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Not even the ability to pepper Ukraine with Kalibrs was hobbled.

You raise a good point, though. Why is the West, via its proxy, attacking (not for the first time, it must be said) a part of what it recognizes as Russia’s nuclear strategic assets? Sounds highly reckless and dangerous! What happened to winning?

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Some of the aircraft were loaded with cruise missiles - they were about to pepper Ukraine and then … couldn’t.

And already—for the n-th time—escalation has made things worse for Ukrainians. More bombs and missiles are flying, restrictions were lifted.

Because good PR prolongs this war but doesn’t win it. Because ultimately, the interests of the nation, the regime, and its Western supporters are not aligned.

Being usable both strategically (with nukes) and operationally (with conventional weapons), they were essentially a sort of "dual-use". Fair game for Ukraine eh.

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