Tall Tales from Ukraine

Russia is having to use computer chips intended for home appliances to repair its military hardware due to the impact of US sanctions, according to one US official. 

"We have reports from Ukrainians that when they find Russian military equipment on the ground, it's filled with semiconductors that they took out of dishwashers and refrigerators", commerce secretary Gina Raimondo (left) told the Senate Committee on Appropriations on May 11, 2022. 

She had claimed to have met with Ukrainian officials who told her that they found parts from commercial and industrial home appliances when searching captured or abandoned Russian tanks, The Washington Post reported.

Raimondo told the committee that exports of US technology to Russia have fallen by just under 70% as a result of sanctions, that were being imposed in late February. Russia's military hardware has long relied on technology made by the US or its allies, but US tech companies are now forbidden from exporting their products to Russia. 

"Our approach was to deny Russia technology – technology that would cripple their ability to continue a military operation. And that is exactly what we are doing", she boasted to the committee. 

Tall tales abound. Last month, Ukrainian troops paraded what they said was a Russian drone that had been covered in duct tape and fitted with a generic plastic bottle top for a fuel cap. 

In March, Ukrainian troops found what appeared to be Russian army bandages dating to 1978 discarded on a battlefield. 

And speaking four Mondays ago, the UK's defense secretary, Ben Wallace (right), said that wrecked Russian fighter jets were being found by Ukraine with rudimentary GPS receivers "taped to the dashboards" because their inbuilt navigation systems are so bad. 

It’s pretty amazing the Ukrainians could come up with these taradiddles – and it’s even more amazing that the above-mentioned duo had shown themselves to be incredibly gullible!