All posts tagged: drones

Missiles or mediation? Trump envoys shuttle between Russia and Ukraine – The Debate

Missiles or mediation? Trump envoys shuttle between Russia and Ukraine – The Debate

Published by Sam Flores

Exactly two months ago, Ukraine’s momentum was all the talk at a Nato summit in Turkey. What with its long-range drones and Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that the US would allow Kyiv to produce Patriot anti-ballistic missiles on home soil. That was then. This is now: Trump’s deal’s yet to materialize, Russia’s ramped up cruise missile launches and Ukraine’s run out of air defenses to stop them. Moscow’s also failing to stop incoming missiles. What happens in war when for both sides, offense proves better than defense? Could this lose-lose situation make mediation efforts like the one undertaken in the past days by Donald Trump’s emissaries more relevant? We’ll ask what it will take for Ukraine and Russia to get serious about a lasting settlement, Russia which still calls it a special military operation. Moscow must looking beyond the battlefield… to the momentum enjoyed by Putin-friendly populists in France and Germany to the US midterms and to Nato’s resolve. On that score, we’ll ask about Berlin’s calibrated response to a drone attack at Leipzig Airport. …

China Readies Humanoid Robots for Combat

China Readies Humanoid Robots for Combat

Published by Sam Flores

BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) – At the World Humanoid Robot Games in China last month, robots jumped, boxed and danced. Some fleet-footed bots ran faster than Usain Bolt over 100 ⁠meters. Spectators ⁠cheered the machines’ improving capabilities and their meme-worthy stumbles. Two days after the Games ended, the People’s ⁠Liberation Army’s official newspaper drew its own conclusions from the show. The PLA Daily called for researchers to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge technologies from laboratories to military training grounds for robotic “combatants.” China’s defense establishment is accelerating research into humanoids’ military ​uses and planning for their eventual wartime deployment, according to a Reuters review of more than 100 Chinese military procurement notices, academic studies, patents, official publications, government records and defense-company materials. Military institutions are testing humanoids against battlefield requirements, seeking to acquire robots and technologies to train them, and studying how they might function alongside troops, the previously unreported records show. The work gained momentum in ‌2025 and 2026, focusing on robot perception, manipulation, and training data. Chinese manufacturers accounted for about ‌95% of …

Israeli strikes kill four in Lebanon after alleged Hezbollah drone launch

Israeli strikes kill four in Lebanon after alleged Hezbollah drone launch

Published by Sam Flores

Lebanon said Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon killed four people on Sunday in the latest escalation despite a months-long ceasefire. Israel alleged that the strikes were in response to Hezbollah launching drones against its troops in the country’s Israeli-occupied south.  Lebanon’s health ministry reported two people killed in south Lebanon’s Nabatieh al-Fawqa and two women killed in nearby Arab Salim. It said 20 other people, including several women and three children, were wounded in those locations as well as in the city of Nabatieh and the town of Kfar Rumman, adding that the toll was provisional. Watch moreUNIFIL peacekeepers patrol south Lebanon, caught between Israel and Hezbollah Israel’s army said it was striking south Lebanon after Hezbollah fighters launched two drones towards Israeli soldiers operating in Israel’s self-declared “security zone” in the south. It did not report any troop casualties.  Shortly before the statement, Israel’s military had issued its first “evacuation” notice in Lebanon in several weeks, warning residents near a building it identified as a Hezbollah “facility” in Arab Salim to leave their …

Russia burns as oil refinery on fire after drone attack and explosions heard in major city | World | News

Russia burns as oil refinery on fire after drone attack and explosions heard in major city | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

A huge fire erupted overnight at the oil refinery in Ryazan, as reports of drone strikes emerged across Russia overnight. Residents reported hearing explosions as a fire broke out at one of Russia’s largest oil-processing facilities following an attack that Ryazan Region Governor Pavel Malkov attributed to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Malkov said: “Debris caused a fire at one of the facilities; preliminarily, there are no casualties. Emergency services are on the scene.” The facility is of critical strategic importance to Russia, with the capacity to process 17 million tonnes of oil annually, accounting for approximately 4.9% of the country’s total oil refining capacity. Following the strikes numerous operations at the facility were suspended. The facility has been repeatedly hit by Ukrainian strikes and drone attacks, including in May, July and September 2026. Earlier attacks caused significant damage to processing units, forcing prolonged shutdowns of both primary and secondary refining operations and triggering fires across the plant. Explosions were also recorded in Rostov-on-Don is a city in southern Russia where eyewitnesses say drones circled for …

