#us drone russian jet crash

[worldinyourpalm]

यूएस ड्रोन और रूस जेट क्रैश: जो हम अब तक जानते हैं | Russian jet crash and US drone: what is currently known;

यहाँ दुर्घटना के बारे में ज्ञात — और अनिश्चित — क्या है?

यह पहली बार नहीं है जब रूसी विमान काला सागर में अमेरिकी विमान के इतने करीब उड़े हैं कि इसने पेंटागन को चालक दल को जोखिम में डालने के लिए सार्वजनिक रूप से इस घटना की निंदा करने के लिए प्रेरित किया है।

जब एक रूसी लड़ाकू जेट मंगलवार को काला सागर के ऊपर एक बड़े अमेरिकी निगरानी ड्रोन से टकरा गया, तो यह एक दुर्लभ लेकिन गंभीर घटना थी जिसने अमेरिकी राजनयिक विरोध को भड़का दिया और इस संभावना के बारे में चिंता जताई कि रूस संवेदनशील तकनीक को पुनर्प्राप्त कर सकता है।

अमेरिकी और रूसी अधिकारियों के पास MQ-9 रीपर ड्रोन और रूसी Su-27 फाइटर जेट के बीच टक्कर के परस्पर विरोधी खाते थे - प्रत्येक दूसरे को दोष दे रहे थे। लेकिन पेंटागन के एक प्रवक्ता ने संभावना जताई कि रक्षा विभाग अंततः टकराव के वीडियो को सार्वजनिक कर सकता है और जारी कर सकता है।

रक्षा अधिकारियों ने कहा कि ड्रोन बरामद नहीं हुआ है। लेकिन पेंटागन ने यह कहने से इंकार कर दिया कि रीपर के मलबे या टुकड़ों को इकट्ठा करने के लिए कोई प्रयास चल रहा था या नहीं।

अमेरिका जो कहता है वह हुआ

पेंटागन और यू.एस. यूरोपियन कमांड ने कहा कि दो रूसी एसयू-27 विमानों ने एमक्यू-9 पर ईंधन डाला, जो अंतरराष्ट्रीय हवाई क्षेत्र में काला सागर के ऊपर एक नियमित निगरानी मिशन चला रहा था। उन्होंने कहा कि रूसी जेट ने 30 से 40 मिनट तक कई बार ड्रोन के सामने और आसपास उड़ान भरी, और फिर रूसी विमानों में से एक ने "MQ-9 के प्रोपेलर को टक्कर मार दी, जिससे अमेरिकी सेना को MQ-9 को नीचे लाना पड़ा। अंतरराष्ट्रीय जल में। ”

अमेरिकी वायु सेना यूरोप और अफ्रीका के कमांडर, वायु सेना के जनरल जेम्स हेकर ने कहा कि रूसी जेट की कार्रवाई "लगभग दोनों विमानों के दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होने का कारण बनी। ” पेंटागन के प्रवक्ता ब्रिगेडियर। जनरल पैट राइडर ने कहा कि टक्कर की संभावना ने रूसी लड़ाकू जेट को भी क्षतिग्रस्त कर दिया था, लेकिन सुखोई-27 उतरने में सक्षम था। वह यह नहीं कहेगा कि यह कहाँ उतरा।

पेंटागन ने कहा कि ड्रोन किसी भी यूक्रेनी क्ष���त्र से "अच्छी तरह से स्पष्ट" था, लेकिन विवरण प्रदान नहीं किया। एक अमेरिकी रक्षा अधिकारी ने कहा कि यह काला सागर के ऊपर क्रीमिया के पश्चिम में काम कर रहा था। अधिकारी ने मिशन विवरण प्रदान करने के लिए नाम न छापने की शर्त पर बात की।

यह स्पष्ट नहीं है कि टक्कर एक दुर्घटना थी या जानबूझकर, लेकिन दोनों पक्ष सहमत हैं कि रूसी विमान ड्रोन को रोकने की कोशिश कर रहे थे।

रूस जो कहता है वह हुआ

रूसी रक्षा मंत्रालय ने कहा कि यू.एस. ड्रोन रूसी सीमा के पास उड़ान भर रहा था और एक ऐसे क्षेत्र में घुसपैठ कर गया जिसे रूसी अधिकारियों ने सीमा से बाहर घोषित कर दिया था। इसने कहा कि रूसी सेना ने अमेरिकी ड्रोन को रोकने के लिए लड़ाकू विमानों को उतारा। इसने दावा किया कि "तेज युद्धाभ्यास के परिणामस्वरूप, यू.एस. ड्रोन ऊंचाई के नुकसान के साथ बेकाबू उड़ान में चला गया और पानी की सतह से टकरा गया। ”

रूस ने क्रीमिया के पास व्यापक क्षेत्रों को उड़ानों की सीमा से दूर घोषित कर दिया है। 2014 में क्रीमिया पर कब्ज़ा करने और पिछले साल रूस द्वारा यूक्रेन पर आक्रमण करने से बहुत पहले से, मास्को ने आरोप लगाया है कि अमेरिकी निगरानी विमान रूस द्वारा जारी किए गए नोटिसों की अनदेखी करते हुए अपनी सीमाओं के बहुत करीब उड़ान भर रहे थे।

राष्ट्र नियमित रूप से अंतरराष्ट्रीय हवाई क्षेत्र और जल में काम करते हैं, और कोई भी देश अपनी सीमा के बाहर क्षेत्र पर सीमा का दावा नहीं कर सकता है।

मंत्रालय ने कहा कि रूसी विमानों को ड्रोन को रोकने के लिए उकसाया गया था, लेकिन उन्होंने अपने हथियारों का इस्तेमाल नहीं किया और इसके साथ "संपर्क में नहीं आए"।

एमक्यू-9 रीपर क्या है?

MQ-9 रीपर वायु सेना का एक बड़ा मानव रहित विमान है जिसे दो व्यक्तियों की टीम द्वारा दूरस्थ रूप से संचालित किया जाता है। इसमें एक ग्राउंड कंट्रोल स्टेशन और उपग्रह उपकरण शामिल हैं और इसमें 66-फुट (20-मीटर) विंगस्पैन है। टीम में एक रेटेड पायलट शामिल होता है जो विमान उड़ाने के लिए जिम्मेदार होता है और एक सूचीबद्ध एयरक्रू सदस्य होता है जिस पर सेंसर के संचालन और हथियारों का मार्गदर्शन करने का आरोप लगाया जाता है।

निगरानी और हवाई हमलों के लिए इराक और अफगानिस्तान युद्धों के दौरान नियमित रूप से उपयोग किया जाता है, रीपर या तो सशस्त्र या निहत्था हो सकता है। यह आठ लेजर-निर्देशित मिसाइलों को ले जा सकता है, जिसमें हेलफायर मिसाइल और अन्य परिष्कृत युद्ध सामग्री शामिल हैं, और लगभग 24 घंटों के लिए लक्ष्य पर आवारागर्दी कर सकता है। यह लगभग 36 फीट लंबा, 12 फीट ऊंचा है और इसका वजन लगभग 4,900 पाउंड (11 म���टर लंबा, 4 मीटर ऊंचा और 2,200 किलोग्राम) है। यह 50,000 फीट (15 किलोमीटर) की ऊंचाई पर उड़ सकता है और इसकी सीमा लगभग 1,400 समुद्री मील (2,500 किलोमीटर) है।

रीपर, जिसने पहली बार 2007 में काम करना शुरू किया था, ने वायु सेना के छोटे प्रीडेटर ड्रोन को बदल दिया। प्रत्येक रीपर की कीमत लगभग $32 मिलियन है.....

[usafphantom2]

Russia threatened to shoot down French AWACS over the Black Sea

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 02/23/2024 - 00:08in Military, War Zones

Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French surveillance plane that patrolled international airspace over the Black Sea, a sign of Moscow's increasingly aggressive behavior as the invasion of Ukraine struggles to move forward, French defense officials said on Thursday.

“A Russian air traffic control system threatened to shoot down French aircraft in the Black Sea when we were in a free international zone where we patrolled,” French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told RTL radio.

A French military spokesman, Colonel Pierre Gaudillière, said Lecornu was referring to an incident in mid-November that involved one of the four gigantic E-3F of France's Airborne Alert and Control Systems, or AWACS, surveillance aircraft flying over international waters in the Black Sea. Gaudillière described the incident as unprecedented for the French pilots in that region.

“Through a radio exchange, the pilots were threatened by the Russians,” Gaudillière said.

