Russia insists on achieving Ukraine goals despite Trump's ultimatum
Peskov and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin 'has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,' Peskov told state television in an interview.
'The main thing for us is to achieve our goals," he said. 'Our goals are clear.'
The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022, but never fully captured. It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces — demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city.
Truce or sanctions
Trump threatened Russia on July 14 with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after months of frustration following unsuccessful negotiations aimed at ending the war. The direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul resulted in several rounds of prisoner exchanges but little else.
The U.S. president said that he would implement 'severe tariffs' unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but suggested they would target Russia's trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.
In addition, Donald Trump said that European allies would buy 'billions and billions' of dollars of U.S. military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country's supplies of weapons. Included in the plan are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and missiles.
Doubts were recently raised about Trump's commitment to supply Ukraine when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that U.S. stockpiles were running low.
Drone strikes
Elsewhere, Ukraine's air force said that it shot down 18 of 57 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight into Sunday, with seven more disappearing from radar.
Two women were wounded in Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by Russia, when a drone struck their house, according to the regional military administration. Two more civilians were wounded in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv province, after a drone slammed into a residential building, local Ukrainian officials said.
Later Sunday, drones struck a leafy square in the center of Sumy, wounding a woman and her 7-year-old son, officials said. The strike also damaged a power line, leaving around 100 households without electricity, according to Serhii Krivosheienko, of the municipal military administration.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said that its forces shot down 93 Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory overnight, including at least 15 that appeared to head for Moscow. At least 13 more drones were downed on the approach to the capital on Sunday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. One drone struck a residential building in Zelenograd, on the outskirts of Moscow, damaging an apartment, but caused no casualties, he said.
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
The for-profit companies behind Israeli-U.S. nonprofit Gaza aid plan
Inside the four hastily constructed warehouses in southern Gaza where food is handed out to desperate and starving Palestinians, it is relatively calm. Ration boxes stamped with the name and logo of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation are distributed by local volunteers in red vests, under the watchful gaze of beefy, armed American security contractors. It is just outside the warehouses where most of the trouble happens. Outside is where hundreds of civilians desperately crowding toward the distribution sites have been shot and killed — many of them allegedly by Israeli soldiers positioned nearby — and where at least 20 Palestinians died Wednesday in a stampede that the GHF says was initiated by gun-toting Hamas militants. Humanitarian aid has been one of the most controversial aspects of the war between Israel and Hamas, which is now approaching its second anniversary. In recent weeks, it has emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over a ceasefire, placing the Israeli- and U.S.-backed GHF squarely in the crosshairs of the latest talks. Hamas is demanding a return to the U.N.-coordinated system of aid delivery that operated in Gaza for decades. Israel charges that Hamas has corrupted that system. It wants to maintain strict controls on assistance to Gazans, using the newly created GHF as the primary mechanism for food distribution. Critics, including the United Nations and most of the international humanitarian aid community, say the GHF is designed to further Israeli war aims by selectively and inadequately providing assistance, and by forcing Gazans to put their lives in danger for a box of provisions. In a statement released Monday, 21 European countries and others including Canada and Australia issued a joint statement saying that 'the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths' and condemning 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.' 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model,' it said, 'is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.' Like much of what happens inside Gaza, where Israel has banned international reporters except on brief tours led by the Israel Defense Forces, the origins and operations of the GHF remain obscure. Even more opaque is its funding. The foundation says it received about $100 million in start-up money from a government it has declined to identify. In late June, the Trump administration said it would supply $30 million to GHF operations. A major donation initially expected from the United Arab Emirates, according to internal planning documents seen by The Washington Post, has not materialized. