Russia

For years Russia accustomed its citizens to a distant war. Thousands of gas stations have just broken that illusion

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Since the war between Russia and Ukraine began, the majority of Russians have been able to experience the war almost as background news, without much impact on their daily lives. However, that distance has been broken. And the fact is that queues of cars that stretch for hours, and even days, at thousands of gas stations in the country are forcing millions of people to feel, for the first time in such a direct way, the real cost of the conflict. What is happening. Ukraine has escalated since May their drone attacks against Russian refineriesand the result is a fuel crisis not seen since the last years of the Soviet Union. According to calculations According to the Financial Times, the shortage already directly affects some 50 million Russians, around 35% of the population. Almost 50 regions had imposed some type of restriction on gasoline sales by the end of June, and several of them have rationed the supply according to the vehicle’s license plate, alternating between even and odd days. Strain. Images circulating on social networks show waits of up to 36 hours in some areas, such as Chita, in the Transbaikalia region, according to collect Deutsche Welle. According to the media, there are those who spend the night in the car so as not to miss their turn, and some have even begun to sell their place in line for sums of up to 35,000 rubles (about 400 euros), according to testimonies cited by the same media. The tension has led to fights between drivers, and some regional authorities have had to improvise desperate measures, such as that of a Siberian governor who ordered hot food to be distributed to those waiting in line, while in the south of the country Cossacks with their traditional fur hats have been used to maintain order at gas stations, according to they claim from FT. Attacks. The origin of the problem lies in the pace and precision of Ukraine’s attacks. On July 6, a drone reached the Omsk refinery, the largest in the country, located 2,500 kilometers from the border, which gives an idea of ​​the reach that kyiv has gained. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, aforementioned By Kyiv Post, the attacks have already disabled 42.7% of Russia’s projected refining capacity, and a Bloomberg analysis places 24 of the country’s 34 large refineries that have been hit in about a hundred days. Consulting firm Energy Aspects estimates that Russian crude oil processing has fallen to its lowest level in 21 years. Despair. Moscow has chosen to downplay the crisis in public. Putin himself acknowledged on Sunday that there are “some shortcomings,” although he insisted that they are not “critical.” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak attributed the queues to panic buying and speculation, not a structural supply problem, according to collect DW. However, the Kremlin itself has had to take measures that contradict this discourse, as it has banned exports of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, and has skyrocketed its fuel imports from Belarus, which in June were 141 times higher than a year earlier, according to share the Financial Times. The front also notices it. The shortage has even reached Russian troops deployed in Ukraine. And according to share Kyiv Post, some soldiers have seen their fuel supply reduced to just 20 liters per vehicle per day, when before they received what they needed to carry out their missions. In fact, a soldier stationed in the Zaporizhia sector claimed that his unit has gone from 20 liters to between 10 and 15, which forces them to travel up to 11 kilometers on foot to get water and supplies. Other soldiers say they buy gasoline from local residents at prices between 200 and 300 rubles per liter, well above the official price, according to share the middle. The impact is also noticeable beyond the gas stations, from taxi drivers raising fares, regional airlines warning of price increases, to even Russians who, in rural areas, are buying draft horses or bicycles as an alternative to the car, according to collect DW. Cover image | Reuters and Alexander Melekhov In Xataka | The men who closed the new Chernobyl hole: “Destiny gave us an opportunity to test ourselves to the limit”

Europe has been left without cheap gas from Russia. Their new hope is in the renewables of Morocco and Tunisia