“It was a particularly aggressive radio exchange,” he added. "It's the first time."

Two other authorities said that the conversation was in English and that Russian air traffic control said that their forces would "destroy" the French aircraft. The authorities spoke on condition of anonymity for discussing the confidential details.

In his radio interview, Lecornu said that Russia is returning to a "particularly aggressive" posture that recalls the behavior of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.

“Russia's behavior in 2024 is not related to what we saw in 2022 and, obviously, before the aggression in Ukraine,” the minister said. "This is explained by the fact that Russia is in difficulty on the battlefield in Ukraine."

French air force pilots regularly patrol NATO's eastern flank, part of the efforts of the military alliance of 31 nations to strengthen their defenses since Russia launched the large-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago on Saturday.

On board a French air force AWACS flight to the Black Sea coast in January, one of the pilots told the Associated Press that they seek to calm any tensions if they are intercepted by Russian planes, which he said was rare.

“Our orders must be, say, passive,” said the pilot, Major Romain. "For a civilian, let's say 'educated'".

Flying well above the Black Sea coast, the French AWACS use their powerful radar and other surveillance equipment to spy on the Crimean Peninsula, which was taken from Ukraine by Russia and annexed in 2014. Flights can detect missile launches, aerial bombardments and other military activity in the Ukraine war.

Russian pilots have sometimes made it clear that they do not like to be observed.

In 2022, a Russian fighter launched a missile near a British Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft that was flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, the British government said. The United States government released a video in March 2023 of a Russian jet fighter dumping fuel into a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone. The drone crashed into the Black Sea.

Source: AP

Tags: Armée de l'air - French Air Force/French Air ForceMilitary AviationE-3 SentryWar Zones - Russia/Ukraine

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[mariacallous]

On the top floor of a building somewhere in Ukraine is a drone workshop.

Inside is a chaotic workbench covered in logic boards, antennas, batteries, augmented reality headsets, and rotor blades. On one end of the room is a makeshift photo studio—a jet-black quadcopter drone sits on a long white sheet, waiting for its close-up.

This particular workshop’s Geppetto is Yvan. He grins as he shows off his creations, flittering around with a lit cigarette in his mouth, dangling ash, grabbing different models. (Yvan is a pseudonym; WIRED granted some of the people in this story anonymity due to the security risk.)

Yvan holds up a mid-size drone: This model successfully hit a target from 11 kilometers away, he says, but it should be capable of traveling at least 20. He’s trying different batteries and controllers to try to extend the range. He screws on a stabilizer tailpiece to a hard plastic shell—Yvan 3D-prints these himself—and holds up the assembled bomb. It’s capable of carrying a 3.5-kilogram explosive payload, enough to take out a Russian tank.

He uses his index finger and thumb to pick up a nondescript beige chip: This, he says, is what he’s really proud of.

One big problem with these drones—which are based on commercially available first-person-view (FPV) or photography drones—is that their explosive payload is jimmy-rigged on. It requires the drone to crash in order to close the circuit and trigger the explosion.

This chip, Yvan says, allows for remote detonation from a significant distance, meaning the operator can park their drone and lay in wait for hours, even days, before it goes off. He expects this technology could, eventually, be connected to AI—exploding only if it registers a nearby tank, for example. He has created a long-range smart land mine, I note. After the idea is passed through our translator, he nods enthusiastically.

There are many of these FPV drone workshops around Ukraine—Kyiv estimates there are about 200 Ukrainian companies producing aerial drones, with others producing land- and sea-based uncrewed vehicles. But Yvan, grinning proudly, insists that the manufacturer which he represents, VERBA, is the best.

Ukraine is facing increasingly tough odds in its defensive war against a better-resourced, better-equipped enemy. Thanks to delayed aid from Washington and shortages in other NATO warehouses, Ukraine has lacked artillery shells, long-range missiles, and even air defense munitions.

These drones, however, represent a bright spot for the Ukrainians. Entrepreneurship and innovation is scaling up a sizable drone industry in the country, and it’s making new technological leaps that would make the Pentagon envious.

The age of drone warfare is here, and Ukraine wants to be a superpower.

After Yvan showed off his workshop, we loaded into the car to visit one of his factories.

Behind a steel door is a room filled with racks, where 30 3D printers are working simultaneously, printing various drone components in unison. The twentysomething employees seem accustomed to the screeching alarm—some are soldering the drones together, others are tinkering with designs in AutoCAD, one is lounging on a sofa.

Strung across one shelf of 3D printers is a black flag, a take on Blackbeard’s (apocryphal) pirate flag. It shows a horned skeleton wearing an AR headset and holding a controller, thrusting his spear toward a bleeding heart as a quadcopter flies above.

In the first year of the war, when FPV drones were providing extraordinary footage of the front lines and viral video of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) dropping grenades on Russian tanks captivated the world, Ukraine was snatching up every consumer drone it could find. Chinese technology giant DJI became a household name in Ukraine, thanks to its drones’ ubiquity on the front lines. Ukraine’s early advantage was quickly lost, however, as Russia scrambled to snatch up these Chinese-made UAVs.

“When Russia sees, from Instagram, my product, Russia starts buying all these components in China,” a VERBA executive says. The new demand from Moscow can often cause either shortages or inflation, squeezing out the Ukrainian companies. So entrepreneurs like Yvan began building their own.

When Yvan began his operation in the early months of the war following Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, he was creating a handful of frankendrones to send to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Now, Yvan says, his operation is producing 5,000 FPV drones per month. He offers a range of systems, from a mammoth 12-inch model to a 4-inch prototype.

At first, these entrepreneurs were pursuing this project on their own—scrambling, like most of the country, to be useful in helping Ukraine defend itself. Kyiv was initially cool to the idea that a domestic drone industry was worth the money and attention, especially given the demand for more conventional arms. Some in the military, one executive says, dismissed the utility of these innovative weapons and surveillance platforms as merely “wedding photography drones.” (One executive said Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s new commander in chief, had been an early adopter inside the military, directly contracting 10 firms in early 2023 to begin assembling new technology for his forces.)

That attitude changed in 2023, when Ukraine set up Brave1, a government-run technology agency and incubator that helps connect private enterprise to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Since its creation, Brave1 has worked to streamline design, development, and procurement of new defense technology, while helping companies navigate government and military bureaucracy. Brave1 has already awarded more than $3 million in research and development grants and connected more than 750 companies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

When United24, the Ukrainian government’s in-house crowdfunding platform, first pitched an “army of drones” to its donors in 2022, it aimed to buy just 200 units. Today, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky projected late last year that his country would produce over 1 million drones in 2024.

“I would say that we can even double this number,” Natalia Kushnerska, head of Brave1’s defense technology cluster, tells WIRED.

“We have the responsibility and the motivation to do it today and to do it very fast,” she says. “Because we don't have any other choice.”

This is a war, one executive told me, “where the economy matters.”

Even hampered by sanctions, Russia has a $2 trillion economy—about 6 percent of that is geared toward its wartime production. Ukraine’s entire GDP, by contrast, is less than $200 billion.

While Kyiv has received substantial support from its NATO partners, it faces constant pressure to find efficiencies. The economics of these drones are looking better and better.

Yvan’s drones are, compared to conventional munitions, cheap. His most expensive unit runs about $2,500, but the cheapest is only $400.

Early in the war, the Ukrainians could reasonably expect—depending on weather, the mission, and Russian jamming efforts—that about 30 percent of their drones would connect with the target. Today, good Ukrainian-made systems are approaching a 70 percent success rate.

It can often take four or five artillery shells to successfully destroy a medium-range target, such as a tank. At $8,000 per shell—which are in short supply and high demand—that is an expensive proposition. Even if it takes two of Yvan’s most expensive drones to achieve the same objective, that’s thousands of dollars in savings. The proliferation of these drones reduces the “cost-per-kill,” as one executive phrased it, and reduces the strain on those dwindling ammunition stockpiles.

Even if Yvan and other producers are making more and more of their systems in Ukraine, they still rely on Chinese suppliers for critical onboard components. That comes with a trade-off—Chinese suppliers are cheaper, but they tend to be of lower quality and are happy to do business with Russia as well. Other options, such as companies in Taiwan, the United States, Canada, or Europe, are better quality but can be several times more expensive.

These supply chains, Yvan says, are “complicated.” Drone manufacturers who spoke to WIRED say anywhere between 40 percent and 80 percent of their drone components are made in Ukraine. Asked how long it would take before Ukraine manufactures nearly everything in these drones, from the rotor blades to the onboard components, Yvan provides a bullish estimate: “six months.”