Russian drone strikes Ukraine security service HQ

Russian drone strikes Ukraine security service HQ

Published by Sam Flores

A Russian ​drone attack on Friday ​targeted the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in central ​Kyiv, ‌said President Volodymyr ⁠Zelensky. “Unfortunately, a Russian drone ‌struck the central building of the ⁠Security Service of Ukraine on Volodymyrska Street ​in Kyiv, across from ‌St. Sophia Cathedral,” he said on X after speaking ‌with acting head of ​the service, Oleksandr Poklad. “The drone was aimed directly at the ​office of the ​head of the Security ​Service in that building,” Zelensky added. Zelensky said that he had instructed the SBU chief to “deliver an appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike, to the Russians once everything is ready”. To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices   Five people ​were injured in the attack, Kyiv’s mayor said on the Telegram app. Poklad was not in the vicinity at the time of the strike, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Ukraine’s ​Foreign Minister Andrii ​Sybiha on Friday urged allies to step up …

Data from drones in Ukraine is fueling a new Wild West marketplace

Data from drones in Ukraine is fueling a new Wild West marketplace

Published by skeptic

Bad actors could acquire the data, but purchase controls already mitigate that risk. Intelligence operatives scrutinize potential customers’ infrastructure for ways that data could reach enemies or nefarious actors.  Training data creates a new tracing problem, though. Whereas the movement of commercial datasets can be followed when planted contact details appear two steps from the original buyer, the provenance of AI training data vanishes in a manner embedded in the technology itself. Another risk is that this use of the data creates an extractive economy in which wealthier countries far from danger benefit from the mortal threat borne by frontline states, potentially creating a market incentive for war to continue as an unending mine for digital gold.  A fraught new frontier Existing laws regulate how militaries may conduct war. But they say almost nothing about what happens when records created in combat are stripped of their operational context, packaged as data, and licensed to companies whose products circulate far beyond where they were made. The responsibilities of the companies that design these systems remain unsettled. …

Russia to Close Branches of Germany’s Goethe-Institut After Drone Spat, Foreign Minister Says

Russia to Close Branches of Germany’s Goethe-Institut After Drone Spat, Foreign Minister Says

Published by Sam Flores

Sept 3 (Reuters) – Russia ⁠will ⁠close Germany’s Goethe-Institut ⁠cultural centres, Russian newswires quoted Russian Foreign ​Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday, after ‌Germany blamed Russia for a ‌drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle Airport. Germany’s ⁠response measures ⁠included the closure of a Russian cultural centre ​in Berlin and a consulate in Bonn. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in ​order to blame Moscow for the incident. Lavrov said ⁠Russia would ⁠close the centres ⁠in ​the cities of Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, after ​Germany’s decision to ⁠halt the operation of the Russian centre in Berlin. “They (Germany) deliberately took this step – they could not have failed to understand – which means the ⁠end of their cultural presence in Russia,” Lavrov said, according ⁠to state news agency TASS. The centres had stayed open “despite all the Ukrainian complications in our relations with the West,” he added. Russia’s first Goethe-Institut opened in Moscow in 1992, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following a diplomatic spat with Britain, Russia ordered …

Ukraine Is Finalising Drone Deal With Germany, Zelenskiy Says

Ukraine Is Finalising Drone Deal With Germany, Zelenskiy Says

Published by Sam Flores

KYIV, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Ukraine is ⁠finalising ⁠a drone deal ⁠with Germany, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on ​Wednesday after a call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The ‌agreement — proposed by Ukraine ‌several months ago — is expected to ⁠cover the ⁠joint development of various types of drones, missiles ​and related software. “Our teams are already finalising the text of the drone deal, and this will, among other ​things, definitely provide both Germany and Ukraine with ⁠additional defence ⁠capabilities,” Zelenskiy said ⁠on ​the Telegram app. The deal will build on existing German-Ukrainian defence ​cooperation, including ⁠a multi-million-euro programme to supply to Kyiv some 15,000 Strila interceptor drones designed to counter Shahed-type attack drones. In April, German defence technology company Quantum ⁠Systems and Ukrainian manufacturer WIY Drones announced the creation of ⁠Quantum WIY Industries, a joint venture focused on increasing production of interceptor drones and related air-defence technologies. Germany is also funding an order for 50,000 Shrike attack drones produced by Ukrainian manufacturer SkyFall, one of the largest known drone purchases for Kyiv by a …