This is behind a paywall, but is so important, here it is. If the WashPo wants to start shit with me about it they can tell it to the years I've paid to subscribe LONG after American newspapers started being desperate for subscribers.
In northern Ukraine, it was boy vs. Russian drone. The boy won.
Steve Hendrix, Kostiantyn Khudov
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — On a cool evening last month, 12-year-old Anatolii Prokhorenko was up in a pear tree, cutting off a damaged branch for a neighbor, when he heard the buzz of a drone.
That sound often means death in Ukraine, and not just for soldiers on the front lines. Increasingly, civilians are tracked, chased and attacked by small, commercially available drones equipped with cameras, rigged with explosives and steered by fingers-on-joysticks a dozen miles away.
Ukrainians, darkly, have dubbed this Xbox-inflected hunting of civilians as Russia’s “human safari” — a terror campaign that started in the once-occupied southern city of Kherson. In recent months, it has evolved with new technology and spread to border areas around the country.
Anatolii knew it had recently reached the small farming village where he and his family live in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, seven miles from the Russian border. Tractors, like the one his father frequently drove, had been hit in the fields. In March, a drone blew up a car next to a shop. Another had exploded on Anatolii’s street just the day before.
Now, the one he spotted was heading right for his house.
As he clung to the tree trunk, the black quadcopter buzzed past, flying just off the ground and bearing down on a cluster of buildings where three of his younger siblings were playing with other kids in their yard.
He watched as unseen eyes seemed to zero in on the structures and the drone began to climb, apparently rearing to strike.
“It saw the children and started gaining altitude,” Anatolii said. “That’s when I realized something was about to happen.”
What Anatolii did next — something he had rehearsed, something few civilians in Ukraine have been taught — might have saved the lives of those children, his mother changing a diaper inside or other neighbors on the block.
His story — and the fact that a 12-year-old in a pear tree knows how to fight back against a Russian drone — illustrates how deeply a tactic that the United Nations calls a war crime has dissolved the line between soldier and civilian in the fifth year of Russia’s war.
Within drone range of Russian territory, survival itself has become a military skill.
“It’s a really horrible problem the Russians are imposing on Ukrainian civilians in these towns where they’re using the human safari tactic,” saidRobert Tollast, a military sciences researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
The attacks demoralize by design. And they force Ukrainian commanders to spread their drone defenses — which range from jamming signals to covering whole highways with netting to skeet shooting them from the sky with shotguns or machine guns — ever thinner, Tollast said.
The drone hunts started two years ago in Kherson, when Russians just across the Dnieper River began deploying cheap commercial first-person view (FPV) quadcopters to stalk and strike civilians going about their days — biking to work, waiting at bus stops, walking their dogs.
A drone dropped an explosive on a man riding a moped in November 2024, and then dropped another on the ambulance that came to help him.
By April 2025, the attacks were killing 42 civilians a month and injuring nearly 300, according to report by an independent U.N. human rights commission.
Investigators determined that the campaign was ordered by Moscow to systematically terrorize the populace and amounted to “murder as a crime against humanity.”
Ukraine’s first response was jamming — flooding the frequencies the drones depend on with empty radio noise. For a time, it helped.
But Russia’s answer was to equip drones with fiber-optic filament: a hair-thin tether that unspools in flight like a spiderweb for 12 miles — or twice that with smaller payloads — carrying video to the operator and commands back. Bypassing radio signals entirely, these drones can’t be jammed.
Adapting an off-the-shelf FPV drone to fiber-optic controls is a cheap and effective hack, Tollast said. Although the filament can tangle or break as it’s draped across miles of countryside, units often deploy two or three drones on each mission to provide backup and better targeting reconnaissance.
The advantages of the physical connection are huge, Tollast said, and both armies increasingly use them for a range of battlefield missions. Not only are they immune to jamming, they don’t lose signal at longer distances or behind barriers the way line-of-sight radio controls do.
Russia deployed the technology at scale in its push to expel Ukrainian soldiers from Russia’s Kursk territory in late 2024 and 2025, using the unjammable devices to collapse Ukraine’s supply lines. At the time, Russia enjoyed a huge advantage in fiber-optic drone production, making roughly 50,000 per month to Ukraine’s 20,000.
But Ukraine is catching up, and last year used long-range strikes to knock out Russia’s only domestic fiber-optic factory in Saransk, leaving the Russians dependent on Chinese imports. Both sides are dealing with rising costs of the hair-thin cable as more of it is gobbled up by the global boom in AI data centers.