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been deeply involved in the aid program, has publicly denied paying for it. But behind the foundation, which is a registered nonprofit, is a web of interconnected U.S. and Israeli individuals, and private U.S. companies — including some that hope to eventually make money on the relief effort, according to public and private documents reviewed by The Post and interviews with more than a dozen U.S. and Israeli government officials, business representatives and others involved, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the controversial initiative. Among those positioned to profit from GHF-linked contracts are a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, whose subsidiary Orbis Operations helped set up the foundation; and Safe Reach Solutions, the primary contractor overseeing GHF operations inside Gaza, which was created late last year for that purpose. SRS is owned by a Wyoming-based trust whose beneficiary is McNally Capital. Boston Consulting Group was also engaged in the effort to stand up the GHF, on what it has said was a pro bono basis. In March, it signed a two-month contract for more than $1 million with McNally to continue assisting SRS, with later extensions in May, an arrangement first reported by the Financial Times. BCG later withdrew from the project amid controversy, and a BCG spokeswoman, Nidhi Sinha, said no payment was accepted. The GHF has continued to deliver food to hungry Gazans: since late May, according to the foundation's count, more than 80 million meals in boxes that are calibrated to feed 5.5 people for 3.5 days. But dwindling resources have limited the number of trucks available to bring food into the enclave to about 70 to 80 per day, compared with early plans for more than 300, according to people familiar with GHF operations. Construction of additional distribution sites has also been indefinitely put off because of a lack of financing, ongoing Israeli military operations and the need to remove unexploded ordnance throughout Gaza. Money problems, and the unknown outcome of ceasefire negotiations, have also put on hold GHF plans for a more holistic — and controversial — proposal to relocate Gazans, summarized in a 19-page slide deck distributed at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv in January, several people said. In addition to the food distribution, the slides included plans for GHF construction of large-scale residential compounds inside and potentially outside Gaza where 'the population' could reside while the enclave was 'demilitarized and rebuilt.' The slide deck suggested that approach would allow the GHF to gain trust with Gazans — a currency that could be leveraged to 'facilitate President Trump's vision' for the battle-scarred enclave. The GHF concept was born as part of a larger effort by a group of Israeli military officials, Israeli businesspeople and foreign partners to support Israel's war effort and plan for Gaza's future. They began meeting shortly after the conflict began with Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack in southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw at least 250 hostages taken back to Gaza. As Israel responded to the attack, pounding Gaza with airstrikes and ground troops, it cut off the daily assistance that the 141-square-mile enclave had depended on for decades. Netanyahu's government — long distrustful of the U.N., which coordinated deliveries of food, fuel and medical supplies — justified the blockade by claiming that Hamas controlled and profited from the aid distribution. Under pressure from the Biden administration and humanitarian organizations that said depriving noncombatants of food was a potential war crime, Israel eventually allowed limited relief to resume. But the Israelis kept a tight hold on the spigot of assistance, generating friction between Netanyahu and the U.S. government, Israel's main source of weaponry and diplomatic backing. 'There was a need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza,' an Israeli familiar with the group's efforts said, but it needed to be done 'in a non-U.N. way.' In January 2024, the fledgling Gaza aid working group sought advice from Michael Vickers, a former Green Beret, CIA veteran and undersecretary of defense for intelligence during the Obama administration. Vickers was on the board of Orbis Operations, a consulting company based in McLean, Virginia, that was founded by former national security, military and intelligence specialists and which McNally purchased in 2021. Vickers told the planners, 'I'm not the guy, but I know the guy who can talk to you,' according to a person familiar with the approach. The man they wanted, Vickers said, was then-Orbis Vice President Philip Reilly, a former senior CIA operations officer with extensive experience in private security operations. Reilly quickly gained the trust of the IDF and the Gaza planning group, and spent much of 2024 immersing himself in the details of the Gaza conflict. Neither Vickers nor Reilly responded to queries about their involvement in the Gaza initiative. The Biden administration was well aware that the Israeli government and private-sector Israelis and Americans were working with the government on a plan to impose a new aid delivery system. While some in the administration were supportive, most were skeptical. But they did not directly interfere in the project. 