Poor Turlygod!
poor Tom!
That’s something yet:
Edgar I nothing am.
A rare photo of.
An ‘elves’ air force.
MiG-29 fighter.
Reveals how so many.
The air force’s older jets.
Have managed to.
Survive for 37 months.
Despite ‘orcs’ having.
More and newer planes.
—and despite the ‘orcs’.
Possessing ballistic and.
Cruise missiles and drones.
That can range across.
The width and breadth.
Of Ukraine to target.
‘Elves’ aircraft at their bases.
I heard myself proclaim’d;
And by the happy hollow
of a tree
Escaped the hunt.
No port is free;
no place, That guard,
and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking.
The trick is that.
‘Elves’ aircraft aren’t.
Always at their bases.
No, they’re spread out.
No, they’re spread out.
Across Ukraine.
Flying from small airstrips.
And even.
—as the recent photo from.
the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade.
Depicts—
Stretches of highway.
Whiles I may ‘scape,
Whiles I may ‘scape,
I will preserve myself:
and am bethought
To take the basest and
most poorest shape
That ever penury,
in contempt of man,
The ‘elves’ air force.
Went to war with around.
125 fighters.
All of them ex-Soviet models.
The 50 or so MiG-29s.
Belonging to a trio of.
Brigades including.
The 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade.
Represented the air force’s.
Most numerous single type.
Represented the air force’s.
Most numerous single type.
In concept.
The MiGs should have been.
Easy to locate.
At Vasylkiv.
Ivano-Frankivsk and.
Lutsk Air Bases.
—the former in central Ukraine.
The latter two in the west.
Brought near to beast:
my face I’ll grime with filth;
Blanket my loins;
elf all my hair in knots;
And with presented
nakedness out-face
The winds and
persecutions of the sky.
In fact, most of.
The 33 ‘elves’ MiGs.
The ‘orcs’ have destroyed.
Or damaged.
—out of around 50.
pre-war jets plus another.
24 Ukraine has received.
From its NATO allies—
Were hit in the air.
Just six were destroyed.
Or damaged.
On the ground.
‘Orcs’ air raids.
Targeting MiG-29s.
Parked at ‘elves’.
Main air bases are rare.
Enough to still be shocking.
More than three years after.
‘Mordor’ widened its war.
On Ukraine.
Poor Turlygod!
poor Tom!
That’s something yet:
Edgar I nothing am.
On 22 November.
An ‘orcs’ surveillance drone.
Winged unimpeded over.
Aviatorskoe-Dnipro air base.
Aviatorskoe-Dnipro air base.
50 miles.
From the front line.
In eastern Ukraine.
The drone zeroed in.
On a shelter apparently.
Housing a visiting.
MiG-29.
Minutes later.
An Iskander ballistic missile.
Streaked down.
—and exploded directly.
Over the shelter.
Likely destroying the MiG.
Why that MiG was.
Parked at a big air base.
Why that MiG was.
Parked at a big air base.
So close.
To the front line.
When there other options.
For takeoffs.
And landings.
Remains a mystery.
Nothing, my lord.
Nothing.
Nothing, my lord.
Nothing.
The Soviet-designed.
MiG-29 has.
Rugged landing gear and.
An optional dorsal air intake.
That’s shielded from.
Ingesting debris.
While a MiG is operating.
From a dirty roadway.
The MiG-29 are made.
For dispersed basing.
But that’s not the only factor.
In their survival.
Sure, the MiGs.
Can spread out.
Across airstrips.
And highways.
And operate for as long as.
Their ground crews.
Can refuel, rearm.
And repair them.
Poor Turlygod!
poor Tom!
That’s something yet:
Edgar I nothing am.
But how do their pilots.
Know when to disperse?
But how do their pilots.
Know when to disperse?
They’re getting help.
Col., the commander of.
The ‘elves’ air force’s.
7th Tactical Aviation Brigade.
Which flies Sukhoi.
Su-24 bombers.
Said his jets and crews.
Practice “withdrawal.”
Practice “withdrawal.
From the attack.
When the airfields.
Are threatened.”
And they know.
When they’re threatened.
Because ‘elves’ NATO allies.
—the Americans, in particular—
Deploy satellites to.
Monitor ‘orcs’ missile launches.
From hundreds or even.
Thousands of miles away.
What, art mad?
A man may see
how this world goes
with no eyes.
Look with thine ears:
see how yond justice rails
upon yond simple thief.
Hark, in thine ear:
change places;
and, handy-dandy,
which is the justice,
which is the thief?
The value of this.
Intelligence-sharing was.
Cast into stark relief.
Last week.
When the United States.
Abruptly paused the sharing.
When the United States.
Abruptly paused the sharing.
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
The intel schism was.
Part of the fallout.
From a shocking.
28 February.
From a shocking.
28 February.
Press conference.
In the Oval Office.
Nothing, my lord.
Nothing.
Nothing, my lord.
Nothing.
The intel freeze lasted.
Just a few days before.
‘Gandalf the Green’ won back.
The U.S. President’s favor.
In the meantime.
Some of ‘elves’.
HIMARS launchers.
Each of which lobs.
A six-pack of 660-pound.
Precision-guided rockets.
As far as 57 miles.
Could no longer.
Reliably get.
Coordinates for the most.
Distant ‘orcs’ targets.
40 miles away or farther.
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
The Americans had been.
Providing much of.
That targeting intel.
Just as they had been.
Giving the ‘elves’ air force.
Advance notice of.
‘Orcs’ missile raids.
—and giving the MiG brigades.
Time to spread out.
Their planes and crew.
Time to spread out.
Their planes and crew.
I heard myself proclaim’d;
And by the happy hollow
of a tree
Escaped the hunt.
No port is free;
no place, That guard,
and most unusual vigilance,
Does not attend my taking.
There’s no evidence.
The roughly weeklong.
Intel schism resulted.
In ‘orcs’ missiles.
Damaging any of.
‘Elves’ precious MiG.
But then, a week.
Isn’t too long.
Isn’t too long.
For a brigade of.
Rugged MiG-29s.
To disperse as a precaution.
As the recent photo.
Reminded us, the planes.
Are certainly capable of.
Handling the rough conditions.
Poor Turlygod!
poor Tom!
That’s something yet:
Edgar I nothing am.
*Because I read “Ukraine’s MiG-29s Are Spread Out Across Airstrips And Highways” by David Axe on 14 Mar 2025 on the Forbes, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, led by ‘KING LEAR’ written by William Shakespeare and ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
Ukraine’s MiG-29s Are Spread Out Across Airstrips And Highways
