‘I’d rather not try,
please!’ said Alice.
‘I’m quite content to stay here
– only I am so hot and thirsty!’
‘I know what you’d like!’
the Queen said good-naturedly,
taking a little box out of her pocket.
‘Have a biscuit?’
Alice thought it would not be civil
to say ‘No,’ though it wasn’t at all
that she wanted.
So she took it,
and ate it as well as she could:
and it was very dry;
and she thought she had never been
so nearly choked in all her life.
“It’s absolutely exhausting.
– it’s just complete madness.”
Says a nursery teacher.
In Kyiv.
This is how she describes.
The new tactics.
Being used by ‘orcs’.
To threaten the capital.
Alice never could quite make out,
in thinking it over afterwards,
how it was that they began:
all she remembers is,
that they were running hand in hand,
and the Queen went so fast
that it was all she could do
to keep up with her:
For five days running.
Starting on 27 August.
‘Mordor’ attacked Kyiv.
Almost non-stop.
Almost non-stop.
With cruise missiles.
And on the night.
Of 1 September.
It also struck.
With dozens of.
Ballistic and.
Cruise missiles.
and still the Queen kept crying
‘Faster! Faster!’ but Alice felt
she could not go faster,
though she had no breath left to say so.
The most curious part of the thing was,
that the trees and the other things
round them never changed
their places at all:
Because of the air raid sirens.
Which now go off.
Almost every half hour.
During the day.
She is forced.
To take the children.
Down to the shelter.
In the cellar.
Dozens of times a day.
Dozens of times a day.
And then bring them.
Back upstairs.
however fast they went,
they never seemed to pass anything.
‘I wonder if all the things
move along with us?’
thought poor puzzled Alice.
And the Queen seemed to guess
her thoughts, for she cried,
‘Faster! Don’t try to talk!’
Another problem is that.
The constant air raid sirens.
Are literally tearing.
Kyiv in two.
The metro.
– the most popular form.
Of transport amongst.
Kyiv residents –
Does not run between.
The Right Bank and the Left Bank.
Or vice versa.
During an emergency.
Not that Alice had any idea
of doing that.
She felt as if she would never
be able to talk again,
she was getting so much out of breath:
and still the Queen cried
‘Faster! Faster!’
and dragged her along.
Getting to the Left Bank.
After work.
Where the majority.
Of Kyiv residents live.
Is only possible by car.
And even then.
Not via all the bridges.
This leads to massive traffic jams.
‘Are we nearly there?’
Alice managed to pant out at last.
‘Nearly there!’ the Queen repeated.
‘Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!’
And they ran on for a time in silence,
with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears,
and almost blowing her hair
off her head, she fancied.
Furthermore.
Safety protocols mean that.
Shopping centres and.
DIY superstores are forced.
To repeatedly close.
And reopen.
To repeatedly close.
And reopen.
During air raid alerts.
This is taking its toll.
On businesses.
And shoppers alike.
‘Now! Now!’ cried the Queen. ‘Faster! Faster!’
And they went so fast that at last
they seemed to skim through the air,
hardly touching the ground with their feet,
till suddenly, just as
Alice was getting quite exhausted,
they stopped, and she found herself sitting
on the ground, breathless and giddy.
And yet ‘Mordor’.
Continues to strike.
At ‘elves’ businesses.
In the literal sense.
Over the past few weeks.
Dozens of warehouses.
Belonging to major retail chains.
Near Kyiv have been hit.
This has even led.
To shortages of.
Certain products.
In the capital’s shops.
The Queen propped her up against a tree,
and said kindly,
‘You may rest a little now.’
Alice looked round her in great surprise.
‘Why, I do believe
we’ve been under this tree
the whole time!
Everything’s just as it was!’
Meanwhile, the strike.
By a suicide rocket.
On a military depot.
On the western outskirts of Kyiv.
In the village of Myla.
On 28 August.
Resulted in the deaths.
Of 38 people.
‘Of course it is,’ said the Queen:
‘what would you have it?’
‘Well, in our country,’
said Alice, still panting a little,
‘you’d generally get to somewhere else
– if you ran very fast
for a long time,
as we’ve been doing.’
‘Mordor’ was able to.
Achieve all this.
‘Mordor’ was able to.
Achieve all this.
By exploiting a new.
‘Window of opportunity’.