That hasn’t stopped Russia from adapting the same technology for attacks on civilians in border areas, according to Ukrainian officials, the U.N. and locals who increasingly find the superfine filaments draped across streets and houses far from the front lines.
Anatolii and his father, Volodymyr Poltoratskyi, 49, had started noticing the glinting gossamer threads a few months earlier.
“In winter, it’s actually beautiful in its own way,” Poltoratskyi said. “They hang across the road and on the trees like garlands, and frost forms on them.”
One day in autumn, as father and son were cutting firewood in a nearby forest, Anatolii saw a soldier they knew handling some of the filaments. The boy asked what he was doing.
The soldier — an explosives specialist who goes by the call sign “Dynamo” — showed him how the fiber-optic material, like a fishing line, was almost impossible to pull apart without slicing the skin. Then he demonstrated three techniques the soldiers had found to break it, a combination of loops and pinches. Best to count to 15 after a drone passes before trying it, Dynamo had said, so you’re out of the drone’s view and don’t become the target.
It was a brief encounter to sate a boy’s curiosity. Father and son went back to loading wood on the tractor.
The drones kept coming. Russia had learned that the fiber-optic FPVs — which can stay low and fly behind hills, always connected and sending back clear video — were adept hunters, especially of unsuspecting civilians.
“They are very good at creeping up on their targets,” Tollast said.
Which is why when Anatolii heard the buzz from his tree, he looked up and saw nothing. It was below him, just a few feet above the ground.
And he saw something else, glinting in the low evening sun: the very fine fiber-optic contrail behind it.
As the drone moved toward his family, Anatolii dropped to the ground. He ran 20 yards and got his fingers around a hairlike umbilical running all the way to Russia. He made a loop, pulled it slightly, and remembered the soldier’s instruction: Count to 15.
“I didn’t have time,” he said. “So I counted to 10 and I broke it.”
The line snapped. The drone abruptly veered upward, banked away from the children and the houses, and spiraled into a section of wild ground next to the neighborhood.
“I waited for an explosion, but there was nothing,” Anatolii said. He wondered if it landed on its back. Later, he would learn that it crashed in a dense, swampy thicket.
Civil authorities came and poked around but didn’t recover it and warned the civilians not to get close. Soldiers said they might try to salvage the camera, which can be reused. But for now, it is buried in the swamp and Anatolii’s only souvenir of the drone he defeated is a small skein of the fine white filament that was his weapon.
“How can a civilian person, especially a child, do something like that?” Dynamo, the soldier who took a moment to teach a boy a military trick no kid should ever have to know, told The Washington Post. “Not every soldier would have been able to react in a split second like that.”
Anatolii was feted as a hero in Ukraine, but more as a target by commenters on Russian Telegram channels, so his family of seven have moved for now to a borrowed two-room apartment in Chernihiv, the regional capital, two hours south.
They travel back and forth to tend their potato crop and still find fiber-optic tracks. One of their neighbors, a 47-year-old woman, was injured Sunday when a drone struck her car.
These high-tech hunters, the family knows, are now a regular part of rural life — and death.
The way that purity culture ruins fandoms is so infuriating but ngl like it’s so funny. On one hand I feel bad for people getting bullied for shipping or headcanoning stuff only for the fandom police to be like “well actually🤓😡” or even get bullied. I miss the days when fandoms weren’t so mainstream and we could be weirdos together (even tho I’m younger but I got into fandoms early)
But as I said it’s also funny to me because I. Don’t. Give. A. Shit. Like you’re really think saying “no you can’t ship that” or even insulting me will make me feel shame? Nope. Please allow me the freedom of reading and thinking what I want thank you😇
Also the arguments are so stupid. Even if somebody ships truly I mean TRULY problematic ship I’ll be like “wow weird but okay” and go about my life? Because it doesn’t effect me? Revolutionary I think.
Take the Arcane fandom and how people are hating on Jayvik because “they’re like brothers” “but Jayce is with Mel” “they’re not even gay”. A few tipical arguments you might notice (I should write a study about this lmao). And my counter argument would be: *ahem* “And?” (This is my take for most of them tho)
“They’re not gay”? Um yes in my head they are. And you can’t do anything about it. Must be infuriating. (Ngl I really want my biggest probelm in life to be what strangers think about literal FICTIONAL characters)
I’ll say these people must not have siblings because I do and we sure don’t act like Jayvik. I also ship Vander and Silco and people’ll be like “but they called each other brothers” Aaand I still don’t care. Or they’ll conclude that I hate Mel because I ship Jayvik. Which is dumb she’s a queen and Jayce can be with Viktor and Mel can be with me. There, all happy.