It’s not an entirely unrealistic dream. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and also minister responsible for digital transformation, said late last year that Kyiv hopes to break ground on a semiconductor factory, capable of producing 50,000 chips a year, by 2025. Ukraine produces about half the world’s supply of neon, necessary for the lasers used to make the chips.

There are already companies in Ukraine that have developed electronic design automation software—a necessary tool for producing chips—and that do electronic assembly inside the country itself. An industry source tells WIRED that a working group was formed in late 2023 to chart out how Ukraine could be a player in the semiconductor industry.

Another defense technology executive, Igor, manufactures considerably more-sensitive drones. “We definitely don’t buy anything from China,” he says. His products are more expensive, he says, “but we are looking for something that would differentiate us from the Russians.” At the moment, he says, “Russia is ahead.” He’s hoping to close that gap.

For any of this to work, however, there needs to be demand for these drones. The more they can sell, the more they can invest. “The things that they need,” Kushnerska says: “contracts and money.” Demand has certainly grown—fundraising platform United24 helped finance a fleet of naval drones and raised funds to purchase 5,000 surveillance UAVs. Other organizations have led similar purchases. The drone-makers, however, say it’s just not enough.

In early 2023, Ukraine’s parliament passed new laws to regulate how drone manufacturers can contract with the state; while profiteering is generally discouraged in the wartime economy, the law specifically allows the companies to charge up to 25 percent profit.

Yvan says he charges just a 10 percent premium for his drones and reinvests all that profit back into his operation. Representatives from other drone companies who spoke to WIRED say they operate on a similar basis.

More orders will mean more investment. Thus far, NATO countries have preferred to purchase locally-made equipment and ship it to Ukraine. That may be changing.

Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of defense, visited Kyiv shortly before I was there. While there, he announced that Ottawa would donate 800 Canadian-made drones to Ukraine. While the donation was lauded, a senior official asked the minister, “Why didn't you buy our drones?” After being briefed on the various innovations taking place in the Ukrainian drone industry, Blair was convinced. “We're also going to find ways to invest in Ukrainian industry,” he tells WIRED. “The point of the [Ukraine Defense Contact Group drone coalition] is to create capability, not only in the countries that are in the coalition but also capability in Ukraine.”

Even still, bureaucracy moves slowly. What’s more, startups—some of which are helmed by technologists or special effects gurus with no experience in procurement, let alone war—are often learning as they go. One executive, covering his eyes with his hand, says: “It’s like going completely blind.”

Not every company has been able to hack it. One executive says he’s aware of five defense technology startups that have shut down since the war began.

Much attention has been paid to FPV drones. They reinforce the idea that Ukraine’s defense is a scrappy, homespun effort. But even as the country has professionalized production of these light, agile drones, it has rapidly spun up production of other, more complicated systems.

One of Ukraine’s biggest disadvantages, from the start of the war, has been its difficulty in hitting targets inside Russia. Because Moscow has so effectively dominated the skies, Ukraine has been left playing defense.

That equation has changed substantially in recent weeks. Ukraine has had enormous success in attacking Russian oil refineries—knocking out as much as 15 percent of the country’s total refining capacity—and bombing Russian air bases. This has all been made possible by Ukrainian-made long-range attack drones.

Igor, who represents a company responsible for producing those long-range bombers, says they have developed a unit capable of flying 1,000 kilometers and carrying a 25-kilogram payload and has produced “several hundred” units for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And they are actively working on a new model, capable of flying up to 2,500 kilometers. (It will pack a smaller punch, he said: “The longer you go, the lighter the payload.”)

These systems are more expensive: from $35,000 to $100,000. But if they can destroy millions of dollars worth of Russian equipment, that’s a bargain.

“These are no simple drones,” Igor says. “We don’t have the luxury, like the Western guys, to spend years in development.”

They’re not stopping with drones, either. They’re using the same technology to develop Ukrainian-made missiles, capable of flying farther and doing more damage to Russian military infrastructure, tucked well behind the front lines, which is regularly used to attack Ukrainian cities.

Igor’s goal is to “bring the war to Russia.” FPV drones have broadcast the realities of the front lines in high definition—long-range bombers could successfully make it feel real, he says. “They don’t suffer like we suffer.”

The effort to bring the war to Russia is advancing on multiple fronts. One of the most famous uncrewed systems of the war has been Kyiv’s Sea Baby drones. Videos have gone viral of these sleek ships clipping along the waters of the Black Sea.

According to Kyiv, they can carry 850 kilograms of explosives, go 90 kilometers per hour, travel some 1,000 kilometers—and they are invisible to radar. This is the kind of capability that the Pentagon, and other defense departments, has spent years trying to develop. “We like to joke that everything we do now, in Ukraine, takes three days—globally, it takes three years,” Brave1’s Kushnerska says.

Ask around Kyiv about these drones, however, and everyone is mum. Even otherwise talkative defense sources go quiet when asked about the Sea Babys. Asked about the vehicles, one defense executive smiled and said simply, “That’s classified.”

Kushnerska is equally evasive: “We need to keep silent about new solutions and new surprises that we are preparing for the enemy.”

The skullduggery is understandable. These uncrewed vehicles have been responsible for doing massive damage to Russia’s prized Black Sea fleet and spearheading the first major attack on the Kerch Bridge, in Crimea, in 2022.

Developing naval drones, however, is relatively easy compared to uncrewed land systems.

Over tea with Stepan, another defense entrepreneur, he lists the litany of difficulties of trying to build uncrewed land systems: They don’t travel well over tough terrain, they don’t operate well in inclement weather, and they don’t tend to go very far.

And yet, Stepan says, his company has overcome all those obstacles—which the Pentagon is still wrestling with—and has put these land systems in the field. Plus, Stepan says he’s “pleasantly surprised by how they’re being used.” He says their smallest unit, which has generally been used to deliver food and equipment, recently rescued and evacuated a wounded soldier from the front line.

Ukraine is not the only side deploying these land systems, however. In late March, pro-Kremlin channels celebrated what they said was the successful deployment of Russian-made uncrewed land systems, outfitted with an AGS-17 grenade launcher.

Ukraine believes its advantage will come from how it dispatches these systems. “You need a mesh system,” Stepan says. And that’s one of the single hardest things to do. Ukraine has started dispatching repeater UAVs, which are used to extend the base station signal, allowing the drones to fly farther and defend better against Russian jamming.

One ground drone, basically a mobile machine-gun turret, boasts an 800-meter range. What’s more impressive, however, is what happens when the land system is paired with a surveillance drone. Rather than them firing directly ahead, Stepan’s team has been training Ukrainian soldiers how to raise the weapon's trajectory, firing in a parabolic pattern and using the drone’s camera to adjust its aim. This tactic, he says, extends the drone’s firing range to 2.4 kilometers.

Doing combined operations with a couple of drones is hard enough. If Ukraine wants to really take advantage of these autonomous systems, it will need to figure out how to command multiple systems across land and air—and that’s where artificial intelligence comes in.

Stepan walks through the four levels of how AI can augment warfare: One is reconnaissance, where machine learning can be used to collate large volumes of footage and satellite imagery. Two is “copiloting,” as he calls it, where AI can analyze that intelligence and help draw insights. Third is planning, where AI can help develop “interlinked, complex orders” for multiple systems across land and air; he likens that to having AI develop football plays. Finally, step four is full autonomy, where AI collects intelligence, analyzes it, develops orders based on the intelligence, and dispatches and commands autonomous units based on that information—although humans review and approve each step of the process.

There are steps beyond this, Stepan notes, that remove human involvement entirely, but he isn’t interested in going there. Another executive recounted a story of how one company designed an autonomous machine gun, capable of conducting object detection and opening fire on its own—that was a “big, big problem,” he says, after the weapon’s radio signals were jammed and it began firing wildly. “I think we can do this slowly,” he adds.

Stepan’s systems are capable of operating at step four, he says. It means his systems have the “ability to take in variables” in real time—it allows his drones to change tactics depending on the environment. He provides examples: “What if our team is close? What if there is [electronic warfare]? What if one system loses connection?”

Kushnerska says Ukraine, alive to the concerns about and risks of AI on the battlefield, is mostly interested in using artificial intelligence only in the “last mile.”

It’s not enough to build drones. Ukrainians also have to know how to pilot them.

The last stop on Yvan’s tour is at a strip mall some distance away. Outside, a group of fresh-faced young men smoke cigarettes and enthusiastically greet him as he walks past.