‘Window of opportunity’.
In this war.
‘A slow sort of country!’
said the Queen.
‘Now, here, you see, it takes
all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else,
you must run at least twice
as fast as that!’
‘Mordor’ rapidly scaled up.
Its operations and.
Amassed hundreds of.
Jet-powered drones.
Whilst Kyiv was slow.
To respond adequately.
To this threat.
How many drones are there?
‘I’d rather not try,
please!’ said Alice.
‘I’m quite content to stay here
– only I am so hot and thirsty!’
‘I know what you’d like!’
the Queen said good-naturedly,
taking a little box out of her pocket.
‘Have a biscuit?’
The ‘orcs’ army.
Began implementing.
Its new tactic of.
‘Reactive’ pressure.
‘Reactive’ pressure.
On the ‘elves’ capital.
On Thursday.
27 August.
Alice thought it would not be civil
to say ‘No,’ though it wasn’t at all
that she wanted.
So she took it,
and ate it as well as she could:
and it was very dry;
and she thought she had never been
so nearly choked in all her life.
Whilst the air-raid siren.
Had sounded only once.
In the capital.
The day before.
On that Thursday.
It had to be activated.
13 times due to.
Approaching UAVs.
The following day.
It was activated 12 times.
And on Saturday and Sunday.
10 and 11 times respectively.
Roughly the same pattern.
Of alerts continued.
On Monday.
31 August.
Alice never could quite make out,
in thinking it over afterwards,
how it was that they began:
all she remembers is,
that they were running hand in hand,
and the Queen went so fast
that it was all she could do
to keep up with her:
According to a spokesperson for.
The ‘elves’ Air Force.
‘Mordor’ has used.
1,500 drones.
To attack Ukraine.
Over the past few days.
Of which more than 800.
Were jet-powered.
Most of them were.
Heading specifically.
For Kyiv.
For Kyiv.
and still the Queen kept crying
‘Faster! Faster!’ but Alice felt
she could not go faster,
though she had no breath left to say so.
The most curious part of the thing was,
that the trees and the other things
round them never changed
their places at all:
To put this into perspective.
In July.
‘Mordor’ launched.
1,500 jet-powered ‘suicide drones’.
At Ukraine.
– five times more than.
In June –
And in August.
The figure had already risen.
To 2,500.
The figure had already risen.
To 2,500.
however fast they went,
they never seemed to pass anything.
‘I wonder if all the things
move along with us?’
thought poor puzzled Alice.
And the Queen seemed to guess
her thoughts, for she cried,
‘Faster! Don’t try to talk!’
These figures have been provided.
By an adviser.
To ‘Gandalf the Green’.
On technology matters.
Overall, ‘elves’.
Military intelligence estimates.
That ‘orcs’ production.
Of ‘rockets’ stands.
At 3,000 units.
Per month.
At 3,000 units.
Per month.
Not that Alice had any idea
of doing that.
She felt as if she would never
be able to talk again,
she was getting so much out of breath:
and still the Queen cried
‘Faster! Faster!’
and dragged her along.
In other words.
In just five days.
At the end of August.
The ‘orcs’ army launched.
Almost a third of these.
UAVs’ monthly output.
With conventional ‘Shaheds’.
The situation was different.
– ‘Mordor’ stockpiled them.
And then launched them.
In very large batches.
A couple of times a month.
‘Are we nearly there?’
Alice managed to pant out at last.
‘Nearly there!’ the Queen repeated.
‘Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!’
And they ran on for a time in silence,
with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears,
and almost blowing her hair
off her head, she fancied.
Some journalists saw.
For themselves that.
Jet-powered drones are.
Being sent to the front line.
Straight ‘from the factory’:
The wreckage of one.
Such jet-powered UAV.
Which was shot down.
In the capital.
on 27 August.
Bore the date of manufacture.
‘10 July 2026’.
‘Now! Now!’ cried the Queen. ‘Faster! Faster!’
And they went so fast that at last
they seemed to skim through the air,
hardly touching the ground with their feet,
till suddenly, just as
Alice was getting quite exhausted,
they stopped, and she found herself sitting
on the ground, breathless and giddy.
Such haste suggests that.
The enemy is not building up.
Stocks of this weaponry.
And is speeding up.
The logistics of its delivery.
To combat positions.