My Detroit: Become Human obsession also returned (thank you hungarian dub for making me replay it🙏) and boy oh boy do the puritans hate Hankcon. Listen I don’t care if you don’t ship it or don’t like it, I care if you’re belittling others for it. If you see them as father and son fine but let’s not say it’s incest or pedophilia when they’re literally not related (known each other for a week I think) and Connor is a whole adult? Thank you.
Or the fandom police says that they barely interacted or haven’t even met. Okaaay? That’s why I read fanfiction, to explore the relationship more? This is from someone who didn’t know Reed900 was as big as it is and has been obsessed since last week. But I also shipped Mystrade back in the day or characters from different fandoms.
They also act like shipping characters is the equivalent of actually wanting them to get together in canon when most of the time it’s not. Like ma’am I know I’ll never see Obi Wan kiss Cody on the mouth in legit Star Wars media but I still ship it. I’ll even say I like it when the couple is not canon because it allows room for the creativity of fanfiction writers.
This goes for any pairing btw but these are the ones I’m recently into.
Idk what these people’s purpose is other than spread hate. Anyway I was bored so thank you for attending my yapping session.
Oh and if you have experience with the fandom police please share 🫶
saw a post abt HBO removing shows that suggests ppl just “burn dvds” but everyone doesnt know how to do that so here is one way to do that
- get blank dvds (Both +R or -R work, I think +R is slightly cheaper, the difference is rewritability), these are not very expensive for the amount you can get in bulk (if you are in the US 100 of them is about 30$ at walmart)
- an external DVD drive that plugs in via usb is also around 20-40$ (it tends to be closer to 20)
- download DVDFlick (free)
- if you don’t already have the mp4/mpeg of whatever media you want to burn, you can download movies/shows off of sites like gomovies.sx and soap2day
gomovies.sx will have a download button that looks like this
below the video you can choose one of these
if you click streamlare for example and then the download button it will take you here where the mp4 is
(if you’re on an iphone/ipad, clicking download will save it to your files app)
- if you cant find the download button on soap2day you can also install a video downloader extension which will find the movie for you
- at this point you can drag and drop it into a google drive or keep it on your computer but if you still want it on dvd ->
- open dvd flick, drag and drop the video
- click “project settings”
- give it whatever title you want, you can change encoder to “normal” (default is below normal if you are doing other things on the computer). you dont need to change target size or thread count (unless you want to)
- insert a blank dvd into your drive, make sure you click “burn project to disc”
- click accept then click “create dvd” next to menu and project settings. it will create a destination folder and this dialogue box will pop up when you click “create” on more dvds, just click “yes” and then “okay” on the box that appears after it
it’ll take a couple hours, once its done take a sharpie & write whats on it and stick it in a case . or dont . im not ur mom
I'M BACK! So... Has anyone ever imagined Kakairu, with Kakashi a little unhinged, yandere, alpha kks, omega irk:
TW: Blood, mention of m*rder, reference to blood.
Kakashi never actually left ANBU; this led him to develop a taste for being an assassin. He thought that if it was the only way to protect those he loved, then so be it.
He became Konoha's most lethal weapon, following in the footsteps of his own master, Minato. Everyone knew they should avoid the ANBU who didn't wear a porcelain mask; And the best defense against Kakashi was simply not to get in his way.
Naturally, it would be difficult to find a mate. No omega or beta would want to have an alpha by their side who carried a trail of blood.
Until he met the sweet teacher Iruka.
Of course, he had spoken with Iruka one day when the teacher seemed confused. What surprised him was that the teacher, who was the sweetheart of the village, had no qualms about sitting next to him.
So when Kakashi noticed Naruto's disappearance one day, and also that of the sweet teacher, he knew something was wrong. The assassin had already decided a few days earlier that he wanted to take care of Naruto; he had orders to watch the boy from a distance. But the situation with the little boy was getting worse; he was being mistreated in the village and his life was constantly in danger from enemies.
While running through the forest in search of the little boy and the sensei, he made the decision to take Naruto with him from that day forward.
So imagine Kakashi's surprise when he smelled a calming omega scent mixed with the scent of blood. When he reached a clearing, he clearly saw Naruto sleeping peacefully on Iruka's shoulder, while the sensei released calming pheromones and cradled the pup on his shoulder... At their feet lay a fallen body, with a kunai stuck in the kidnapper's trachea.