'They were all talking — they being the Israeli government, the prime minister's office, the IDF — sort of throwing spaghetti against the wall to find some magic formula to take the responsibility off their shoulders' to care for Gaza's civilians, a former Biden official involved in Israel policy said. By the fall, the outline of a plan was laid out in a lengthy feasibility study compiled by Silat Technologies, an Orbis subsidiary, envisioning the creation of a nonprofit entity, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, 'to safely deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.' Planning documents distributed over the next several months said that the foundation's leadership would include respected humanitarian figures such as David Beasley, former head of the World Food Program, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who now runs an institute to advise change-making political leaders. Although the U.N. and major nongovernmental aid organizations already operating in Gaza were described as an integral part, their proposed role was unclear. An elaborate social media presence and public relations program would include outreach to select journalists to promote a positive image of the GHF. The foundation would hire a 'prime' contractor to organize and supervise construction of the sites and the aid operation inside Gaza. That firm would then subcontract a private security company — ideally U.S.-based — to be the boots and guns on the ground, guarding the aid as it was transported to distribution sites and protecting the sites themselves. The private companies lined up to service the planned foundation also included BCG, where both Reilly and Vickers were senior advisers. BCG, which later said its initial services were offered pro bono, projected $2 billion in initial operating costs for the GHF. On Nov. 21, a new limited liability company, Safe Reach Solutions, was registered in Jackson, Wyoming, and placed in a trust administered by a local company, Two Ocean Trust. While no information in the registration documents indicated what the new company did, who ran it or whom it employed, the beneficiary of the trust and any money it made, according to three people familiar with the arrangement, was McNally Capital, the private equity firm that owns Orbis. SRS, with Reilly as its chief executive, would later become the primary GHF contractor. Spokespeople for Two Ocean Trust and SRS declined to comment. In a statement to The Post, McNally Capital said it 'did not invest in SRS or actively manage the company,' but said it has an 'economic interest' in the firm. 'Given our long-established relationship with Phil Reilly … our strong belief in the importance of humanitarian aid, and the U.S. government's appeal for innovative solutions,' the statement said, McNally was 'pleased to have supported the establishment of SRS as an important step toward meeting the full scope of humanitarian need in Gaza.' Founded in 2008 by Ward McNally, of the Rand McNally publishing family, the firm specializes in the acquisition of aerospace, defense and technology companies. 'Obviously, McNally is a business. They're in the business of making money,' a person familiar with the financial aspects of the project said. But 'I think it's very ambiguous whether this ends up being profitable.' As the new year approached, progress toward the food aid program planning was interrupted by the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire and partial hostage release. Israel had agreed to move its troops out of portions of Gaza at least temporarily — allowing citizens to return to what remained of their homes in the largely destroyed northern portion of the enclave. But Israeli officials insisted on a vehicle checkpoint — run by non-IDF security — on the Netzarim Corridor, a dividing line between northern and southern Gaza, to ensure weapons were not carried back to areas the IDF said it had earlier cleared of Hamas militants. With nine days' notice, U.S. and Arab mediators turned to the newly created SRS to organize the checkpoint. Reilly subcontracted UG Solutions, a small security firm based in North Carolina, to staff the ground operation. Headed by former Green Beret Jameson Govoni, UG had previously worked in Ukraine and Haiti, among other hot spots, and could move quickly because it had few of the classified contracts with the United States or other governments that proved to be complications for bigger security companies. The ceasefire mediators — the United States and Qatar — administered payments to SRS, the prime contractor, according to people familiar with the operation. The ceasefire began Jan. 19, the day before Donald Trump's second-term inauguration. Although the truce lasted only until mid-March, when Israel launched another ground invasion of northern Gaza, the checkpoint was deemed a success, with no major incidents reported. The Netzarim operation came to be considered a test run for the food distribution operation, and SRS and UG were well positioned to take it over for GHF. On Feb. 2, the foundation was registered as a humanitarian nonprofit in Switzerland and Delaware. The Netanyahu government had every reason to believe that Trump would support the initiative. He vowed to quickly end the war and proposed that the United States 'take over' and 'own' Gaza, developing it as a high-end Mediterranean resort. Food distribution by the GHF, planning documents indicated, was just the first step in a larger redevelopment plan. When the ceasefire collapsed on March 18 and the IDF resumed ground operations and airstrikes, Israel again stopped all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. As the days and weeks ticked on, thousands of tons of food and goods piled up in warehouses outside its borders; WFP and other humanitarian actors began to tally reports of starvation inside. By early May, Israel was under mounting international pressure to end its aid blockade, and Trump was looking for progress on his promise to end the war as he prepared for a trip to the Persian Gulf. At a May 9 news conference in Tel Aviv, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee claimed the GHF as a Trump 'initiative.' U.S. representatives, including Aryeh Lightstone, an official who now works with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and formerly served as an aide to David Friedman