by sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, Tass news agency said on Saturday.
www.reuters.com
Could they get around the boycott by using firms from other countries? I'm sure anyone trying to work with Russian airlines will be warned they may become blacklisted themselves, but how many firms can they sanction before your own citizens board planes that are lacking maintanance. I have a feeling spare parts will find their way into Russia.
Is this a video from the Donetsk? I see a Russian flag on one of the stores and those people look really dead to me.