"For an ANBU and elite assassin, you're a bit slow, Kakashi-san." He wasn't surprised that the sensei had noticed his presence.
"It's a real shame I was late, sensei. I would have loved to see your performance with this one."
Iruka merely glanced at him over his shoulder in acknowledgment, then nodded towards the trees. "There are two more kidnappers. I was going to deal with them, but I preferred to calm Naruto down first. I'd rather he didn't witness murder at only 6 years old."
Kakashi didn't need any more words. Using the Sharingan, he easily found and killed the other kidnappers. The bodies of the two fell from the trees near where Iruka was; And then the ANBU appeared in front of the sensei, with his arms outstretched to receive Naruto. Iruka raised an eyebrow in question.
"I intend to take Naruto with me, sensei. I'm tired of seeing him alone and unprotected. He's my master's son, so I'll take care of him from now on."
Iruka didn't change his expression, and he didn't hand Naruto over either. "It seems we've reached a stalemate here, Kakashi-san. Naruto is my little one."
Even Kakashi had principles; he would never go against an omega protecting their pup. But he wasn't going to give up on his goal, so he figured that if he scared Iruka enough, the teacher would give up on the pup eventually.
"So, sensei, we have a stalemate here." Alpha tossed the words around like a card game, circling Iruka to leave him with no escape route. "You can take care of Naruto, give him a family, a healthy childhood. But would you be ready to get your hands dirty for him? Would the lovable sensei be able to keep all the village's enemies away from the jinchuuriki? Would you be prepared to have blood staining your house almost every day?"
Kakashi stopped right behind Iruka, getting close to the nape of the teacher's neck and taking a deep breath. He couldn't deny that the sensei had a scent capable of bringing even the worst assassins to their knees; but, Kakashi thought, a noble omega like Iruka shouldn't waste his time with street dogs like him.
"You're right! Kakashi-san. I really couldn't kill every day for him," Iruka said, turning his face slightly over his shoulder, leaving his lips very close to where Kakashi's lips, covered by the dark mask, were. "But I don't think getting my hands or the walls of my house dirty is a problem, Kakashi-san. I'm a ninja too; discretion is expected to be our weapon."
Then, when Kakashi looked away from Iruka's beautiful lips, he could see a slight, murderous, and unbalanced glint in the omega's eyes. That was the warning that the villagers, and probably the enemies, failed to understand; the warning that no one would lay a hand on Naruto, or on Iruka's students. A warning that only someone who looked very closely, who looked beyond the facade of a sweet and dedicated Chunin teacher, could perceive.
Kakashi could only be grateful for wearing the dark mask; he knew his pheromones, and his predatory grin, were sharp and aroused. But perhaps the mask hadn't completely masked the scent emanating from him, because Kakashi noticed how Iruka sensed the excited pheromones in the air, and he snorted slightly.
Iruka turned fully to face Kakashi, their chests almost touching. He adjusted the sleeping (and adorable) Naruto on his shoulder, pulled out a fragrant green handkerchief, and gently wiped away some of the blood from the visible part of Kakashi's face.
"Rule number one: No blood or evidence of murder near Naruto or the house. Rule number two: Don't use your pheromones against me, Or I won't mind putting a kunai to your throat." And seeing the kidnapper's body that Iruka had dealt with before he arrived, he knew the professor wasn't bluffing.
"Any other demands, Omega?" Kakashi asked as he tugged at Iruka's wrist that wasn't holding Naruto, and rubbed the teacher's wrist against his scent gland, even when covered, it was powerful enough to mark Iruka with its scent.
When he released him, Iruka grabbed Kakashi's wrist, and using the Alpha's hand, he slightly pulled back the collar of his shirt, revealing the gland and beautiful skin, rubbing his wrist against his neck and also marking Kakashi. "I'll think of something while you lead the way back to the village, Alpha."
And so it was that in the middle of the forest, surrounded by bodies, Alpha and Omega reached an agreement to ensure a safe life for little Naruto, who slept peacefully, and completely oblivious to the events unfolding because of him.
Fin
So... This plot has been in my drafts for at least two months, and honestly, it's one of my favorites. There's a draft with a part two, but i'm a little embarrassed to post it because it's 🔞👀. But I will think carefully about posting the second part.
Again, please excuse any linguistic errors; there was no AI involved in the writing.