when he was U.S. ambassador to Israel, courted U.N. and humanitarian partners to sign on to the plan. But opposition to the plan had grown. The United Nations and most aid partners refused, publicly denouncing the proposal as immoral and designed to further Israel's war plans against Hamas by 'militarizing' assistance to more than a million civilians corralled into ever-shrinking 'safe zones' demarcated by the IDF in southern Gaza. Neither Beasley nor Blair agreed to sign on. On May 22, newly named GHF executive director Jake Wood, a U.S. Marine veteran and co-founding board chair of Team Rubicon, a humanitarian organization that operated in disaster zones, released a letter he had sent to COGAT, the Israeli government coordinator for Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Its purpose, he wrote, was to confirm 'our understandings of agreements' — including an understanding that aid agencies would also be permitted to distribute food and medical assistance under 'existing' humanitarian mechanisms, outside the GHF program. 'GHF acknowledges that we do not possess the technical capacity or field infrastructure to manage such distributions independently,' he wrote, suggesting that the new aid mechanism should complement, but not replace, Gaza's existing aid sector. The night before the scheduled May 26 launch, Wood unsuccessfully sought to persuade the IDF to delay the start date by at least a week amid unanswered questions about funding, the participation of other agencies and the nearby positioning of Israeli troops. Wood resigned, and the next day, UG contractors accompanied the first convoys of GHF food into Gaza. Some of the plans, he said in a statement, were not consistent with 'humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.' David Burke, a fellow Marine veteran and former Team Rubicon colleague who had been named GHF chief operating officer, also resigned. Burke and Wood did not respond to inquiries from The Post. The GHF promoted John Acree, a former official with the U.S. Agency for International Development originally named head of the GHF operations inside Gaza, to interim executive director of the foundation. The opening of the sites brought new problems, with tens of thousands of despairing Gazans surging toward promised food. In the first week of GHF's operations, witnesses said that Israeli troops shot in the direction of Palestinians queuing outside the fenced distribution sites at least three times. UG contractors voiced concerns about the rules of engagement of nearby IDF troops and the safety of the Palestinians, according to several people familiar with the site operations. Meanwhile, paid Palestinian volunteers working at the GHF sites were receiving death threats from Hamas for participating in the Israeli-backed plan. Volunteers were afraid to travel back to their families at night, but the financial planners had not budgeted to provide them with housing, running water or other supplies to stay on-site, one person said. 'There were number crunchers at every stage, asking why do we have to do this stuff,' said another person familiar with the conversations between BCG financial consultants and SRS planners. Contractors purchased some provisions for the workers out of their own pockets, the person said. The limited number of trucks that passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza each day to the sites after Israeli inspection meant that supplies ran out too early, leaving thousands empty-handed, angry and disbelieving there was no more food to be had. During the first week of June, BCG abruptly withdrew from the project. Amid what several people familiar with the situation said was internal criticism of perceived anti-Palestinian initiatives, the company said that members of its team had undertaken 'unauthorized' efforts on postwar planning. Two senior partners, it said in a statement, had been 'exited ... from the firm' and BCG 'has not and will not be paid for any of their work.' Despite ongoing problems and frequent reports of gunfire nearby, the GHF food program achieved a rhythm of sorts after a few weeks. News releases provided a daily accounting of tens of thousands of boxes of pasta, lentils, cooking oil and other commodities it distributed. But the killing of civilians in the vicinity of GHF sites has continued. Last month, eight Palestinian volunteers were shot and killed, allegedly by Hamas, aboard a bus returning them to GHF sites after visiting their families. Early this month, this IDF said 'terrorists' had tossed grenades into a distribution site, injuring two American contractors. Then came the deaths in Wednesday's stampede. 'We came to Gaza to help feed people, not to fight a narrative war,' GHF spokesman Chapin Fay told reporters hours after the stampede deaths, publicly accusing Hamas of causing the carnage by showing up at the site with guns. Aid organizations said it was the predicted result of Israeli militarization of what should be a neutral endeavor. On Sunday, at least 79 Palestinians were killed when food-seeking crowds mobbed a U.N. aid convoy in the northern part of the enclave and were fired on by Israeli troops, according to Gaza health authorities and witnesses. The IDF said it was 'aware of the claim' and that details of the event were 'being examined.' Acree, the GHF interim executive director, repeated appeals to the United Nations and other aid organizations to cooperate with the foundation. 'The demand for food is relentless, and so is our commitment,' he said in a statement. 'We're adjusting our operations in real time to keep people safe and informed, and we stand ready to partner with other organizations to scale up and deliver more meals to the people of Gaza.' GHF contracts expire at the end of August, unless a ceasefire comes first. If and when the fighting stops, it remains unclear how much aid will be allowed into Gaza and who will distribute it. Since late June, Trump has said repeatedly that negotiations were going well and that a truce was imminent.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine Scrambling To Fight Against Growing Russian Shahed-136 Threat
The First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine is on a recruitment drive to expand its ability to defend against Shahed-type drones. It is part of a nationwide effort to counter the increasing number of Russia's long-range drone attacks that are being made possible by growing production capacity of these weapons and improvements in their strike capabilities. 'Our needs include manning several batteries, specialized technical support teams, UAS and FPV interceptor groups, as well as analytical and support personnel,' Andrii 'Hack' Danyliuk, Captain, Head of the Air Defense Department of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine Azov, told The War Zone on Monday. 'Each structural element will consist of dozens of professional service members, collectively forming a powerful fighting force. This is not a short-term reinforcement effort, but the development of a systemic capability to become a key component in countering enemy UAVs at the operational-tactical level.' The Azov recruitment campaign comes as Russia has dramatically ramped up Shahed attacks on Ukrainian cities. On July 9, Russia launched the largest Shahed attack of the all-out war, firing 728 Shahed drones and decoys, as well as seven Iskander cruise missiles and six Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles. Another 426 Shaheds were fired at Ukraine between Sunday evening and Monday morning, the Ukrainian Air Force reported. All up in smoke: Kyiv shrouded in the aftermath of another massive attack — Slava (@Heroiam_Slava) July 21, 2025 Beyond stepping up the number of drones it is launching, Russia has changed its tactics, expanding its ability to overwhelm already limited Ukrainian air defenses. 'Instead of deploying 500 drones nationwide like they used to, Russian forces now target one or two cities at a time,' according to (CP) a Ukrainian defense technology publication. 'These drones now fly either very high, at altitudes above 3-4 km, or extremely low over the ground, close to the roofs of apartment buildings.' At the higher altitudes, mobile fire groups with machine guns can't hit the Shaheds, noted. At the lower altitudes – just over the ground – the drones are much harder to detect, decreasing reaction time or allowing them to get by unseen by sensors. As a result of Russia's increased attacks and improved tactics, Ukraine's ability to defend against these drones is diminishing. Shaheds are now hitting targets at three times the rate they were in previous months, according to Ukrainian Air Force data analyzed by the Financial Times. Mass Shahed attacks 'appear to be overwhelming Ukraine's beleaguered air defenses, with the drone hit rate reaching its highest levels since Moscow's invasion,' the publication posited. 'Ukrainian air force data suggests about 15 percent of the drones penetrated defenses on average between April and June — rising from just five percent in the previous three months.' ''The problem is not [that] the Ukraine air defence is getting worse. Instead, what we see is that new swarming tactics and drones are now flying in higher altitude, [which] makes them more effective,'" — Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) July 21, 2025 Making matters worse for Ukraine, Russia is drastically increasing the number of drones it is producing. As we have previously noted, while Russia initially relied on Iran to supply its Shaheds, it now produces its own at the rate of 2,000 per month with plans to nearly triple that in the not too distant future. On Sunday, Russian media released a new video showing off its Shahed factory in the Tartarstan region, which you can see below. Inside Russia's Geran-2 drone factory in TatarstanRare footage reveals the Alabuga plant's mass production of tens of thousands of deadly kamikaze dronesDesigned to attack in relentless swarms — 'Gerans' punch through Ukraine's defenses — outmaneuvering even F-16s — RT (@RT_com) July 20, 2025 Ukraine has created several methods for detecting Shaheds, including robust audio detection systems and an app that people can use to report what they see or hear. Now Ukraine is looking for new techniques. As a means to counter the increasing Shahed threat, Ukraine has developing so-called interceptor drones. They are based on uniquely-configured first-person view (FPV) drones Ukraine has been using to counter Russian reconnaissance drones for the past year. These counter-air FPV drones have to fly faster and higher than their standard FPV counterparts used for striking ground targets. CP talked to three Ukrainian drone manufacturers who laid out what's needed to use FPV drones to counter Shaheds. A speed of over 200 km/h (about 124 mph). A regular FPV flies at up to 120 km/h (about 75 mph). The ability to climb to altitudes of up to 6 km (about 3.7 miles or 20,000 feet). A terminal guidance system to reduce dependence on the operator. A warhead between 600 and 1200 grams (about 1.3 to 2.6 pounds). Ukrainian interceptor drones – STRILA and BUREWIY. STRILA can reach speeds of up to 350 km/h and destroy Russian Geran UAVs. BUREWIY is designed to shoot down Russia's Zala, Orlan and SuperCam ISR drones. — Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) June 24, 2025 Anti-Shahed interceptor drones developed by @wilendhornets and financed by the @sternenkofund. — Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) July 20, 2025 'The bigger the target, the bigger the warhead needed for more precise