Satellite Imagery Just Confirmed Putin's Worst Nightmare

So we've just received some absolutely incredible satellite images that you can see with your own eyes, which prove beyond a doubt how well Ukraine is actually doing in their fight against Russia, and how desperate the Russians are really becoming. The subject of these satellite images are Russian Arctic military bases, but they're missing something. They're missing their air defense systems, like all of them, and this is a new development.

We can see that just a couple of years ago, these air defense systems were still in place. But when we compare satellite images to today, those air defense systems are missing. Dozens of them. And these aren't just random Arctic military bases. These are incredibly strategic positions.

For example, there's Severodvinsk, Russia's main base for building nuclear submarines. In fact, Russia's only base for building nuclear submarines and one of their main bases for building submarines in general. Now it is essentially completely defenseless. And the same goes for Novaya Zemlya, a famous archipelago where Russia, or rather the Soviet Union, tested the world-famous Tsar Bomba, the biggest nuclear explosion in all of human history.

This is a place that Russia has long considered vital to nuclear deterrence, and they have kept it stocked with air defense systems for a reason, not just for fun.

It's been seen as really a major part of their air defense shield against nuclear attacks that could come from the United States. And it's a big development. Russia isn't moving these systems because they want to. They're moving these systems because they have to. Because Ukraine has forced them to. Because over the past several years, Ukraine has been destroying Russian air defense systems left and right, leaving them with fewer and fewer options.

And now Ukraine has ramped up their strikes on Crimea and on Moscow, forcing Russia to make tough decisions to protect targets that they deem to be strategic: their population centers, the things that would embarrass Vladimir Putin, and yes, even Vladimir Putin's own personal residence in Valdez, which has basically no military importance except for the fact that Putin wants to feel safe while he's on vacation at his lake house.

This is a really big change because it shows you that Ukraine's strategy of attrition against Russia is actually working. But even more than showing you how well the war is going for Ukraine right now, these developments also show us something else. They show us that Russia is almost certainly bluffing when they threaten, for example, to attack additional NATO countries or when they threaten to launch nuclear missiles.

because their actual defensive posture doesn't match the threats that are coming out of their lips. There is a lot to discuss in today's video, and I want to give you all the full details right after a brief break for today's sponsor. You know, I read a lot of comments on this channel, and some of them stick with me. And recently, I've seen more people sharing their concerns about the long-term future of the United States.

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Those are factors of air defense, because the war in Ukraine recently shifted to a first-of-its-kind war in human history. The war in Ukraine was already a first-of-its-kind war in human history because it became a drone war which the world really wasn't prepared for. But it's now shifted yet again to be yet a more specific kind of drone war.

where the frontline isn't moving very much, and it's now become a contest of who can hit the other side's infrastructure the most frequently, the most strategically, and the most effectively. This is a war that is now going to be decided by air defense systems.

Who can produce the most missiles and drones to attack the other side? And who can intercept the most of the attacks coming into their own territory to prevent damage to themselves? And this is a contest that Russia is now decisively losing, and we can see that with our own eyes.

It's incredibly important to have this discussion because lately we've been hearing a lot about Ukraine's own air defense shortages, where Ukraine lacks interceptor missiles for the time being, and they're actively trying to plug that gap because Russian ballistic missiles regularly hit their cities and they don't have sufficient of the air defenses to intercept that specific type of Russian attack.

And while this is a real shortfall, what I don't see being discussed as often is what that shortfall looks like in context next to Russia's own shortfall, which is that Russia is running out of air defense systems, not just intercept ballistic missiles, but air defense systems of every single kind.

It turns out that Ukraine innovated about a year ago and brought these interceptor drones to the fray, which are now intercepting the vast majority of Russian drones that enter their territory for a very low cost. Ukraine can shoot down a Shahed drone that can cost above $50,000 US dollars for less than maybe $2,000 at a time, giving Ukraine a clear advantage.

and decisive advantage, while Russia is still relying increasingly on their more traditional air defense systems that are even more expensive than a Shahed drone to shoot down even cheaper Ukrainian drones.

Russia is really getting overwhelmed by Ukraine right now. And that's pretty obvious when you see the amount of targets that Ukraine is hitting. But even more importantly, Russia is getting overwhelmed from an attrition standpoint. They are simply running out of air defense systems, and they're running out of them far faster than Ukraine is. And unlike Ukraine, who is now plugging that gap even though it's going to take them some time,

Russia has not presented a single feasible option to actually plug their own air defense gap. And that's why we see Russia abandoning strategic targets to fill their temporary holes. Holes which will almost certainly just be opened again because Ukraine already opened them in the first place with less effective means than they now have available to them

Now, what's really fascinating about this is that despite the fact that Russia is clearly tapping every available option against something we can see with our own eyes, it's still not nearly sufficient. We can see that with our own eyes, too, and we can also see it in the reports coming from Ukrainian drone teams, who are increasingly saying that in certain sectors, at least, they are operating essentially unopposed.

This is the case, for example, between mainland Russia and Crimea, where drone teams attacking that highway are saying that there is nobody doing anything to stop them. And that's incredibly important. Crimea has become one of, if not the most strategic objectives of this entire war at this exact moment, and there's nothing that Russia can do about it. They can't stop the Ukrainian drones, and that's why Crimea has been effectively cut off.

first by land and now by sea, where Ukraine has recently, over the past week, taken over the entire Sea of Azov, with Russia being able to do literally nothing to stop them other than to stop sending their ships into that area because they know they'll just be destroyed.