Inside is a sterile classroom, with a dozen desks laid out—each featuring a tablet, a workstation, and an array of tools. In the back corner are pallets of FPV drones waiting to be unloaded.

This is Yvan’s drone school. Here, students learn not just the ins and outs of piloting these quadcopters but also how the machines work and how to repair them. Down the hallway is a large conference room where the students first test their skills—flags and checkpoints are propped up on cardboard boxes taped together into platforms of different levels. Once students can successfully navigate this makeshift course, they graduate to piloting the drones outside.

Yvan’s drones are normally painted jet black, designed to look as nondescript as possible. One drone, sitting on a desk in the training school, is spray-painted a bright orange. Yvan grins: “We’re sick of losing them in the grass.”

As Kyiv mobilized tens of thousands of ordinary Ukrainian men to fight, training has been a critical necessity. Particularly as ammunition supplies have dwindled, virtual training has been especially attractive. High-tech combat simulators have allowed Ukrainian troops to simulate real combat scenarios with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, even anti-tank missiles. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are hoping to have dozens of these simulators online in the near future, with the goal of training 100,000 troops.

An industry source tells WIRED that a drone combat simulator went online last month, allowing trainees to simulate the entire process of launching a long-range drone strike. Version 2.0 is being rolled out now, they say, adding that it is likely the first immersive offensive drone simulator in operation. The simulator is also intended to help Ukrainian pilots practice integrating their drones with land systems, which is notoriously difficult for even experienced soldiers.

While Yvan’s drone school offers hands-on experience for users of the FPV drones, this new drone simulator allows pilots to practice long-range targeting, flying in adverse weather conditions, and countering electronic warfare.

All of this—the FPV drones, the long-range bombers, the flight simulators—is Ukrainian innovation at work. And it is moving remarkably fast. Some day, after the war is over, Yvan may well be on the front lines of a Ukrainian technology renaissance, fulfilling orders for the Pentagon. First, both he—and Ukraine—need to survive.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have made modest but steady advances along the front lines. Defense executives, meanwhile, see sabotage and industrial espionage as constant problems. Even more acute is the threat of Russian air strikes. One executive recently recounted how one of his company’s main facilities was nearly hit by two Russian cruise missiles. The risk is very real.

Leaving the school, Yvan opens up the back of his car. He rummages around and hands me two patches: One features a cartoonish and scantily clad woman wearing an FPV headset with the Ukrainian flag on the side, piloting one of Yvan’s rotocopters. The other, an army-green Canadian flag, carries the words “ALWAYS BE READY.”

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up March 16, 2023

Under the cut:

A remarkable video released by the Pentagon shows the moments before a Russian fighter crashed into a $32m US Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea. The declassified footage shows an Su-27 Flanker jet making two exceptionally close passes of the uncrewed drone, spraying fuel in front of it, a harassment tactic that US experts say has not been seen before.

Poland will become the first country to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine in the next few days, marking a significant upward step in military backing for Kyiv ahead of an expected counter-offensive. The precedent, involving four Soviet-era MiG-29s as a first instalment, could lead to other Nato members providing warplanes, a longstanding Ukrainian request.

Negotiations about a possible conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are ongoing, but it is too early to say whether a conversation will actually take place, according to a Ukrainian presidential adviser.

Ahead of the Black Sea grain agreement expiring this weekend, the United Nations emphasized that the deal states it would be extended for 120 days — even though Russia said it agreed to a 60-day extension of the deal after negotiations in Geneva on Monday. The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the UN and Turkey, that was established in July 2022 to guarantee safe passage for ships carrying grain and oilseeds — some of Ukraine's most important exports.  

Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts in the east, south, and north of Ukraine over the past 24 hours. According to local authorities, one person was killed, and 14 were wounded. Russian attacks killed one civilian in Bakhmut and injured 11 more in Donetsk Oblast, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported in his morning update on March 16. Russia hit ten settlements and three communities in the region, damaging over 25 houses, five high-rises, a school, an educational institution, and cars, said Kyrylenko.

(Content warning: Torture, rape.) Russia has committed wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine such as wilful killings and torture, a U.N.-mandated investigative body said on Thursday, in some cases making children watch loved ones being raped and detaining others alongside dead bodies. The alleged crimes, including the deportation of children, were detailed in a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, which said some acts may amount to crimes against humanity.

“A remarkable video released by the Pentagon shows the moments before a Russian fighter crashed into a $32m US Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea.

The declassified footage shows an Su-27 Flanker jet making two exceptionally close passes of the uncrewed drone, spraying fuel in front of it, a harassment tactic that US experts say has not been seen before.

On the second pass, the Su-27 moves so close to the MQ-9 Reaper that the image briefly becomes pixelated, indicating a collision had happened.

When the camera recovers, a bent propeller wing can be seen – damage sufficiently serious for the US Air Force to force the drone down. It fell into international waters in the Black Sea, and senior Russian officials have said they hope to salvage it.

The head of US Central Command, General Erik Kurilla, said Russian planes had also become more aggressive towards US bases in Syria over the past two weeks, flying loaded with weapons “in an attempt … to be provocative”.

“What we are seeing is an increase recently in the unprofessional and unsafe behaviour of the Russian air force in the region,” Kurilla told the Senate armed services committee. “We have seen a significant spike since about 1 March,” he added.

US officials briefed that the footage of the downing of the Reaper drone “absolutely confirms” there was a collision and dumping of fuel – but they added it did not confirm the Russian pilot’s intent and whether it was intended to strike the Reaper.

By pausing the imagery it is possible to see that the Su-27 was armed with at least four missiles. The US has said the Reaper was unarmed, most likely undertaking surveillance and reconnaissance related to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Pentagon said the footage, which is about 40 seconds long, had been edited by the US military for length but showed events in a sequential order at the end of a sustained period of harassment by two Russian jets.

The US has previously said the drone was damaged after a pair of Su-27s had spent at least half an hour trying to disrupt it by dumping fuel on it and flying in front of it. US air force officials said earlier this week that the jets flew close to the drone 19 times, spraying jet fuel on the last three or four times.

Russia has denied US accusations that its jets acted recklessly and has that its aircraft came into contact with the drone. It insists the drone fell from the sky after making a “sharp manoeuvre” and that it was flying towards Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

The video was released with the following caption: “Two Russian Su-27 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a US Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft operating within international airspace over the Black Sea on 14 March 2023. Russian Su-27s dumped fuel upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters.”

Justin Bronk, an aviation analyst with the Rusi thinktank, said: “The footage does show two extremely close and unprofessional passes at significant angles of attack, which is in line with the US claims that the Russian pilot involved in the collision was flying recklessly and accidentally collided with the MQ-9.”

On Wednesday, the Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, called the incident a provocation. “We are concerned about the unacceptable activity of the US military in the immediate vicinity of our borders,” he said, accusing the US of supplying intelligence to Kyiv. The US had summoned the ambassador over the incident.

The MQ-9 Reaper is a large remotely piloted aircraft, 11 metres long with a wingspan of more than 22 metres, and can be armed if necessary. The US Air Force says its primary use is as “an intelligence-collection asset” but it has frequently been used in drone strikes against targets in the ongoing “war on terror”.

The defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and joint chiefs of staff chair, Gen Mark Milley, have spoken to their Russian counterparts about the destruction of the drone.”-via The Guardian, video is at source link

~

“Poland will become the first country to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine in the next few days, marking a significant upward step in military backing for Kyiv ahead of an expected counter-offensive.

The precedent, involving four Soviet-era MiG-29s as a first instalment, could lead to other Nato members providing warplanes, a longstanding Ukrainian request.

The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, made the announcement in Warsaw. He said the first planes being handed over were inherited from East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Duda said the MiGs were coming to the end of their working lives after 30 years, but were “still in working order”. The president said that more Polish MiGs were being serviced and repaired in preparation for being handed to Ukraine. In all, Poland has 28 MiG-29s which are to be replaced over the next few years by South Korean FA-50s and US F-35s.

Until now, Ukraine’s backers in Nato have only provided spare parts for its fleet of Soviet-era warplanes, amid fears that delivering functioning planes to Ukraine would be seen by Moscow as direct participation in the war. A year ago, Poland offered to hand over all its MiGs to the US at its airbase in Ramstein, Germany, so they could be passed on to Ukraine, but Washington rejected the plan.

