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Europe must have its own defense system against ballistic weapons, and Ukraine is already ‌holding talks with several countries on its creation, ‌Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday. Defense against ballistic missiles is one of ​Ukraine's biggest challenges in the war with Russia, since only certain types of missiles used by the American Patriot system are capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. Russia uses ballistic missiles to ‌attack Ukraine's energy ⁠infrastructure, destroying thermal power generation and electricity transmission systems. "I believe, and my idea is that we ⁠should have a European anti-ballistic missile defense system. We are in talks...

Since Ukraine’s population has shrunk dramatically, the army’s number one problem is no longer the lack of weapons, such as ballistic missiles and air defense systems, but the lack of soldiers to operate them, writes Világgazdaság. The competent authorities in Kyiv, however, must bring the army size required by Commander-in-Chief Zelensky (800,000 active soldiers), and since the number of men eligible for military service (between the ages of 18 and 60) is slowly running out, the Ukrainian leadership is now trying to fill the gaps by conscripting women. As of early 2024, approximately 5 million men are considered to be...

The Ukrainian military captured a Russian position using only ground robots and aerial drones — completely unassisted by any infantry, for the first time in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. No lives were lost when the robot force went into highly dangerous enemy-occupied territory and forced the soldiers there to surrender, he said in a video address to defense workers this week, without revealing additional details about the mission. “The future is already on the front line — and Ukraine is building it. These are our ground robotic systems,” Zelensky said, according to Business Insider. Over the last...

One month into Operation Epic Fury against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a long-overdue conversation has finally broken into the open: What, exactly, is the enduring rationale for NATO? For decades, this question has been treated in Washington foreign policy circles as heretical. But it isn't. And to their credit, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are now saying so plainly. As Trump recently put it, "They haven't been friends when we needed them. We've never asked them for much. ... It's a one-way street." Rubio has been similarly blunt: "If NATO is just about us defending...

Four years after the liberation of Bucha, the town remains a central reference point for understanding the nature of the war in Ukraine and the limits of current diplomatic efforts. The events that followed the withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2022, when hundreds of civilians were found dead across the Kyiv suburb and the wider region, continue to shape how Ukraine defines both security and peace. Bucha has become more than a historical episode. It functions as a political and moral benchmark in discussions about any future settlement. Ukrainian authorities report over 400 civilian deaths in the town itself...

I don't think many people saw this one coming, but it makes sense in a perverse way. Events in the Middle East have conspired to create a situation in which Ukraine has become an indispensable ally and munitions supplier to Gulf Arab states. Nobody in the world has as much experience fighting Iranian drones as does Ukraine, and they have become extraordinarily proficient at destroying them before they do any damage, and at a price that cannot be beat. The Gulf states, having blown through an awful lot of their anti-air magazines, are having to quickly learn how to defend...

General or partial assessments of the number of victims in the war in Ukraine reveal the high human cost of an armed conflict unprecedented in Europe in the last eight decades. With estimates of nearly two million military casualties, it is reminiscent of the worst conflicts experienced in the 20th century on the Old Continent. The most conservative figures — around half a million deaths on the Ukrainian side — are five times higher than those of the Balkan War (1992-1995), which totaled 100,000, of whom 13,500 were civilians. The Ukrainian Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has just...

The U.S. war on Iran set up Russia’s economy for a major rescue after oil prices soared after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But if President Vladimir Putin was expecting a huge windfall, that view may literally be going up in smoke. With one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies cut off, Russian oil suddenly became much more valuable. After trading at a steep discount to Brent crude, Urals oil nearly reached parity with the global benchmark. The U.S. also temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian crude, despite warnings that the move would provide a vital influx of revenue to...

A newly reported operation suggests Kyiv may have found another low-cost way to disrupt Russian forces away from the front line: heated insoles allegedly rigged with small explosive charges and sent through volunteer aid channels. According to Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi, operatives from Ukraine’s special services allegedly inserted explosive-filled heated insoles into shipments destined for Russian military units. The items were reportedly moved with the help of Russian volunteers and charitable foundations, allowing them to pass as ordinary humanitarian aid. That is what makes this sort of sabotage effective, Treston Wheat, chief geopolitical officer at Insight Forward, told me: it exploits...

Qatar and Ukraine have signed a defence agreement seeking joint expertise on countering threats from missiles and drones, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Defence, as Iran continues attacking its Gulf neighbours. The agreement was made on Saturday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Doha, following his stop in the UAE earlier in the day. Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates had also agreed to cooperate on defence, a day after signing a deal with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom on Thursday.

Beriev A-50U radar planes are Russia’s eyes in the sky. As Ukraine knocks out more of the A-50Us, Russian forces are slowly going blind. Russia went to war in February 2022 with potentially just seven Beriev A-50U radar planes The A-50Us use top-mounted radars to watch for Ukrainian warplanes and drones In a series of attacks going back three years, the Ukrainians may have knocked out more than half of the A-50Us A drone strike last week reportedly damaged a fourth A-50U on the ground in western Russia Sortieing drones deep inside Russia on 17 March, Ukrainian forces may have...

The Great Russian Lockdown — Putin Turns His Country Into a Cage!

Russia will refer women who choose not to have children to psychologists in an attempt to reverse the country’s worsening demographic crisis. Under guidelines overseen by the health ministry, women who answer negatively to questions in a medical history survey about whether they intend to have children will be encouraged to seek psychological support. “It is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children,” according to the advice. Men who take the same medical history questionnaire will not face questions about their plans to have...

Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.Two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations said that such a proposal was made by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting last week in Miami.The U.S. rejected the proposal, the people added. They, like all other officials cited in this article, were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of...

Ukraine has received only about 600 advanced interceptor missiles for the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system during the entire course of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials told The New York Times. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv had received roughly that number of interceptor missiles over four years of war. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western partners to provide additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles as Russia continues to launch large-scale missile strikes targeting cities and critical infrastructure. The Patriot system remains among the few air defense platforms capable of reliably intercepting advanced ballistic missiles, including...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Kyiv’s drone experts will be “on site” in the Mideast “next week,” as he seeks US air defense missiles in exchange for drone expertise. “I think that next week, when the experts are on site, they will look at the situation and help,” Zelensky tells a press conference, when asked how the Ukrainians would be able to help the United States and the Gulf states to repel Iranian drones.

The incident further inflamed tensions between Hungary and Ukraine, which are embroiled in a bitter feud over Hungary’s access to Russian oil through a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory. Hungarian authorities have detained seven Ukrainian citizens, including a former intelligence officer, and seized two armored cars carrying large amounts of cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said Friday. Ukraine accused Hungary of taking the Ukrainians hostage and illegally seizing millions of dollars in cash. “This is state terrorism and racketeering,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X late Thursday. The seven were employees of the Ukrainian...

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense. Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Monday that World War III "will undoubtedly begin" if President Trump persists in his "insane course" of regime change. Following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Medvedev predicted Iran will pursue nuclear weapons "with triple the energy" and dismissed European reactions as "toadyism. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev issued a stark warning Monday that continued US efforts to topple foreign governments will inevitably trigger global conflict. Speaking to state news agency Tass, Medvedev declared that if President Donald Trump "continues his insane course of criminally changing political regimes, it will...

CAIRO (AP) — A Russian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied natural gas exploded and erupted in flames before sinking in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, authorities in the North African country said Wednesday. No casualties were reported.The tanker was under Western sanctions, suspected to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet of energy tankers trying to bypass sanctions imposed on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. According to the Libyan Maritime Authority, there was a “sudden explosions, followed by a massive fire” on the Arctic Metagaz on Tuesday while the LNG...