Summary
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised year-end press conference, said Russia should have invaded Ukraine earlier with better preparation.
He defended his policies, highlighting strengthened ties with China, Russia’s aggressive nuclear doctrine, and military gains in Ukraine, while dismissing claims of setbacks.
Putin claimed economic “stability” despite sanctions but acknowledged 9.1% inflation.
He emphasized “sovereignty” as a key success of reducing Western reliance.
The press conference was highly choreographed and tightly controlled.
Unfortunately that’s not necessarily true. The north of Ukraine at the time was covered by S-300 and/or S-400 AA systems deployed in russia. While these can be dealt with by F-35(As demonstrated by Israel), something as old and slow as A-10 wouldn’t fare well. Which is one of the reasons why the US Air force is trying to retire them.
I think the UAF were already jury-rigging HARMs onto their aircraft by that time, but point taken.