Slovakia, Finland and the Netherlands have all said they would consider supplying Ukraine with warplanes. The US and UK have so far refused to supply their F-16s and Typhoon combat aircraft respectively, on the grounds that they require too much training, ground support and long, smooth runways to be of any short-term help to Ukraine. However, the UK has offered to provide air cover for any eastern European country willing to supply Kyiv with Soviet-era jets.”-via The Guardian

~

“Negotiations about a possible conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are ongoing, but it is too early to say whether a conversation will actually take place, according to a Ukrainian presidential adviser.

"We can't say for sure, because negotiations are ongoing," Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on national television Thursday.

The Ukrainian president is open to conversations with other leaders as well, not just Xi, "in order to explain the nature of the war and to say why, without taking into account Ukraine's position, this war cannot be ended," Podolyak said.

"Why supporting for instance only the Russian side firstly will not lead to the finalization of the war, and secondly, it will not add points to China as a global player that understands the nature of war and understands how to end it," he added. Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had a telephone conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. The two discussed Ukraine's peace plan and "the significance of the principle of territorial integrity," Kuleba said in a post on his official Twitter account.”-via CNN

~

“Ahead of the Black Sea grain agreement expiring this weekend, the United Nations emphasized that the deal states it would be extended for 120 days — even though Russia said it agreed to a 60-day extension of the deal after negotiations in Geneva on Monday.  

The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the UN and Turkey, that was established in July 2022 to guarantee safe passage for ships carrying grain and oilseeds — some of Ukraine's most important exports.  

“The agreement is public, it’s an open document. It foresees a rollover of 120 days,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.   Russian state-run news agency RIA, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, reported on Monday that Russia and the UN had agreed to a 60-day extension of the grain deal after the negotiations in Geneva.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the addition of 60 days was a “goodwill gesture” on Russia's part when asked by reporters why the deal had not been extended by 120 days.  

When asked Thursday about the difference in the duration of the extension between Russian and the UN versions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that it may be a display of “UN’s incompetence.”  

Dujarric responded to Zakharova’s remark, saying, “I was just stating and reading a line from the agreement, which talks about the fact that the agreement foresees a renewal for 120 days.”   The spokesperson stressed that the UN doesn't direct the talks or terms to the deal. The Russian Federation, Ukraine and Turkey are the parties involved in the agreement, with the UN as a witness, Dujarric said.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters on Wednesday that Ankara hopes to resolve the issue in a positive way “as soon as possible,” according to Turkish state media Anadolu.

“We started negotiations with the idea of extending the grain corridor for another 120 days in line with the initial version of the agreement. Our friends with the Russian and Ukrainian sides held talks at the technical level. We also continue our talks at the ministerial level,” he said.”-via CNN

~

“Russian attacks were reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts in the east, south, and north of Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

According to local authorities, one person was killed, and 14 were wounded.

Russian attacks killed one civilian in Bakhmut and injured 11 more in Donetsk Oblast, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported in his morning update on March 16. Russia hit ten settlements and three communities in the region, damaging over 25 houses, five high-rises, a school, an educational institution, and cars, said Kyrylenko.

Russian forces struck Kherson Oblast 88 times, firing 413 projectiles on the oblast's settlements, according to Kherson Oblast Military Administration. The attacks reportedly wounded three people in the region as well as damaged houses and apartment buildings in the city of Kherson.

Russian troops launched an S-300 missile at Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv on March 15, damaging an educational institution, a high-rise, and cars, said Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Russia also attacked four regional districts over the past day, damaging houses and infrastructure sites in the villages of Hatyshche and Lemishcheno, Syniehubov added. No casualties were reported.

On the morning of March 16, Russian forces hit the community of Bilopillia with artillery and grenade launchers in Sumy Oblast, bordering Russia, according to the regional administration.

Earlier on March 15, Russia shelled four other communities in the region, destroying a farm building and an office building, the administration wrote. There were no casualties in the attacks.

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration reported that Russia had struck civilian infrastructure in 17 settlements. Local authorities received ten reports about damage to citizens' households and infrastructure sites due to Russian attacks. The administration didn't provide information on casualties.

In Chernihiv Oblast, Russian troops used mortars to attack the villages of Berylivka and Yeline close to the Russian-Ukrainian border on March 15, according to the Northern Operational Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces.

The next day, the General Staff reported Russian attacks on two other regional settlements. No casualties were reported.

Russia also shelled four settlements in Luhansk Oblast, the regional administration said on Telegram. It didn't provide information on casualties or damage.”-via Kyiv Independent

~

(Content warning: Torture, rape.)

“Russia has committed wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine such as willful killings and torture, a U.N.-mandated investigative body said on Thursday, in some cases making children watch loved ones being raped and detaining others alongside dead bodies.

The alleged crimes, including the deportation of children, were detailed in a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, which said some acts may amount to crimes against humanity.

At her weekly press briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Moscow regularly heard accusations like these.

She added that if those behind such reports supported objectivity "then we are ready to analyse specific cases, answer questions, provide data, statistics and facts. But if they are biased, if they represent only one point of view ... then there is no use responding to these reports."

Russia denies committing atrocities or attacking civilians in Ukraine.

Based on more than 500 interviews as well as satellite images and visits to detention sites and graves, the report comes as the International Criminal Court in The Hague is expected to seek the arrest of Russian officials for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine and attacking civilian infrastructure.

It said Russian forces carried out "indiscriminate and disproportionate" attacks on Ukraine and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

"The ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine has had devastating effects at various levels," Erik Møse, chair of the commission, told a press briefing. "Human losses and the general disregard for the life of civilians...are shocking."

The report said at least 13 waves of Russian attacks since October on Ukraine's energy-related infrastructure as well as its use of torture "may amount to crimes against humanity."

It found that some 16,000 children have been unlawfully transferred and deported from Ukraine, citing a Ukraine government figure. Russia denies the charge, saying it has evacuated people voluntarily from Ukraine.

Other children were forced to watch their loved ones raped or, in one instance, detained in a school basement alongside the bodies of the deceased, the report said.

Victims in Russian detention facilities were subject to electric shocks with a military phone - a treatment known as a "call to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" - or hung from the ceiling in a "parrot position", the report said.

The commission's 18-page report will be presented to the Geneva Human Rights Council on Monday. Countries at the council, the only body made up of governments to protect human rights worldwide, aims to extend and deepen the commission's mandate.

Sometimes, the council's probes lead to prosecutions in international courts. The commission said it is working on a list of possible perpetrators that would be passed onto U.N. authorities.

Asked whether Russia's acts might amount to genocide, as Ukraine believes, Møse said it had not yet found such evidence but would continue to follow up.

Ukraine, which has called for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's political and military leadership with aggression over the invasion, has said the commission was essential to ensure Russia would be held accountable.

The commission found reasonable grounds to conclude that the Ukraine invasion qualifies as an act of aggression.

The report also found that Ukraine forces had committed a "small number of violations" including what appeared to be indiscriminate attacks and torture of prisoners of war. The Ukrainian presidency was not immediately available for comment.”-via Reuters

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 8/24/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 8/24/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

World News

BRICS nations announced their intentions to expand their Group during a summit in South Africa. China seeks to grow BRICS to be a peer with the Group of 7 (G7). The Institute

Russia

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to be dead following the crash of a private jet in Russia’s Tver Oblast. Russian authorities told the media that Prigozhin was listed as a passenger of the plane and that all 10 people onboard were killed in the crash. AWC

The Kremlin reports that it downed three Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow on Wednesday. TASS, Russian state media, said that no one in the Moscow region was killed or injured. One building, currently being constructed, was hit by a drone after it was disabled by Russian electronic warfare systems. The Institute

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the US has expressed to Ukraine and European allies that Congress will back the new spending on the war in Ukraine that President Biden has requested despite “dissonant” voices among Republicans. The Institute

China

The State Department on Wednesday approved a potential $500 million arms sale to Taiwan for infrared search and track systems for the island’s F-16 fighter jets. AWC

The Chinese Coast Guard said that on Tuesday, it allowed Philippine vessels to resupply a grounded Philippine warship on Second Thomas Shoal, a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. AWC

Former President Donald Trump privately met with his top economic advisors last week and discussed plans for major tariff increases, three people familiar with the meeting told the Washington Post. One of the ideas which was floated involves a “universal baseline tariff” on nearly all imports to the US, which may be as high as 10 percent. The Institute

Read More

[cyberbenb]

Azerbaijan plans international legal action against Russia over AZAL plane crash

According to Azerbaijan's state news agency APA, Azerbaijan is "conducting preparatory work" to lodge a lawsuit in an international court against Russia following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger jet near the Kazakh city of Aktau. The report, released on Thursday, February 6, stated that a body of evidence is being compiled with facts and proofs being gathered.