This is extremely significant proof that the Russians are running on their last reserves. But we can also see it in other areas, with the fact that Ukraine is hitting increasingly strategic targets with little resistance. We saw, for example, how they hit the refinery in Moscow, one of the biggest, most public, most significant refineries in the entire country, and they were able to take it offline for a very long period of time. It's not coming back online anytime soon.

They were also able to hit the single largest refinery in all of Russia very powerfully. And a lot of the Russians, as the Ukrainian drones were coming in, were asking the question, where are our air defense systems? Why are they not protecting a target that's as strategic as this?

And the answer is Russia had to make some decisions. They thought it was less likely that Ukraine would strike a strategic target that was that far away. So they reallocated air defense systems to Moscow. But even that wasn't sufficient because Ukraine was able to strike Moscow too.

It's becoming incredibly embarrassing for the Russians. And again, it's going to get worse every single day. Russia is firing off more air defense missiles every single day. More air defense systems are getting destroyed every single day. And that attrition is much more significant than any attrition they can do on Ukraine's infrastructure, for example, with their ballistic missiles, which is really the only thing that Ukraine cannot intercept at this precise moment. Now,

Now, one of the things that really stood out to me about this entire story was something that Vladimir Putin himself said, where he was in an interview responding to the fuel crisis. And he said that Russia's top priority now should be to increase production of air defense systems that are in so much demand. Now, that is a very powerful statement because it proves, again, the air defense shortage is real and it's causing real problems.

But it's easy to say with your words, we need to increase production of air defense systems. It is much harder to deliver. And one thing that Ukraine has that Russia does not, for example, is international partners who are actually willing to help them in this.

This is a huge detail. Ukraine might not get sufficient Patriot missiles from the United States, for example, but at least they get some. Russia's not really getting anything of significance in this area from their partners. Ukraine may have a couple of years before they can get this new production online to produce more air defense systems, but at least they have a plan in place and it's going to happen.

Russia doesn't have anything in place where they can actually reasonably increase the production of their air defense systems. Indeed, they have already been working as hard as they possibly can to do that for the entire war, because their air defense systems have been getting taken offline for the entire war. So this is very clearly a real gap, and it's not one that's going to get any better for the Russians. It's only going to grow and grow and grow. That's very good news.

But I also want to point out something else that's significant that I alluded to earlier in the video.

which is what the removal of Russian air defense systems from certain areas says about Russia's actual defensive posture in contrast to the rhetoric that they're spewing out all the time. So a big category in the news lately has been stories circulating around a common theme, and that theme is that Russia is preparing to attack a NATO country. I've seen headlines claiming that this will be a Baltic state, Estonia, Lithuania, or Latvia, or perhaps all three.

I've seen headlines saying that this will be Gotland Island, part of Sweden in the Baltic Sea, where Russia will test NATO's response and resilience. I've even seen stories claiming that Russia is about to attack Poland, which would be a very bold move indeed. Whatever the case, you get the picture. Russia is preparing to escalate. By the same token, Russia has also once again been escalating their nuclear rhetoric.

Don't mess with us or else. Nuclear rhetoric that they've already tried and failed in the past, and it's certainly less credible now than it has ever been before. But whatever the case, it's Russia showing strength and aggression and don't mess with me. But these stories are very inconsistent with Russia's own actions if they are truly abandoning their Arctic military bases from air defenses. And that is exactly what they're doing.

Because these air defenses are there in particular as a deterrent against, guess who, NATO countries. It's their entire purpose in the first place. And if Russia were truly preparing for a war against NATO, these would be some of the first bases that they would protect. Because without these bases being protected, Russia's nuclear threats become a whole lot less credible, and they're already not very credible.

If Russia has removed air defenses from their only facility that can build nuclear submarines, what does that say about their readiness and their willingness to actually enter a nuclear war? The list goes on and on and on and on. And we can see very clearly that Russia has a lot of incentive to talk strong and to talk tough

But their actions don't match what their rhetoric actually is. And if their rhetoric actually is true, if Russia really is preparing for a war with NATO while simultaneously abandoning these bases that NATO would certainly attack, that just shows you that Russia is even weaker than we thought and even more desperate than we thought. But in either case, in my opinion, it's not really something to be concerned about. The only question left then is this:

Do we believe the evidence of our own eyes? Or do our eyes deceive us? Are our eyes lying to us to try to get us to disbelieve the ultimate truth that always proceeds from the lips of Vladimir Putin? I'm being facetious. I think you know the answer. But in all reality, Vladimir Putin will try to get you and as many people as possible to disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes, or even better, to never see that evidence in the first place.

So keep on keeping on, keep watching videos like this one to learn the truth about what's actually going on in Russia. If you found this video insightful, consider sharing it with somebody else who you think would also enjoy it. That being said, before you go, don't forget to like this video and subscribe to the channel. It's free, takes a second, it helps us both out a lot.

And if you want to support the channel even more, consider becoming a YouTube channel member or a patron. As a reminder, if you're interested in learning more about Augusta Precious Metals, check out the link in the description of this video or text "Paul" to the number provided on screen. Thanks again for watching, guys. I'll see you on the next one.