Me and @azilver's take on the omegaverse. (For reference when I want to yap.) I love you Az and have to give you your rightful credit for our brainchild))
Think of it in a mix of sexual dimorphism/ courting displays (female animals being bigger in meaner and birds of paradise where the males try to impress the females) and Sexual cannibalism (kinda more so the vibe of that but also a bit literally, think female spider or praying mantis.)
The ideal omega is a big mean tank since those are the most capable to take care of pups. Alphas can be any shape and size same as betas. However to woo an omega is difficult. One must show how capable and good they can be. After all those who prove to be incompetent are brushed off or worse.
However omegas can go too far or be too violent and be deemed as less desirable as a result. (This depends on the vibe of the writing and the fandom)
I also see it as a version of the verse where alphas require more balance than standard omegaverse - they need to be strong enough but also show a good parental side for an omega to consider them. Omega's are in this verse are encouraged to be big and healthy looking because birth ain't easy! There's more emphasis on mate selection and omega choice since a big strong alpha is going to want a strong omega that can and will stop them.
Plus I'm a sucker for alternate alphas (Hellooooo omega Ghost!)
...and this also reminds me I really need to finish my Soap harem fic....
ABO where the military assigns alphas and omegas as partners on teams and task forces. Of course there's no mating and they do provide contraceptives but having an assigned heat/rut partner helps on and off the field.
They can take care of each other's needs during medically required heats and ruts, and in the event that something happens in the field. Especially since WW2 and the advent of inducers. Sharing heat/rut cuts the duration in half, even more when it's the result of inducers, which can then pass in a matter of hours.
Alpha!Ghost who scares too many omega's with his reputation, skill, size and scars. The few omega's brave enough to get close are violently rebuffed, practically thrown aside as he runs them through their paces. Price is determined to find the right partner for the traumatised man and leaves him unassigned for years.
Omega!Soap who pisses off alphas left and right with his alpha-like aggression and refusal to submit. It certainly doesn't help that he bests them on and off the field like child's play. Price almost doesn't bother getting him on the task force, no matter how much value he thinks the Scot would add, but after reading through his jacket the captain decides to give it a go.
Ghost practically chokes when he's told he's been assigned an omega and swears it won't work as he storms out of Price's office. Soap rolls his eyes when introduced to "his alpha", like the knot-head is any different than all the others they tried to force on him.
Somehow they're a vision on the field. Past their dynamics and assignment they're everything a commanding officer could dream. And after the shitshow that was Las Almas it's like they've found a way past it all.
Until a mission fucks it all up.
Ghost is burning up from an induced rut and it's just the 2 of them in the tiny safe house, near a day until exfil arrives. Soap wants to help but Ghost refuses even scenting. Through his addled words the sergeant realises the alpha is afraid - he grew up seeing his alpha father's abuse of his omega mother, surrounded by so many in similar circumstances, was subjected to abuse himself by Roba and his men. He refuses to hurt Johnny.
"You won't hurt me. I'll show you how."
When exfil comes they find a tired pair of operators. Price sits, hard, when he notices the forms for shared heat/rut on his desk a weak later.
They never tell how it was Johnny who held Simon, who told the alpha to lie back, who guided his thighs apart and showed him how to find his pleasure in submission, in giving where he only was told he has to take.
@staff as a Tumblr user for the last 12+ years, the idea of reblogs turning to "Twitter/Bluesky-like" chains is repulsive beyond comprehension. Tumblr is a blogging website. What makes Tumblr unique is the reblog system, where users can reblog a post to their blog and others can do the same.
What's NOT unique is hiding reblogs behind separate "chains." That just makes navigating this site even worse. Not only that, but it kills engagement.
Listen to the users of this website and DO NOT consider implementing this update @staff
you know that Ghoap fanart where soap is standing in front of ghost talking to someone, saying how ghost kills people for him and he licks the blood off of him? while cupping ghost's face who stands there practically wiggling like and excited puppy?
yeah. i suspect most people think that makes soap the sub but really all i can picture is ghost moaning and whining and begging as soap holds him down and licks him all over
you know that Ghoap fanart where soap is standing in front of ghost talking to someone, saying how ghost kills people for him and he licks the blood off of him? while cupping ghost's face who stands there practically wiggling like and excited puppy?
yeah. i suspect most people think that makes soap the sub but really all i can picture is ghost moaning and whining and begging as soap holds him down and licks him all over
origamiaround
annaxmalina
turnnoffyourmind
dailybridgerton
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