As much as possible.
Explains the Colonel, the spokesperson.
The Queen propped her up against a tree,
and said kindly,
‘You may rest a little now.’
Alice looked round her in great surprise.
‘Why, I do believe
we’ve been under this tree
the whole time!
Everything’s just as it was!’
“We understand that.
The enemy’s aim is not simply.
To frighten and demoralize.
The people of Kyiv;”
“The enemy is also.
Directing every ‘shahid’
– whether a rocket or.
A conventional missile –”
“The enemy is also.
Directing every ‘shahid’
At a specific target.”
At a specific target.”
“This could be.
A logistics centre.
Or shopping centres.
Where there are ordinary people.”
“And no military production.
Whatsoever.”
He said.
On 31 August.
‘Of course it is,’ said the Queen:
‘what would you have it?’
‘Well, in our country,’
said Alice, still panting a little,
‘you’d generally get to somewhere else
– if you ran very fast
for a long time,
as we’ve been doing.’
As well as.
The sheer number of them.
‘Mordor’ has also changed.
Its tactics.
‘Mordor’ has also changed.
Its tactics.
For deploying ‘suicide’ drones.
For deploying ‘suicide’ drones.
Firstly, they are launching them.
In smaller batches.
Than usual.
But more frequently.
‘A slow sort of country!’
said the Queen.
‘Now, here, you see, it takes
all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else,
you must run at least twice
as fast as that!’
In other words.
3–4, and sometimes up to 10.
Drones are launched.
But roughly every half an hour.
Most of them are.
Heading for Kyiv.
From the Bryansk, Kursk.
And Oryol regions of ‘Mordor’.
In other words.
The drones are travelling.
Approximately 300–600 km.
To the ‘elves’ capital.
‘I’d rather not try,
please!’ said Alice.
‘I’m quite content to stay here
– only I am so hot and thirsty!’
‘I know what you’d like!’
the Queen said good-naturedly,
taking a little box out of her pocket.
‘Have a biscuit?’
Moreover.
As the presidential adviser.
Noted the drones.
Do not fly.
Do not fly.
In a direct line.
But as close as possible.
To the Belarusian border.
In his view.
This allows the ‘suicide drones’.
To connect to Belarusian.
Mobile phone masts.
Meaning they can.
Be controlled online.
Meaning they can.
Be controlled online.
Alice thought it would not be civil
to say ‘No,’ though it wasn’t at all
that she wanted.
So she took it,
and ate it as well as she could:
and it was very dry;
and she thought she had never been
so nearly choked in all her life.
The spokesperson for.
The ‘elves’ Air Force stated that.
Jet-powered drones are not.
Merely flying along the border;
In fact.
There has even been.
A recorded instance.
Of a UAV.
Flying directly.
From Belarus.
According to him.
This occurred during the day.
On 30 August.
When a ‘Shahed’ crossed.
The ‘elves’ border.
Near Prypiat.
‘While you’re refreshing yourself,’
said the Queen,
‘I’ll just take the measurements.’
And she took a ribbon out of her pocket,
marked in inches,
and began measuring the ground,
and sticking little pegs
in here and there.
The drones then head.
Towards Kyiv.
Flying over the Kyiv Reservoir.
And the Dnipro riverbed.
Before splitting up.
In different directions.
On the outskirts of the capital.
And attacking the suburbs.
‘At the end of two yards,’
she said, putting in a peg
to mark the distance,
‘I shall give you your directions
– have another biscuit?’
‘No, thank you,’ said Alice:
‘one’s quite enough!’
‘Thirst quenched, I hope?’
Although the total number.
Of ‘jet-powered’ drones.
In a salvo.
Is significantly lower than.
That of conventional.
Piston-engined ‘Shaheds’
(for example.
On 24 March 2026.
‘Orcs’ launched nearly.
A thousand conventional ‘Shaheds’.
And similar drones.
At Ukraine).
Their higher speed.
And flight altitude allow.
Them to penetrate.
‘Elves’ air defence lines.
Alice never could quite make out,
in thinking it over afterwards,
how it was that they began:
all she remembers is,
that they were running hand in hand,
and the Queen went so fast
that it was all she could do
to keep up with her:
According to the Air Force Command’s.
Daily reports.
The percentage of.
‘Orcs’ UAVs shot down.
In recent days has.