Azerbaijani authorities expressed outrage that Russian officials, even after the release of a preliminary report by Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport on the crash, continue to "biasedly comment" on the incident. Russian officials, experts, and media insist on denying any involvement and seek to blame the crew, Azerbaijan claims. The authorities equate Russia's strategy to handling the crash in a way reminiscent of the 2014 downing of a Malaysian Boeing 777 over Donbass by a Russian "Buk" missile system.

APA writes that Azerbaijani authorities have identified individuals who allegedly ordered and executed shots at the AZAL aircraft, along with details of the weaponry used. Baku is deeply regretful of Moscow's alleged attempts to "redirect the investigation and blame the crew."

"Azerbaijan has clearly outlined its conditions and demands, which have been voiced at the highest levels," states the report. Nevertheless, the publication notes that "doors for dialogue with Russia remain open": "Moscow needs to openly admit its guilt and accept responsibility. Otherwise, Baku is ready to take further steps."

The AZAL Plane Crash. The AZAL Embraer 190 passenger jet, en route from Baku to Grozny, crashed on the morning of December 25, 2024, near Aktau in western Kazakhstan. Aboard were 67 people, including five crew members, resulting in 38 fatalities and 29 survivors.

Azerbaijan Airlines and the Minister of Digital Development and Transport, Rashad Nabiyev, reported on December 27 that the liner was subjected to "external influence." Surviving flight attendants recounted that there were three impacts on the aircraft when it was over Grozny. The U.S. stated it sees "some signs" suggesting the plane may have been hit by a Russian air defense system.

In a phone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the "tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace." He affirmed that when the plane was attempting to land at Grozny airport, Russian air defenses were countering attacks from Ukrainian combat drones targeting Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz.

[deadnburied13]

AIRLINE CRASH ON CHRISTMAS DAY

Early indications suggest a Russian anti-aircraft system may have downed the passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, a US official told CNN, as authorities recovered a second black box that they hope will shed light on the cause of the disaster that killed dozens of people.

The signs point to a Russian system striking Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 before it crashed near the city of Aktau, the US official said Thursday.

If the early indications are ultimately confirmed, it may have been a case of mistaken identity, the US official said, in which poorly trained Russian units have fired negligently against Ukraine’s use of drones.

How many survived the crash?

At least 38 of the 67 people on board the plane were killed in the crash, Kazakh authorities confirmed, including two pilots and a flight attendant.

Some 29 survivors, two of whom are children, were pulled from the wreckage, Bozumbayev said.

Of those on board, 37 of the passengers were Azerbaijan citizens and 16 were from Russia, along with six from Kazakhstan and three from Kyrgyzstan, according to preliminary data from Kazakhstan’s transport ministry.

On Thursday, Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Health Timur Muratov said nine Russian citizens and 14 Azerbaijani citizens had been repatriated to their respective countries, according to Kazakh state media.

Six patients were still being treated in Aktau, including three Azerbaijani citizens and three Kyrgyz citizens, he said. Four of those six are in the intensive care unit, while the condition of one patient remains extremely serious and unstable, he added.

What caused the crash?

Video and images of the plane after it crashed show perforations in its body that look similar to damage from shrapnel or debris. The cause of these holes has not been confirmed.

[trendingnews19]

The deadly crash this week of an Azerbaijani passenger jet — with Russian air defenses as the suspected culprit — brings into focus a little-noticed aspect of the war in Ukraine: a battle zone that extends deep into Russia.Ukraine for months has been using domestically tooled drones to strike Russian targets hundreds of miles from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine, often taking aim at fuel depots and military airfields.The Kremlin tends to play down these attacks, and has a history of offering unconvincing explanations for massive explosions that sometimes result.On Friday, Russian authorities acknowledged that Ukrainian drones were targeting Grozny, provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, as an Azerbaijani commercial airliner with 67 people aboard was attempting to land there on Wednesday.Russia said nothing about whether its own air defenses were engaged at the time, but aviation experts have said it is likely that a Russian surface-to-air projectile, possibly from a Pantsir missile system, sprayed the civilian plane with shrapnel, wrecking crucial flight systems. Vagif Mamishev lays flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg, Russia, in memory of victims of the plane crash. (Dmitri Lovetsky / Associated Press) The flight, which had originated in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, crashed in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea from Chechnya. Thirty-eight people died, while 29 survived with injuries, Azerbaijani officials said.Azerbaijan, unlike several other ex-Soviet republics, has friendly ties with Moscow. Although it stopped short of blaming Russia outright, it has demanded an explanation. Russia repeated on Friday that a full investigation was necessary before it would comment on what caused the crash.Here is some background on the fatal plane downing and its repercussions in the region and beyond:What backs up the theory that Russia was responsible?On Friday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that early indications “would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.” But he refused to say more, pointing to the ongoing investigation.Russia initially claimed the crash was caused by a collision with a flock of birds, with bad weather playing a role in diverting the flight. But suspicions quickly emerged, with pro-government media in Azerbaijan quoting officials as saying a Russian missile was believed responsible. On Friday, an Azerbaijani government minister, Rashad Nabiyev, said publicly for the first time that preliminary indications were that the plane’s downing resulted from external impact from a weapon.Survivor testimony, expert analysis and cellphone footage taken by passengers as the plane was in the final erratic moments of flight suggest that the aircraft was struck as it was descending in heavy fog. Experts said the Embraer 190’s tail section was peppered with holes that appeared to have been made from the outside, most likely by an air defense system. Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference.”If Russia was responsible, will the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin be held accountable?That’s unclear. Russia never accepted responsibility for the downing in 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile over an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. All 298 people aboard were killed. In 2022, a Dutch court convicted in absentia two Russians and a Ukrainian supporter of Russia for their roles.Azerbaijan cooperates with Russia in many matters, including military affairs. Its investigators are taking part in the crash probe and have made clear they want answers. Why was Ukraine hitting targets in Chechnya?Ukraine, slowly but inexorably losing territory in the fight against invading Russian forces, has countered with drone attacks across a large area of Russia, including Moscow, the Kursk and Belgorod regions, and as far away as Kazan, in the Tatarstan region, more than 600 miles from the front lines inside Ukraine.Almost as distant is the North Caucasus, where Chechnya is located, which has also been targeted previously by Ukraine. Troops under the command of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov were embroiled in the war from the earliest days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with its forces implicated in many atrocities against Ukrainian civilians.Russia, which said Friday that an attack on the Grozny area by Ukrainian drones was underway at the time the plane was stricken, did not acknowledge any successful Ukrainian strikes. But there are a number of national guard and other military bases in the area. Ukraine does not customarily acknowledge its drone attacks inside Russia, but it said Russia was responsible for the plane’s downing.Will foreign airlines curtail flights into Russia?That is already happening, and marks a deepening of Russian isolation since the outbreak of the war. The Israeli airline El Al said it would suspend flights to Moscow in the wake of the crash. Azerbaijan Airlines, operator of the doomed flight, said it was halting flights to Grozny and nine other Russian cities. Kazakhstan’s flagship airline, Qazaq Air, suspended service on a major route, to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.What has the Biden administration said in the past about Ukrainian strikes inside Russia?President Biden, now in his final weeks in office, recently allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper into Russia, a go-ahead that President-elect Donald Trump has termed “stupid” and may rescind. Such strikes, though, are separate from Ukraine’s drone offensive, which is one of relatively few means readily available to Ukraine for keeping Moscow off balance. Russian missiles have been pummeling Ukrainian cities, including a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities on Christmas Day. atOptions = 'key' : '6c396458fda3ada2fbfcbb375349ce34', 'format' : 'iframe', 'height' : 60, 'width' : 468, 'params' : ;

[darkmaga-returns]

Passenger Jet Crashed In Kazakhstan. Christmas Assault On Ukraine' Power Grid. Persecution Of African Christians Continues. Trump again calls to buy Greenland. Fauci Gets Private Security

Lioness of Judah Ministry

Dec 26, 2024

Dramatic Video Shows Azerbaijan Airlines Passenger Jet Crash In Kazakhstan

"During the descent, a dull thud was heard, similar to a collision."

