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| A Russian air base goes up in smoke from attack of Ukraine's drones (Guardian) |
The term "WWIII" was trending much of Monday at X (formerly Twitter). Why would World War III suddenly become a topic for discussion on one of the world's most prominent social-media sites? The best explanation we've seen so far comes from Al Jazeera, in an article that suggests the trend grew from Donald Trump's recent criticism of Russia's Vladimir Putin as "absolutely crazy" and "playing with fire" for pursuing aggressive and deadly tactics against Ukraine as a peace process was about to begin. Trump's words seem to have had little impact on Putin, while providing mostly amusement to members of Russia's state media.
This might be news to Trump, but authoritarians like Putin generally are not keen on being the target of criticism. In fact, critics of Putin have been known to "fall" out of windows near the top of tall buildings or otherwise meet their demise in a variety of mysterious circumstances. Trump's less-than-flattering words likely left Putin cold, and it appears he turned to a top lieutenant to issue a statement that both demanded attention and sent chills down more than a few spines
How did all of this transpire? Under the headline "War of words: Russia’s Medvedev rebukes Trump over Putin social media post," Al Jazeera provides insights:
A senior Moscow security official has rebuked United States President Donald Trump and raised the danger of another world war breaking out after Trump said Russian leader Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in Ukraine ceasefire talks with Kyiv.
Dmitry Medvedev said World War III was the only “REALLY BAD thing” in a response, late on Tuesday, to Trump, who had earlier posted a message to Putin on social media saying “really bad things would have already happened in Russia” without his intervention.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened in Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire,” Trump said in a post on his platform, Truth Social.
Medvedev responded on the platform X: “Regarding Trump’s words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII.”
“I hope Trump understands this!”
How close have Medvedev and Putin been politically? You might say they have been "singing from the same hymnal" for years. It's hard to think of an American political partnership that would compare. One can almost imagine Medvedev and Putin finishing each other's sentences. Al Jazeera provides details:
Currently the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and a key Putin ally, Medvedev served as the Russian president between 2008 and 2012, and is known for his sabre-rattling comments.
He has repeatedly warned, throughout Russia’s war on Ukraine, that Moscow could use its nuclear arsenal.
Putin also raised the possibility of nuclear confrontation in a state of the nation address in March 2024, warning Western powers of Russia’s nuclear capabilities should any decide to deploy troops in support of Ukraine.
“Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation,” Putin said at the time.
Medvedev’s public rebuke of Trump also comes after the US president said in a recent post that Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY” by carrying out extensive aerial attacks on Ukraine despite widespread calls for a ceasefire and Washington’s frustrated attempts to broker a peace accord.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” Trump posted on Sunday. (Our guess is that nothing has happened to Putin. He long has been a vicious killer, and his recent actions toward Ukraine show that still is the case. Perhaps Trump finally is beginning to realize that Putin is not his buddy.)
Trump has told reporters he was considering new sanctions on Russia amid the impasse in ceasefire talks.
The war of words on social media comes as hopes for a swift end to Russia’s war on its neighbour dim. Kyiv suffered another battlefield setback, with Russian forces capturing four villages in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.
Ukraine shocked many foreign-policy observers this week when it launched a surprise drone attack on Russian air bases, destroying a reported 40 bombers. How significant was the attack? Here is how Associated Press addressed that question:
The covert operation was described as one for the “history books” by Ukraine’s president. In the span of a few hours on Sunday, nearly a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged with cheaply made drones sneaked into Russian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.
The undertaking by Ukraine’s Security Service, codenamed “Spiderweb,” involved more than 18 months of painstaking planning and great risk. It was personally overseen by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It came to fruition at a time in the 3-year-old war when peace talks have failed to deliver the unconditional ceasefire long-sought by Kyiv, and as Moscow continues to launch record-breaking numbers of drone and missile barrages.
The attack on Sunday encapsulates Ukraine’s wartime strategy: Outnumbered, outgunned and dependent on Western partners, Ukrainian military planners have sought innovative and cost-effective means to exact Russian losses, often leaning on the element of surprise.
Here’s what we know about the Ukrainian attack so far:
Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the operation in which four military airfields were attacked resulting in the severe damage or destruction of 34% of Russia’s fleet of air missile carriers.
The complex operation was directed from an office that was next door to an office of the Russian security service, the FSB, Zelensky said, without elaborating on where in Russia it was. Executing it involved smuggling in first-person view, or FPV, drones to Russia, where they were placed in wooden containers, which were eventually taken by truck close to the airfields.
From there, the drones flew to strike Russia’s strategic bombers. Social media footage shared by Russian media on the day of the attack showed drones rising from inside the containers. By the end, more than 40 Russian warplanes were severely damaged or destroyed with costs estimated to be around $7 billion, according to Ukraine’s security service.
Among the most striking targets was Belaya air base in the Siberian region of Irkutsk — more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) away from Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry in a statement confirmed the attacks, saying they damaged aircraft and sparked fires on air bases in the Irkutsk region, as well as the Murmansk region in the north. It said strikes were also repelled in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East and in the western regions of Ivanovo and Ryazan, the ministry said.
Strategic aircraft, including the A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M, were destroyed in the attack, according to the SBU.
Moscow has previously used Tu-95 and Tu-22M long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles. Ukraine has long hoped to degrade Russia’s ability to deploy bombers that launch deadly missile barrages against Ukrainian cities, against which Kyiv has limited means to respond.
The loss of the planes could reduce Russia’s ability to deliver devastating missile barrages against Ukraine.
As for discussion of "WWIII" on X, a sampling of tweets on the subject can be found at this link.
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