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With the war in Russia and Ukraine, Europe forgot with blood, sweat and tears about the gas of the first to throw themselves into the arms of the United States. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has made it clear that looking for a supplier far away and through inhospitable territories is not the best idea, so the old continent has set its sights on its neighbor: North Africa, an area with enormous potential and several essential projects (for Europe) under way. After all, it has everything: abundant sun and wind, available land and it is just a stone’s throw away. That they can produce energy is a fact, the question is whether they can connect it to Europe reliably and profitably. North Africa, energy cluster. While they cook two giant African gas pipelinesthe Trans-Saharan led by Nigeria, Niger and Algeria and the pharaonic Africa-Atlantic and are committed to green hydrogen with projects such as the Algerian ALTEH2A and the Moroccan investment worth 32.5 billion dollars, in the north of the continent there are several clear and concrete plans in renewable energies: Morocco wants add 16GW of capacity and plans an investment of 16,000 million dollars in five years to materialize it. Tunisia wants to reach a 50% renewable share by 2035. It has already put out to tender 2.3 GW of wind and solar infrastructure. Norwegian Scatec closed financing and began construction of the 120 MW Sidi Bouzid II solar plant together with Toyota Tsusho, with completion scheduled for 2027. The connection to Europe is advancing with the 600 MW Elmed submarine cable bound for Sicily. Algeria plans to connect 15 GW of renewables to the grid by 2035, with a first tranche of 3.2 GW solar. Why is it important. For North African countries, these projects entail economic development, creation of critical infrastructure and technological employment and foreign investment. For Europe it is a real lifesaver: the old continent imports enormous quantities of gas, oil and electricity and since the war in Ukraine and Russia, The EU desperately seeks to diversify suppliers and has its sights set on northern Europe as a priority source of hydrogen in its Hydrogen Strategy. If these projects materialize, Europe would have cleaner, cheaper energy close to home. Context. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has revealed something that we already knew: depending on third parties for your energy is a tremendous risk. Tunisia suffers it first hand: 95% of its electricity comes from natural gas and more than 60% of that gas is imported. It’s not new: according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2024 the Middle East and North Africa region supplied more than 30% of the world’s oil and almost 20% of natural gas, but its electricity generation continues to depend on fossil fuels for more than 90%. Making the move to renewables is also a question of energy sovereignty. In these movements there is a key Italian company: Snam. In 2023 acquired a 49.9% stake in the two gas pipelines that connect Italy with Algeria and the Algeria-Tunisia gas pipeline, this places it as a natural operator facing a possible conversion to hydrogen. Despite be an “energy island” On the continent, Spain starts from a privileged position if North Africa becomes the European tap: it will be one of the entry doors. In detail. At a technical level, the most important thing is how to bring that energy to Europe: by submarine electric cable or by converting existing gas pipelines to transport hydrogen, which will have implications in both cost and management. While the second is in the study phase, the cable option is advancing: Italy has already hired Prysmian the construction of a 600 MW interconnection with Tunisia. Meanwhile, Spain and Morocco agreed in 2019 a third electrical interconnection, but to this day it still has not materialized. Yes, but. The conversion of North Africa into an energy hub is a promise full of official commitments, GW targets and billions of dollars on the table, but it is not an installed and operational capacity. And unfortunately, the region has a history of advertisements that fell flat, serve as an example the Desertec solar project. Without going any further, geopolitics is already leaving warnings of the complexity of the matter. On the other hand, there is the question of the price of green hydrogen: although in North Africa it is cheaper than in the rest of the world thanks to the sun, it still cannot compete with hydrogen from natural gas, which costs between 1 – 2 dollars per kg. According to a study by the Technical University of Munichonly a tiny fraction of African sites could approach competitive prices in 2030. Without subsidies, most projects are not profitable today. In Xataka | Russia turned off the tap and Europe looked south: the two pharaonic African gas pipelines that want to change the energy map Xataka | The first natural gas that does not depend on fossil sources is already a reality in Europe: it is manufactured in Extremadura by combining hydrogen and CO2 Cover | Matthew Henry and Anirudh