Update (1035ET): "There is no official statement that Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243 was shot down, or shots fired at it, following a video shared on social media showing traces of shrapnel on the rear fuselage section of the aircraft," Breaking Aviation News & Videos wrote on X. Breaking Aviation News & Videos provided a first-hand account of the mid-air incident from one passenger: "Passenger Kristina from Vladivostok has told the Mash telegram channel that the plane circled over Aktau for about an hour before falling. During the descent, a dull thud was heard, similar to a collision."

Russia attempts to conceal drone attack on Chechnya after plane crash in Kazakhstan – Media

The Russian authorities are trying to conceal the fact of a drone attack on Chechnya. This attack may be connected to the crash of a passenger aircraft in Kazakhstan, according to Agentstvo.Novosti on Telegram.

According to the news agency, Chechen authorities did not acknowledge the drone attack on the region even 10 hours after it occurred. State agencies and law enforcement-linked Telegram channels contained only one mention of the incident and one attempt to deny it. Notably, posts from the Russian Ministry of Defense, which usually boasts about "destroying Ukrainian drones," did not refer to attacks on the Caucasus regions. Meanwhile, a post was published on Ksenia Sobchak’s (Russian media personality - ed.) Krovavaya barynya Telegram channel, claiming that the Chechen Emergency Situations Ministry denied any attempted drone attack on Grozny…Following the crash, reports surfaced online that damage was found on the rear section of the aircraft, possibly caused by air defense systems.

Russian mall explosion caused by drone – regional head

One person has been killed by a blast in the city of Vladikavkaz

An explosion at a shopping mall in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz on Wednesday morning has been caused by a drone, the local government has stated citing the Defense Ministry. A fixed-wing robotic aircraft was shot down by Russian air defenses over the capital of North Ossetia, the head of the southern Russian republic, Sergey Menyailo, said on his Telegram account. He added that CCTV cameras show an explosion outside of Alania Mall.

Russia Launches Christmas Assault On Ukraine, Targeting Power Grid

"Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman?..."

Russia unleashed a massive aerial attack using missiles and drones on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the Christmas Day assault "inhuman." "Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones," the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram. Bloomberg cited Ukraine's power grid operator, Ukrenergo, as saying the attack left 500,000 customers in the Kharkiv region without heating, while blackouts were triggered in parts of Kyiv and elsewhere.

[bllsbailey]

Experts Say Russia 'Likely' Caused Azerbaijani Jet Crash

Ukrainian officials and aviation experts say Russian antiaircraft fire "likely" led to the deadly Christmas Day crash of an Azerbaijani airliner that killed 38 people, but a Russian official said it is wrong to draw conclusions while an investigation continues. 

The passenger jet crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau with 67 people aboard, leaving 29 survivors, and had diverted its course over an area where Moscow air defenses have been battling Ukrainian drones, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The passenger jet, with 62 passengers and five crew members turned around and flew east over the Caspian Sea. Osprey Flight Solutions, citing damage to the aircraft, military activity, and the footage of the crash said in an alert to airlines that the jet was "likely shot down by a Russian military air defense system."

"Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of antiaircraft fire," Osprey chief intelligence officer Matt Borie commented.

Osprey works on analysis for carriers that still fly into Russia after Western airlines halted flights during the war.

"This incident is a stark reminder of why we do what we do," Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said in a statement online, reports The Associated Press.

The company had issued more than 200 alerts about drone attacks and Russian air defense systems. 

"It is painful to know that despite our efforts, lives were lost in a way that could have been avoided," Nichelson said. 

Ukrainian national security official Andriy Kovalenko also said in a post on X the Russians had shot the plane down. 

"Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so," Kovalenko said. "The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives."

Theories have grown about a potential cause for the crash, with some commenters alleging that holes seen in the tail section of the plane potentially indicate that it had been under fire from Russian air defense systems fending off a drone attack from Ukraine.

Grozny had been previously attacked by Ukrainian drones. The city is the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya. Russian media said Chechnya was hit by drones Wednesday, but that report was not officially confirmed.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 passenger jet may have collided with a flock of birds. The company's president said he had been told that the plane was diverted because of poor weather conditions and that an investigation is continuing. The jet's black box has been recovered, officials said.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that as the investigation is underway, it would be "wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict.”

Maulen Ashimbayev, Kazakhstan’s Senate speaker, also urged against drawing premature conclusions, Turkish state media Anadolu Agency reported.

"These are speculations and unfounded statements, and it's wrong to spread such statements," Ashimbayev said. "It's unethical, and it's an indicator that certain people want to earn certain dividends for themselves in this situation."

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used to compile this report.

Sandy Fitzgerald ✉

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

[usafphantom2]

Two Ukrainian MiG-29s shot down, one of them by "friendly fire"

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/03/2024 - 08:44in Military, War Zones

In just 24 hours, the Ukrainian Air Force lost two MiG-29 fighters during fighting near Pokrovsk, a site occupied by the Russians in Donetsk. One of the jets was shot down by a Su-35 and another would have been by the air defense of the Ukrainians themselves.

One of the Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters was shot down near Pokrovsk on March 8, possibly by a long-range R-37M missile fired by a Russian Su-35S fighter. Some sources report that the air defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may also have been the cause of the loss of MiG-29.

The image of the MiG-29 being shot down was captured by the cameras of witnesses who were in the region occupied by the Russians.

The official command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces kept silent about the loss of the fighter, but an obituary about the death of pilot Andrei Tkachenko spread on social networks by an organization of scouts from the Lviv region. He was from the city of Sambir, was considered an ideological Ukrainian and at the age of 33 had ascended to the rank of major of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Andrei was one of the best pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was flying on a combat mission. The Ukrainian MiG-29 are adapted to use North American JDAM glider bombs. Near Luhansk, Ukrainians usually fly at ultra-low altitudes, but to effectively use JDAM, fighters need to gain altitude, where they become a vulnerable target.

On Saturday, March 9, the Ukrainian Air Force lost another MiG-29 fighter, which was also shot down near Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk), in the territory temporarily occupied by the Russians. The air defense worked well, but the point is that it was Ukrainian.

— Alisa_Vasilisa (@Alisa_Vasilisa_) March 11, 2024

Ukraine's air defense systems shot down the MiG-29 fighter, with images of the crashed plane being distributed by Russian and Ukrainian media. Initially, Kiev said that the plane was not theirs and the air defense did not fire anywhere, but the data obtained clearly show that the fighter was hit by a missile launched from territory controlled by Kiev.

According to data from Ukrainian public pages, the plane crashed near the village of Shevchenko. The fighter was trying to return to the base, but couldn't. The pilot could not eject and died in the fall. The missile was launched from the area of the village of Novoolenovka, located in the Pokrovsk - Konstantinovka - Toretsk triangle. It is not known which specific air defense missile system was used to hit the aircraft.

“The plane tried to make a 180-degree turn around a vertical axis maintaining the horizontal position, while releasing countermeasures, but the missile hit the fighter in the tail,” Ukrainian public pages said.

A large fire broke out at the place of the plane crash and the crashed fighter burned completely.

Tags: Military AviationUkraine Air ForceMiG-29 FulcrumWar Zones - Russia/Ukraine

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[qudachuk]

Joe Biden says US investigating what brought down jet with Wagner chief apparently onboard; Russian capital’s mayor reports no damage in drone attackWhat we know on day 549 of the invasionWelcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion...

[kragnir]

There you have it, folks, another typical Biden action. Mafia land purposefully downs one of our drones in international airspace, and the consequence for this outrage is a much reduced surveillance at an increased distance from Ukraine’s Crimea. Nothing happened to mafia land as a repercussion to this gross violation. Absolutely nothing. Nada, zilch, nichevo, nix nein Frankenstein. The mafiosi are laughing their asses off as our other drones fly uselessly far off the coast, and once in a while. Its mission accomplished for them.

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up March 14-15, 2023

Under the cut:

A Russian fighter has collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept. A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday morning, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots sought to disrupt the US aircraft before the collision. “Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” the US statement said. “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.” One of the Russian fighters then struck the drone’s propeller, “causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters”.

Russia said on Wednesday it would try to retrieve the remains of a U.S. military surveillance drone that fell into the Black Sea after an incident involving Russian fighter planes, accusing Washington of "directly participating" in the war in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his military chiefs have “expressed a common position” to keep defending the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian leader’s office has said.

Ukrainian ground forces have shot down a Russian fighter jet near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian official has said.

Nine countries have pledged to transfer more than 150 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin at the Ramstein format meeting on March 15. Austin did not name any specific countries, only remarking that the tank coalition "continues to grow."

“A Russian fighter has collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept.

