Latest news with #RussianWeapons
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Russia launches new attacks on Ukraine with the countdown to a US peace deadline underway
Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said. The latest bombardment in Russia's escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war, under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesn't. No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swaps. Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south. 'Russia does not change its strategy,' Zelenskyy said. 'To effectively counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defense: more air defense, more interceptors, and more resolve so that Russia feels our response.' Trump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, including vital Patriot air defense systems, and threatened to slap additional sanctions on Russia. It was Trump's toughest stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six months ago. But some U.S. lawmakers and European government officials expressed misgivings that the 50-day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the fighting. Other U.S. ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to persuade the Russian leader to stop his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war, many of them along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, the United Nations says. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Tuesday that 'Putin holds a theory of victory that posits that Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for Ukraine and Ukraine's ability to defend itself.' Trump said the U.S. is providing additional weapons for Ukraine but European countries are paying for them. While Ukraine and European officials were relieved at the U.S. commitment after months of hesitation, some hoped Washington might shoulder some of the cost. 'We welcome President Trump's announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see the U.S share the burden,' European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. 'If we pay for these weapons, it's our support.' ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Russia launches new attacks on Ukraine with the countdown to a US peace deadline underway
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said. The latest bombardment in Russia's escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war, under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesn't. No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swaps. Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south. 'Russia does not change its strategy,' Zelenskyy said. 'To effectively counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defense: more air defense, more interceptors, and more resolve so that Russia feels our response.' Trump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, including vital Patriot air defense systems, and threatened to slap additional sanctions on Russia. It was Trump's toughest stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six months ago. But some U.S. lawmakers and European government officials expressed misgivings that the 50-day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the fighting. Other U.S. ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to persuade the Russian leader to stop his invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war, many of them along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, the United Nations says. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Tuesday that 'Putin holds a theory of victory that posits that Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for Ukraine and Ukraine's ability to defend itself.' Trump said the U.S. is providing additional weapons for Ukraine but European countries are paying for them. While Ukraine and European officials were relieved at the U.S. commitment after months of hesitation, some hoped Washington might shoulder some of the cost. 'We welcome President Trump's announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see the U.S share the burden,' European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. 'If we pay for these weapons, it's our support.' ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Russia launches new attacks on Ukraine with the countdown to a US peace deadline underway
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure , officials said. The latest bombardment in Russia's escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war , under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesn't.
Telegraph
12-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Here's just one of the many ways Trump can turn the screw on Putin's arms making
Foreign sanctions have deprived Russian industry of critical materials it needs to produce Russia's best weapons. Case in point: tantalum, a rare mineral that many high-tech industries rely on for capacitors. The best Russian cruise and ballistic missiles, drones and tanks all include processors, navigation systems or radios that have tantalum capacitors. But most of the tantalum comes from abroad – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil and China are main suppliers – and sanctions imposed by the United States and various European countries have squeezed that supply. 'While Russia has its own tantalum deposits, they are significantly smaller,' Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight reported earlier this year. Moreover, 'Russia lacks advanced processing facilities to produce high-quality tantalum powder needed for capacitors.' The bottom line is that sanctions 'are actually working,' Frontelligence concluded. But will sanctions survive the chaotic, authoritarian administration of US president Donald Trump? That Russian industry is struggling to produce enough new weapons to sustain the country's 35-month wider war on Ukraine is evident along the 800-mile front line. Running low on modern armoured vehicles after losing 15,000 of them to Ukrainian action, Russian regiments first turned to old Cold War vehicles they pulled out of long-term storage. But even these aged vehicles are running low. More and more, Russian troops attack Ukrainian positions in civilian cars, vans and golf carts – or on foot. The shift to unarmoured transportation and infantry-first tactics has driven average daily casualties to new highs. It's not uncommon for 2,000 Russians to be killed or wounded in a single day. At the same time, the Russians are losing control of the air over critical sectors as Ukrainian drones outfly and outnumber Russian drones. 'The enemy has achieved sufficient scale and variety in its drones and has honed its tactics for their use,' one Russian blogger warned. A tantalum shortage is one factor in declining Russian arms production. Russian factories used to import processed African, Chinese and South American tantalum from a single large facility in Kazakhstan. But Kazakhstan has joined the sanctions regime, throttling the flow of the processed mineral powder. The Russians have tried to buy more processed tantalum from China, but the quality has been poor. According to Frontelligence, Russian industry needs 1,700 pounds of high-grade processed tantalum a month. To fulfill existing contracts for new weapons over the coming months, Russian factories need more than 4.5 tons of the mineral – but the current stockpile weighs a little more than two tons. There are 'no immediate solutions for procurement' of the other two tons, Frontelligence assessed. To make up the gap, Russian industry could buy more 'dual-use' tantalum components – those designed for commercial products but suitable for weapons, as well. Passed from intermediary to intermediary and finally shipped to Russia from countries that aren't signatories to the sanctions regime, the dual-use components arrive slowly – and at higher cost than Russian buyers would want. But they do arrive. Closing off this last source of tantalum should be a priority for foes of Russia and friends of Ukraine. 'Companies involved in the production or trade of tantalum powder or capacitors … must face the prospect of losing access to Western markets if detected trading with Russia,' Frontelligence urged. It's equally likely sanctions will loosen, however, as the new Trump administration enacts an extreme and at times bizarre agenda. One of Trump's first actions was to halt all foreign aid, including support for Ukraine. Trump focused much of his energy in the days that followed threatening Danish leaders in an inexplicable bid to annex Greenland as a US territory. Without American buy-in, there's almost no prospect of a stricter sanctions regime that might finally halt the trickle of tantalum into Russia. By doing nothing – or worse, unwinding existing sanctions – the US government, once the Russian arms industry's greatest foe, could rescue that industry from tantalum starvation.