force Russia to bunkerize its nuclear fleet

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In October 1962, in the midst of Missile Crisis of Cuba, the Soviet Union ordered disperse and hide a good part of its nuclear bombers for fear of a surprise attack by the United States. It was one of the few times in history when Moscow assumed that even its most sensitive strategic assets might not be safe at home. More than sixty years later, that old logic of vulnerability has returned. The image that summarizes a change. For decades, Russian strategic bombers were a military rarity: nuclear machines parked in the open, visible from satellite, relying on Russia’s territorial depth and the logic inherited from the Cold War. The Tu-95 and Tu-160 They were part of the most sensitive core of Moscow’s military power, and yet they never needed mass shelters. That is changing, because new satellite images show something unprecedented: Russia is building huge fortified hangars at the air base in Engels Air Base to protect its strategic fleet. It’s not just a work of engineering. It is proof that Ukraine has achieved something that seemed unthinkable just three years ago: forcing Russia to bunkerize one leg of its nuclear triad. Engels: the heart of the Russian nuclear air arm. Engels is not any base. It is one of the nerve centers of Russian strategic aviation and is home to the 22nd Heavy Bomber Division, including the only operational squadron of Tupolev Tu-160s and several Tupolev Tu-95MS. A good part of the cruise missile attacks against Ukraine take off from there. We talk about irreplaceable devices: The Tu-95 has been out of production for decades and the industrial reactivation of the Tu-160 is progressing extremely slowly. Therefore, losing one is not losing a plane, it is losing a central piece of the Russian nuclear balance. That’s also why the fact that they now need to hide them under concrete says a lot about how war has changed. Ukraine has broken strategic depth. The great transformation of this conflict has been psychological before physical. For decades, Russia’s geographic depth was its greatest shield. Engels is almost 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Once, that distance was equivalent to absolute safety, but not anymore. we have been countingUkrainian drones have repeatedly hit fuel depots, arsenals and logistics areas linked to the base. In 2022 there were already attacks. In 2025, massive fires caused by drones They once again demonstrated that even strategic assets could be reached. Perhaps most important is not just the material damage, it is that Ukraine has collapsed the idea of ​​​​the Russian inner sanctum. Image from June 20 shows the massive construction project in the northeast corner of the base From tires to silhouettes painted on concrete. The evolution of Russian defenses tells a story forced adaptation. First they dispersed planes, then they built retaining walls between aircraft to limit explosion damage. And later they appeared almost improvised measures: tires on the wings to confuse sensors, old used planes like lures and painted silhouettes on landing strips to deceive drones and satellites. All of this reflected an uncomfortable reality: Russia had no doctrine to protect strategic bombers against cheap and persistent threats. Now that improvisation gives way to something much more serious: seventeen giant shelters under construction, designed specifically for their nuclear bombers. Satellite view of damage caused by a Ukrainian drone strike on a weapons depot in Engels in March 2025 The Cold War returns, but in reverse. They remembered the TWZ analysts The most striking thing is that this did not even happen during the Cold War. In that period, the nuclear threat was existential, but the logic of deterrence and the practical impossibility of cheap precision attacks made this level of physical protection unnecessary. Today the change comes from below: not so much by intercontinental missiles, but by relatively cheap drones capable of cross hundreds of kilometers. It is a strategic turnaround in the war scenario. Ukraine, without a strategic air force or nuclear capacity, has forced the second atomic power on the planet to physically reconfigure the protection of its nuclear air arm. Nuclear bombers underground. That said, structures do not guarantee immunity. A heavy cruise missile could penetrate them depending on its final design. But that’s possibly not the point. The objective is raise the cost of the attackmake identification difficult and protect against drones, cluster munitions or secondary explosions. In essence, Moscow is accepting that the threat is no longer sporadic, but structural. That changes how you operate, plan and distribute resources. Even if you want too, it’s a symptombecause when a nuclear power begins to build shelters to protect assets that it previously displayed without concern, it is in some way admitting that its strategic environment has worsened. Lesson to the rest. The Russian case is already being closely watched in the United States. There, bases like Barksdale Air Force they maintain bombers like the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress practically exposed, something that has generated a growing debate after recent incidents with drones. The conclusion is uncomfortable and global: the era in which air superiority or distance was enough to protect strategic aircraft is dying. Ukraine has proven it with crudeness. It has taught that modern warfare allows a weaker actor to threaten assets of maximum value with cheap, persistent and difficult-to-intercept tools. The invisible victory in kyiv. Beyond the front, the maps and the kilometers gained or lost, there are other types of victories that are measured in another way. Force Russia to cover with concrete its nuclear fleet is one of them. It is not a visible destruction, nor a territorial advance nor a flag over a conquered city. It is something deeper: changing the strategic behavior of the enemy. The satellite images of Engels teach precisely that. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, Russia is acting as if its nuclear bombers are no longer safe at home. And that simple fact, alone, says a lot about the real scope of the … Read more

Satellite images revealed that Russia covered a building with an anti-drone cage. Ukraine turned it into an action movie set