A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday morning, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots sought to disrupt the US aircraft before the collision.

“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” the US statement said. “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”

One of the Russian fighters then struck the drone’s propeller, “causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters”.

The Pentagon spokesman, Brig Gen Patrick Ryder, said the Russian planes were in close proximity to the drone for about half an hour, and that the Su-27 which struck it was probably damaged.

“It essentially ran into the MQ-9,” Ryder said. It is believed the Russian Su-27 landed at an airbase in occupied Crimea.

Russia’s defence ministry denied there was any collision and suggested the drone was brought down through pilot mishandling.

The downing of the $32m drone triggered a race to recover the wreckage, as it contains some of the most advanced US technology and would be an intelligence windfall for Russia if it got to the aircraft first.

“To my knowledge, at this point in time, the Russians have not recovered that aircraft,” Gen Ryder said on Tuesday afternoon.

The European Command statement warned: “These aggressive actions by Russian aircrew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation.”

“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” Gen James Hecker, the US air force commander for Europe and Africa, said. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”

Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement that its fighters “did not use airborne weapons and did not come into contact” with the US drone.

The ministry said that fighters from its air defence forces were scrambled to identify the drone which the ministry claimed was heading “in direction of the state border of the Russian Federation”.

“As a result of sharp manoeuvring around 9.30 (Moscow time), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the ministry said, adding that its fighter jets returned safely to their base.

It is the first collision between Russian and Nato aircraft since Russia’s full-scale invasion just over a year ago, but it has highlighted the dangers of a clash leading to escalation through mistake or miscalculation as Russia and Nato forces field increasing amounts of military hardware around Ukraine – risks heightened by reckless behaviour.

“This is my biggest worry, both there and in the Pacific, that an aggressive Russian or Chinese pilot or vessel captain gets too close, doesn’t realize where they are and causes a collision,” the head of the US Marine Corps, Gen David Berger, said.

The European Command statement said that the incident was part of a “pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with US and allied aircraft over international airspace, including over the Black Sea”.

In the White House on Tuesday, the national security council spokesman, John Kirby, said: “It is not the first time certainly in recent weeks there’s been intercepts.”

But Kirby added: “It is the first time that an intercept resulted in the ‘splashing’ of one of our drones.”

He said that Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident, and the state department spokesman, Ned Price, said the US had summoned the Russian ambassador to “convey our strong objections”.

He stressed the US drone had been operating over international waters, and that the collision would not deter US forces from patrolling the Black Sea.

“US will continue to operate in international airspace over international waters,” Kirby said. “The Black Sea belongs to no one.”

Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, said that the incident was just the latest in a long series of episodes over many years of what she called “coercive signalling” by Russian forces. This was the first time she was aware of a Russian jet dumping fuel on a Nato aircraft, but she said it “fits with a larger pattern of escalating signals before coming too close to a platform”.

“In this case, the SU-27 pilot is said to have hit the propeller, damaging the MQ-9 –probably a pass, intended to compel it to change course – that came too close,” Massicot said on Twitter.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, a Notre Dame Law School professor and expert on international law and the use of force, noted that by dumping fuel and downing the drone, the Russian pilot was “further polluting the fragile Black Sea”, but she noted the US had not called the interception “unlawful”.

“In all likelihood the Reaper was conducting surveillance for Ukraine. Under the laws of armed conflict Russia may disrupt such assistance,” O’Connell said.”-via The Guardian

~

“Russia said on Wednesday it would try to retrieve the remains of a U.S. military surveillance drone that fell into the Black Sea after an incident involving Russian fighter planes, accusing Washington of "directly participating" in the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. military said on Tuesday that a Russian fighter jet clipped the propeller of one of its spy drones as it flew over the Black Sea in international air space, causing it to crash.

Russia denied being responsible for the crash and said relations with the United States had reached their "lowest point".

Kremlin Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told the Rossiya-1 TV channel: "I don't know whether we will be able to retrieve it or not, but that it has to be done. And we'll certainly work on it. I hope, of course, successfully."

"Secondly, regarding the drone - the Americans keep saying they're not taking part in military operations. This is the latest confirmation that they are directly participating in these activities - in the war," he said.

White House spokesman John Kirby said the drone may never be recovered, but that U.S. authorities had taken precautions to ensure Russia's ability to draw useful intelligence from the craft would be limited if a Russian team did so.”-via Reuters

~

“President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his military chiefs have “expressed a common position” to keep defending the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian leader’s office has said.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said the defence of Bakhmut was of “paramount strategic importance”. “It is key to the stability of the defence of the entire front,” he said.

In a statement, Zelenskiy’s office said the Ukrainian president and top government officials and military commanders had discussed the situation in Bakhmut, where Russian and Ukraine forces are taking heavy casualties.

It said:

After considering the defensive operation in the Bakhmut direction, all … expressed a common position to continue holding and defending the city of Bakhmut.

Zelenskiy and the military command also discussed the pace and scale of the supply of weapons and equipment from Ukraine’s western allies, and how to allocate them to the troops, it said.”-via The Guardian

~

“Ukrainian ground forces have shot down a Russian fighter jet near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian official has said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, also said Kyiv’s forces had made gains in northern parts of the city.

Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary Wagner group, said in a social media post today that Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Zaliznyanskoye and are expanding the encirclement of Bakhmut.

Neither side’s claims of success in what has become the longest-running battle since the war began could be verified.

On Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his military chiefs agreed to keep defending Bakhmut. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said the defence of the city was of “paramount strategic importance”.

Zaluzhnyi said, “It is key to the stability of the defence of the entire front.””-via The Guardian

~

“Nine countries have pledged to transfer more than 150 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin at the Ramstein format meeting on March 15.

Austin did not name any specific countries, only remarking that the tank coalition "continues to grow."

Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said on March 9 that 10 more Leopard tanks had been transferred to Ukraine, bringing the total to 14.

German and Portuguese tanks are also expected to arrive in Ukraine by the end of March.

In addition to Leopard 2 tanks, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced on Feb. 7 during his visit to Kyiv that Ukraine was set to receive over 100 older Leopard 1 tanks from several European countries.

The export license for Leopard 1 tanks was granted by Germany on Feb. 3 and the majority of them will arrive by 2024.

European allies had to receive permission from Germany to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, given that they were manufactured by Germany. Although officials in Berlin initially resisted diplomatic pressure to provide Ukraine with the tanks, they have since taken charge of rallying other allies to contribute to the tank coalition.”-via Kyiv Independent

[apsny-news]

US resumes Black Sea drone flights but keeps a distance — Apsny News

The US military sent another spy drone over the Black Sea on Friday, keeping far away from the restricted airspace in which a MQ-9 drone crashed earlier this week after being intercepted by Russian jets. Flight tracking sites showed an UAV with the callsign Forte10, identified as a RQ-4 Global Hawk, circling over Romanian airspace before flying south and east. The drone circled over the eastern…

[cyberbenb]

SBU says it dismantled Russian spy network targeting F-16 jets

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on Jan. 28 that it had dismantled a Russian spy network tasked with gathering intelligence on Ukrainian aircraft for strikes on aviation infrastructure.

The operation, conducted near a military airfield, led to the arrest of two agents who were caught photographing a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet during takeoff, the SBU said.

The SBU identified the suspects as two residents of Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast, aged 22 and 21, recruited by a female officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) whose identity has been established.

The agents were allegedly tasked with collecting detailed information on military airfields housing F-16 jets and helicopters, including their geolocation and photographic evidence. This intelligence was reportedly intended to help Russia adjust its missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian aviation facilities.

To fulfill their mission, the agents planned to travel across five regions of Ukraine, using public transportation and renting short-term accommodations near airfields for espionage purposes.

The SBU said it had intercepted and documented their reconnaissance efforts at an early stage, preventing any successful data transfer. Both suspects were detained while photographing an F-16 jet and have been taken into custody. They now face life imprisonment on treason charges.

Ukraine received its first F-16 jets in August 2024, a year after the NATO-led fighter jet coalition pledged to train Ukrainian pilots and supply aircraft.

Despite challenges, including a deadly crash during a massive Russian attack on Aug. 26, Ukrainian pilots have effectively used the jets to counter Russian aerial threats.

‘Pure propaganda’ — Kharkiv Oblast governor denies Russian claims of capturing Dvorichna

Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov on Jan. 28 refuted the Russian Defense Ministry’s claims that Russian forces had captured the village of Dvorichna in the Kupiansk district, emphasizing that fighting in the area is ongoing, Ukrinform reported.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy