If you missed part I, you can read it here. On June 28, Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok appeared on “Bolshaya Igra,” the Kremlin’s main propaganda talk show, and laid out his view of Russia’s war in Ukraine with striking professionalism and candor. The drone revolution has shifted the center of gravity of this conflict into the air, both along the front line and over the entire territory of Russia.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Ukraine has exploited this shift more aggressively and now leans on the full economic power of Europe as its de facto defense‑industrial base, producing not only unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) but also cruise missiles and ballistic systems in joint ventures. Trying to answer this threat by racing ahead with expensive air defense systems that cover the whole country is economically impossible. It is hard not to notice the paradox. One of the most beloved anti‑Western sayings of Alexander III, quoted endlessly by Russian imperialists for 135 years, was: “They fear our vastness.” In today’s war, that “vastness” has turned from an asset into a vulnerability. But let us return to Khodarenok. He is a convinced imperialist and no friend of Ukraine. We could easily quote dozens of his bloodthirsty remarks. Yet he is also a General Staff professional. It is enough to recall his prophetic article of Feb. 3, 2022, “Bloodthirsty Political Scientists,” where he carefully took apart the coming failure of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s lightning‑war plan. Naturally, he despises Putin. How else can a military professional feel today, after monstrous losses, toward a pathetic little figure with a glass of champagne trembling in his hands, mumbling incoherently, “We are pounding them at the front; we pound them every single day”?