detonation. Because you can hit a wing, but it will only tear it off and not destroy the target itself,' Olha Bihun, co-founder and CEO of Anvarix, a terminal guidance system developer, told Interceptor drones, CP added, 'could destroy a Shahed with either a direct hit or with a special warhead that explodes near the target, creating a cloud of debris.' FPV drones designed to intercept Shaheds are just a small fraction of the cost to fire surface-to-air missiles like a Patriot PAC-3 interceptor, which costs nearly $4 million a piece. Ukraine has also been using advanced National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (ASRAAM) against Shaheds as well, which cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Gun systems and electronic warfare systems, as well as other SAM types and fighter aircraft have all played a role in defending against the onslaught of Shaheds. Iranian Shahed drone, intercepted mid-air by a Ukrainian the vision — layers of our interceptor drones in the sky. Ukrainian-built. Ukrainian-led. Shaheds won't slip through. Civilians won't live in need to beg for unstable 'aid.'We've got the brains,… — Bandera Fella *-^ (@banderafella) June 27, 2025 In addition to new, improved drones, Ukraine also needs more operators to defend against Shaheds. That's where Azov said it can help. 'Our unit's tactical approaches are shaped by the nature of today's drone threats — especially the enemy's large-scale nighttime attacks and use of asymmetric tactics,' Danyliuk told us. 'We apply non-standard detection techniques and preemptive measures, integrating traditional air defense assets with advanced technologies, including autonomous platforms and digital solutions.' Danyliuk declined to offer specifics, citing operational security concerns. However, Azov has acknowledged that it too will incorporate interceptor drones into its counter-drone program. 'Our strength lies in rapid adaptation, coordination with other defense components, and flexibility in implementing solutions enabling us to intercept threats before they reach their targets,' he explained. Following the techniques of Ukraine's mobile anti-drone fire units, Azov's teams are designed to be called in where needed. 'Our focus is on sectors experiencing heightened enemy strike UAV activity, particularly involving Shahed-type drones, as well as critical infrastructure facilities requiring additional protection,' Danyliuk noted. 'For reasons of security and operational effectiveness, the unit's deployment locations and routes of operations are not disclosed. Our core principle is mobility — the ability to rapidly shift between sectors within our designated area of responsibility.' 'Our forces will be deployed where they are most needed — swiftly, precisely, and without reliance on fixed positions,' he added As far as when these new units will be deployed, Danyliuk declined to provide a timeline. 'The decision to initiate operations will be made once the unit reaches the required level of technical and tactical readiness, in line with real-world frontline challenges,' he stated. Azov's counter-drone recruitment effort is one of several taking place in Ukraine. Last month, Ukraine's parliament unveiled a plan to recruit local volunteers to shoot down Russian drones. The new program offers up to 100,000 hryvnias (around $2,400) per month from local budgets. 'The project will recruit members of paramilitary units and volunteer territorial defense units who have the necessary drone operation skills or qualifications,' the Kyiv Post reported. 'They will be tasked with defending against Russian aerial threats, including detecting, tracking, and shooting down drones using UAVs, piloted aircraft, and personal weapons.' Another major concern is the infusion of AI into the Shahed-136 airframe, which is already underway. This will have massive repercussions we discussed in great detail a year and a half ago in this previous feature. Further information has been released regarding the downed Shahed-136s with imaging guidance and AI of materials and electronic components indicate Iranian camera is an analog thermal imager for both reconnaissance and terrain following.1/ — Roy (@GrandpaRoy2) June 28, 2025 The U.S. military-industrial complex is finally catching on to what Shahed-type drones can bring to the table, though far later than it should have. Last week, 18 American-made drone prototypes were put on display at the Pentagon. It was part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's move to increase U.S. domestic drone production. Among them was one called the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone, a delta-winged weapon closely resembling a Shahed. We will have more on this U.S. development in an upcoming special feature, so stay tuned for that. But as it sits today, Ukraine has a major Shahed problem that is only growing at a time when traditional missile interceptors are becoming more scarce. The hope now is that additional drone units armed with many types of lower-end weaponry can help keep the growing hoards of Shaheds at bay. Contact the author: howard@ Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Trump's intel chief Tulsi Gabbard reignites political battles with 2016 election documents on Russia