If at all.
Fallen only slightly.
Fallen only slightly.
For example.
On 27 August.
Almost 88 per cent.
Of drones.
– including jet-powered ones –
Were shot down that day.
On the night.
Of 31 August.
79 per cent of.
These long-range drones.
Were shot down.
Were shot down.
and still the Queen kept crying
‘Faster! Faster!’ but Alice felt
she could not go faster,
though she had no breath left to say so.
The most curious part of the thing was,
that the trees and the other things
round them never changed
their places at all:
However, this is still.
Lower than the figures.
From the winter and spring.
Of 2026.
When the shoot-down rate.
For conventional piston-engine.
‘Suicide drones’ reached.
95–98 per cent.
however fast they went,
they never seemed to pass anything.
‘I wonder if all the things
move along with us?’
thought poor puzzled Alice.
And the Queen seemed to guess
her thoughts, for she cried,
‘Faster! Don’t try to talk!’
So what’s the problem?
With jet-powered drones?
Why are they so difficult?
To shoot down?
The first reason is.
Altitude and speed.
They can fly at altitudes.
Of 3.5–5 km.
And their cruising speed.
Is 2–3 times higher.
For example.
For example.
The new ‘Geran-4’
(based on the ‘Shahed-238’)
Can fly at nearly.
500 km/h.
Whilst the ‘Geran-5’.
Can reach speeds.
Of around.
600–650 km/h.
Not that Alice had any idea
of doing that.
She felt as if she would never
be able to talk again,
she was getting so much out of breath:
and still the Queen cried
‘Faster! Faster!’
and dragged her along.
The jet-powered ‘Banderole’.
UAV has roughly.
The same speed.
And the ‘orcs’ have also.
Begun to use it extensively.
In recent months.
All this has rendered.
The ‘elves’ interceptor drones ineffective;
These were designed to counter.
Piston-engined ‘suicide drones’.
Flying at speeds of.
180–200 km/h.
‘Are we nearly there?’
Alice managed to pant out at last.
‘Nearly there!’ the Queen repeated.
‘Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!’
And they ran on for a time in silence,
with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears,
and almost blowing her hair
off her head, she fancied.
‘Elves’ manufacturers are.
Now urgently trying to.
Make up for this shortfall.
In countermeasures.
According to the Defence Minister.
There are already.
Four prototypes of.
Interceptor drones.
Although these have only just.
Completed field trials.
And their production.
Needs to be scaled up.
‘Now! Now!’ cried the Queen. ‘Faster! Faster!’
And they went so fast that at last
they seemed to skim through the air,
hardly touching the ground with their feet,
till suddenly, just as
Alice was getting quite exhausted,
they stopped, and she found herself sitting
on the ground, breathless and giddy.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Head.
Of the President’s Office.
Says that the interceptor drones.
Are still “not demonstrating.”
Says that the interceptor drones.
Are still “not demonstrating.
The expected effectiveness”.
Against jet-powered UAVs.
The Queen propped her up against a tree,
and said kindly,
‘You may rest a little now.’
Alice looked round her in great surprise.
‘Why, I do believe
we’ve been under this tree
the whole time!
Everything’s just as it was!’
“The infrastructure to.
Counter jet-powered ‘shahids’.
Has not yet been established.”
Has not yet been established.”
“The ‘orcs’ understand this.
“The ‘orcs’ understand this.
“And are trying to exploit.
This window of opportunity,”.
A spokesperson for.
A major ‘elves’ defence company.
That manufactures.
Interceptors said.
‘Of course it is,’ said the Queen:
‘what would you have it?’
‘Well, in our country,’
said Alice, still panting a little,
‘you’d generally get to somewhere else
– if you ran very fast
for a long time,
as we’ve been doing.’
Its drone has.
Already shot down.
Several jet-powered ‘Shaheds’.
But the question remains.
As to how to scale up.
And refine this process.
As to how to scale up.
And refine this process.
‘A slow sort of country!’
said the Queen.
‘Now, here, you see, it takes
all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else,
you must run at least twice
as fast as that!’
For the time being, however.
Ukraine can rely only on.
Its own fighter aircraft.
MANPADS teams and.
Mobile anti-aircraft missile systems.
When it comes.
To shooting down.
‘Jet aircraft’.
‘I’d rather not try,
please!’ said Alice.
