Russian Troops Flew an American Flag as They Rode into Battle in Ukraine

Donald Trump had given them reason to celebrate

It takes real courage—or a profound stupidity—to fly a giant flag from your assault vehicle anywhere within range of the millions of tiny drones that patrol the front line of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine every year.

Vehicles tend to attract the lethal attention of the ever-present explosive drones even when their crews aren’t actively trying to attract attention.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Russian crew who flew two flags—a Russian one and, startlingly, an American one—from their rare GAZ-71 tracked transport on or before Monday came to a bad end. (See above.)