The release of more than 100 pages of declassified files and a memorandum by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has reignited political battles over Russia's actions during the 2016 presidential election, a topic that has long incensed President Trump and put the actions of the U.S. intelligence community in partisan crosshairs. Gabbard's office on Friday alleged in the memorandum, which accompanied the files, that they contained what she called evidence of "suppression" and manipulation of the intelligence underlying a 2017 community-wide assessment of Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The files include email exchanges, excerpts from a President's Daily Brief and a readout from a principals committee meeting, chiefly from a period during the Obama administration. In a statement and social media posts, Gabbard claimed the materials, which were marked declassified on July 17, 2025, were evidence of a "treasonous conspiracy" and "years-long coup" plotted by Obama administration officials against Mr. Trump, and said she would forward them to the Department of Justice as part of a criminal referral. She also said in subsequent media appearances that more declassifications about the matter would be made. Democrats fiercely disputed her claims, pointing to the findings of a bipartisan Senate investigation that concluded Russia had attempted to influence the 2016 election. They accused Gabbard herself of misrepresenting intelligence findings and processes. "What you saw from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was not just a lie, but a very dangerous lie, because when you start throwing around language like sedition and treason, somebody is going to get hurt," said Congressman Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" Sunday. "[T]he intelligence community is full of very good people who do their jobs every single day, and now they're watching their leader do something that each and every one of them knows is dishonest," Himes said. "This is just another example of the DNI trying to cook the books, rewrite history, and erode trust in the intelligence agencies she's supposed to be leading," Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement. The memorandum released by Gabbard appears to conflate different kinds of Russian operations during the 2016 election cycle while alleging Obama administration officials fabricated a narrative designed to undermine Mr. Trump. It points several times to select phrases in the documents that say Russia lacked the intent or the capability to use cyber operations to target U.S. election infrastructure, change vote tallies, and overturn the election — which previous investigations agreed did not happen. But while no evidence emerged to indicate Russia engaged in a vote-switching cyberattack, there was evidence that showed a multi-pronged Kremlin influence campaign that attempted to sway American voters. That influence campaign included hack-and-leak operations and social media posts designed to undermine the candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and bolster then-candidate Trump's, according to the intelligence community's assessment. In the years after the 2016 presidential election, multiple reviews of the intelligence community's findings — including the Senate report and an investigation led by special counsel John Durham, who was appointed by Mr. Trump — reinforced its conclusions. A CIA review of the tradecraft involved in the agency's assessment released earlier this month found some of its judgments may have been rushed and the confidence levels attached to one of them may have been too high, but it did not change the conclusion that Russia's efforts were designed to benefit Mr. Trump's candidacy. Gabbard's statements on Friday were praised and recirculated multiple times by the president, senior White House officials and Republican lawmakers. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton wrote in a social media post, "It will take decades for the Intelligence Community to recover from the damage done during the Obama and Biden presidencies." Senior White House official Stephen Miller wrote that Gabbard had "exposed the startling depths of a seditious coup against the Republic." The memorandum also criticizes leaks from what it terms "IC officials" or "Deep State officials in the IC" — with "IC" referring to the intelligence community — to media outlets at the time the assessments were being drafted that said Russia had intervened in the election in an effort to help President Trump. The memo does not, however, identify these individuals or provide other evidence about the origin of those disclosures. It also highlights instances in which certain agencies disputed or pushed to change language included in evolving intelligence assessments of Russia's cyber activity. For instance, it cites an FBI official who suggested in an exchange in September of 2016 that language about Russia's intent to use cyber attacks to disrupt the 2016 election be "softened." "[W]e would prefer for the first sentence regarding Russia's intent to be softened," the official wrote. "The way it currently reads, it would indicate that we have definitive information that Russia does intend to disrupt our elections and we are uncomfortable making that assessment at this point." Dissents from different agencies are common and conclusions can change as more intelligence is collected or analysis is done, according to current and former officials familiar with the drafting process for intelligence assessments. It is not clear from the redacted selection of emails released by Gabbard how the language flagged by the FBI was finalized. Warner has expressed concerns about the effect of Gabbard's recent actions on intelligence sharing by partners of the United States, noting that representatives of the intelligence-sharing alliance known as the Five Eyes — which includes the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada — had approached him for answers. "I have had Five Eye partners say, 'Warner, what the hell is going on?'" Warner said during a panel discussion at last week's Aspen Security forum, hours before the 2016 files were released. "I do believe our Five Eyes partners and others are not sharing as much information as they would." Gabrielle Ake contributed to this report.