‘I’m quite content to stay here
– only I am so hot and thirsty!’
‘I know what you’d like!’
the Queen said good-naturedly,
taking a little box out of her pocket.
‘Have a biscuit?’
Furthermore.
In an effort to curb.
‘Orcs’ activity.
The ‘elves’ Armed Forces.
Are attempting to.
Strike depots and.
Launch sites for ‘shahids’.
The so-called ‘drone ports’.
Alice thought it would not be civil
to say ‘No,’ though it wasn’t at all
that she wanted.
So she took it,
and ate it as well as she could:
and it was very dry;
and she thought she had never been
so nearly choked in all her life.
On the night.
Of 30 August.
One such port.
One such port.
– in Tsymbulova.
In the Oryol Region –
Was hit by.
‘Elves’ Defence Forces.
The Queen propped her up against a tree,
and said kindly,
‘You may rest a little now.’
Alice looked round her in great surprise.
‘Why, I do believe
we’ve been under this tree
the whole time!
Everything’s just as it was!’
Furthermore.
A military expert and.
Former UAV operator.
Highlights the shortage.
In Ukraine.
Of the radars needed.
For the early detection.
Of jet-powered drones.
“To effectively counter.
A jet-powered ‘Shahed’.
It must be detected earlier.”
“And not lost sight.
Of over larger areas;”
“And not lost sight.
Of over larger areas;”
“To achieve this.
More radars are needed.
To cover larger areas.”
He notes.
‘Of course it is,’ said the Queen:
‘what would you have it?’
‘Well, in our country,’
said Alice, still panting a little,
‘you’d generally get to somewhere else
– if you ran very fast
for a long time,
as we’ve been doing.’
Like every ‘window of opportunity’.
That Ukraine and ‘Mordor’.
Have opened up.
During the war.
With regard to the development.
Of their own weaponry.
This too is.
Of limited duration.
‘A slow sort of country!’
said the Queen.
‘Now, here, you see, it takes
all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else,
you must run at least twice
as fast as that!’
The search for.
Countermeasures against.
‘Orcs’ jet-powered drones.
Is actively ongoing.
And some sources within.
The ‘elves’ defence industry.
Predict that.
The problem will be resolved.
Within the next month or so.
That is, by October.
Within the next month or so.
That is, by October.
‘I’d rather not try,
please!’ said Alice.
‘I’m quite content to stay here
– only I am so hot and thirsty!’
‘I know what you’d like!’
the Queen said good-naturedly,
taking a little box out of her pocket.
‘Have a biscuit?’
According to forecasts by.
The head of the Presidential Office.
The ‘orcs’ army plans.
To continue.
Its ‘suicide attack’ terror campaign.
Against Kyiv.
At least until the parliamentary elections.
In ‘Mordor’.
That is.
Until 18–20 September.
That is.
Until 18–20 September.
Alice thought it would not be civil
to say ‘No,’ though it wasn’t at all
that she wanted.
So she took it,
and ate it as well as she could:
and it was very dry;
and she thought she had never been
so nearly choked in all her life.
In his view.
This allows the ‘orcs’ authorities.
To present their voters.
With “a striking image of victory.”
To present their voters.
With “a striking image of victory.
Which they do not experience.
On the battlefield”.
‘While you’re refreshing yourself,’
said the Queen,
‘I’ll just take the measurements.’
And she took a ribbon out of her pocket,
marked in inches,
and began measuring the ground,
and sticking little pegs
in here and there.
‘At the end of two yards,’
she said, putting in a peg
to mark the distance,
‘I shall give you your directions
– have another biscuit?’
‘No, thank you,’ said Alice:
‘one’s quite enough!’
‘Thirst quenched, I hope?’
*Because I read “120 годин терору. Як і навіщо Росія запускає хвилі реактивних дронів на Київ(120 Hours of Terror. How and Why Russia Launches Waves of Jet Drones at Kyiv) ” by Oleg Chernysh on 1 Sep 2026 on the BBC news Ukraine, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Valentyna, a story of Col. Ignat, a story of Beskrestnov, a story of Gen. Palisa, a story of Karpyuk, and a story of Budanov, led by ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news Ukraine:
120 годин терору. Як і навіщо Росія запускає хвилі реактивних дронів на Київ – BBC News Україна