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In World War II, the United Kingdom became camouflage entire factories with nets, fake structures and even fictitious neighborhoods built on rooftops to fool German bombers. The idea it was simple– If you can’t stop the attack, make the target disappear from the air. Eight decades later, that logic has returned. Only now the enemy is no longer looking from a bomber, but from a drone. The giant cage. Satellite images made it clear: Russia had done something that until recently seemed unthinkable, wrapping an entire building in a gigantic anti-drone structure. We are not talking about a tank or an armored vehicle, where “cope cages” are already common, but rather about a strategic factory more than 900 kilometers from the front. The facility, part of the VNIIR Progress plant in Cheboksary, had been protected with that kind of metal skeleton for at least a year. Was the test of the extent to which Moscow assumes that Ukraine can strike very deep inside Russia. But it was also a silent admission: the drone threat has already changed even the industrial architecture of warfare. Shield the rear. VNIIR Progress is not just any factory. Produces essential navigation components for a good part of the Russian arsenal: Shahed-136 type drones, Kalibr cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles and gliding bombs. It is, in essence, a critical piece of the Russian military gear. Protecting it with a cage of that size reveals something important: it is no longer enough to move factories away from the front. Russian strategic depth has been eroded and the war has meant that once safe places now need permanent physical defenses. Ukraine changed the rules (again). The problem for Russia is that Ukraine no longer only strikes with drones. In the most recent attack, kyiv used its new cruise missiles FP-5 Flamingoa nationally manufactured weapon with more than 2,800 kilometers of range and an explosive warhead weighing more than one ton. That detail completely changes the equation. The anti-drone cage could make sense against small kamikaze drones or light munitions. But faced with a missile of that size, the structure becomes practically in decoration. Ukraine, in essence, demonstrated that the Russian solution was designed for yesterday’s war. What the defense gives away. The most interesting thing is not only the damage caused, but what it means the very existence of that cage. Every new anti-drone net, mesh or cover that appears over Russian refineries, air bases or factories is a sign of vulnerability. For decades, the industrial rearguard was a sanctuary. Now Russia is spending resources to fortify even its production centers. In other words, what you see is a clear symptom that the Ukrainian deep strike campaign is working at least on a psychological and operational level, forcing Moscow to redistribute protection and assume additional costs. The invisible climb. The episode also reflects a broader evolution: the industrial war is becoming a war constant adaptation. Ukraine began using long-range drones to overwhelm defenses and hit critical infrastructure. Russia, like we have been countingresponded with networks, interference and physical structures. Now kyiv goes up a notch with missiles heavier and more precise. Each defensive layer generates a higher offensive layer. And that turns the conflict into a technological race where no solution lasts too long. The lesson of the attack. The image is very powerful because summarizes all the logic of modern warfare: an entire building wrapped in steel to protect electronic parts that then guide precision weapons… and still reached. The conclusion is inevitably uncomfortable for Moscow. If a facility hundreds of miles from the front needs a giant cage and not even that guarantees your safetythen the real frontier of war is no longer in the trenches. It is anywhere on the map where the military industry continues to function. Image | Ventor In Xataka | Ukraine has found Russia’s weak point in Crimea. And now there is a line of Russian trucks that cannot move forward In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun

Satellites show where Russia is heading in Europe after Ukraine

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In the midst of the Cold War, Norway was the only NATO country with a direct border with the Soviet Union in the Arctic, and for decades the alliance rehearsed there how stop a Soviet invasion in extreme snow and ice conditions. That old frozen border seemed like a relic of the 20th century. Today it is once again one of the most guarded areas in Europe. Russia fights while preparing the north. They counted the TWZ analysts that, while Russia remains bogged down in the Ukrainian war, wasting men, armor and resources in a conflict that has already transformed its entire economy, at the same time it is building something much further north. The new satellite images together with intelligence analysis show that Moscow has been expanding bases, building barracks and creating new logistical warehouses next to the border with Finland and Norway for months. The most disturbing fact is the scale: facilities prepared to house up to 80,000 soldiers. The reading is clear. Although Ukraine continues to absorb a good part of its military force, the Kremlin is already designing the next scenario of tension with the West. “New satellite images show that Russia is increasing its weapons in the area,” the report states. “SVT, together with media partners in several countries, has analyzed how Russia is preparing for the deployment of 80,000 troops… It is a threat we must take seriously,” declares Thomas Nilsson, head of the Swedish military intelligence service (MUST). Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas From a discrete border to a reinforced one. For years, the border between Russia and Finland was one of the most stable areas in northern Europe. There was a military presenceyes, but at relatively low volumes and without a great sense of immediate threat. Now that is starting to change. According to the finnish estimatesMoscow could go from about 20,000 troops to almost 100,000 once the new facilities are completed. that jump multiplies the capacity of Russian pressure in the area and completely alters the military balance of the region. It is no longer a surveillance presence; It is a structure designed to sustain a massive concentration of troops. Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas The Arctic is no longer a periphery. All this has a profound reason: the Arctic has ceased to be a distant corner and has become a centerpiece of the world board. The melting ice is opening sea routes that were previously impassable, the region’s energy reserves are enormous and control of the north offers decisive military advantages. Russia has been understanding this for years and strengthening his position. China has also shown more and more interest. What once seemed like marginal geography is now a space where top-level economic, military and strategic interests intersect. Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas NATO responds. NATO’s reaction it has been fast. The alliance has activated a new advanced ground force in Finland, supported mainly by Sweden and with command and deployment centers spread across northern Scandinavia. Although the initial number of soldiers is small compared to what Russia is preparing, the political message is powerful. Finland and Sweden have gone from neutrality to becoming in central pieces of European defense. In other words, the north is no longer a calm rearguard and is beginning to resemble a new line of contact. The real fear after Ukraine. What worries NATO most is not what Russia can do now, because a good part of its army remains committed in Ukraine. The real concern is in what comes next. If the conflict freezes or ends and Moscow decides to move part of its veteran units to the north, all that infrastructure could fill up in a very short time. That means that what today seems like a medium-term preparation could quickly transform into a tangible threat. The current war, in that sense, is also a period of transition towards something broader. Europe looks to the north with different eyes. It is the most obvious conclusion: the rivalry between Russia and the West is no longer limited to the Ukrainian front. Everything indicates that is expanding towards new areas where the clash is not yet open, but where everyone is preparing as if it could arrive. Moscow strengthens positions, NATO reorganizes his defense and United States adapts its military structure to the new map of the Arctic. There is no doubt, we are not talking about shots fired on that border, but we are talking about movements, investments and deployments that reveal the same idea. As Russia continues to fight one war, satellites indicate that it is preparing the next one. Image | x In Xataka | As we look to the Middle East, the Arctic has become the hiding place for Russia’s biggest challenge to NATO: Borei and Yasen In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, something is moving in the Arctic Circle: Russia is sending bombers with missiles

Russia thought kyiv would fall within days. Four years later, the war in Ukraine has just “passed” the First World War

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In 1914, millions of Europeans they were convinced that the war would end before Christmas. In fact, the expression “home by Christmas” became popular between soldiers and civilians who believed that the conflict would be rather brief. It ended up lasting more than four years and transforming Europe forever. More than a century later, the Ukrainian war has already grown longer. From days to historical milestone. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Kremlin expected a swift campaign that would culminate in the fall of kyiv within days. More than four years later, the reality is exactly the opposite: the war has reached the 1,569 days duration and has already officially surpassed to the First World War. What began as an operation designed to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government has transformed into one of the longest and most consequential conflicts in recent European history, to the point that many Ukrainians they contemplate with concern another historical threshold even more distant: the duration of the Second World War. The inevitable comparison with 1914. The historians warn that comparisons with world wars have obvious limits due to the differences in scale, number of countries involved and volume of casualties. However, they consider that the war in Ukraine shares enough features with the First World War to become its closest parallel in more than a century. Both began lightning offensives aimed at achieving a decisive victory within a few weeks. Both the German advance to Paris in 1914 like the Russian push towards kyiv in 2022 came close to achieving their initial objectives before being stopped and forced to retreat. The return of trench warfare. After the failure of the initial offensives, both conflicts drifted towards long static fronts where artillery dominated the battlefield. The images from the trenches of eastern Ukraine quickly evoked scenes from France and Belgium during the Great War. Soldiers barely separated a few hundred meterscontinuous bombardments and small infantry assaults became the daily routine. The firepower forced combatants to bury themselves underground to survive, reproducing a pattern that seemed to belong definitively to the past. Drones change the rules. The main difference between both wars came from the air. The drones profoundly transformed the battlefield and ended up making even traditional trenches vulnerable. Permanent surveillance from the sky and the ability to attack with precision forced the replacement of long defensive lines by small scattered sheltersdifficult to detect and more resistant to attacks. In many areas, any open-air movement can be located and attacked in a matter of minutes, turning large areas of the front into veritable death zones controlled by unmanned systems. Tanks, bunkers and dispersal. Technological evolution has also reduced the prominence of some weapons that for decades symbolized modern warfare. Tanks, feared during the early stages of the invasion, have become on easy targets for drones and they appear less and less near the line of contact. Meanwhile, soldiers invest enormous efforts in building shelters each time more sophisticated and profound. Some bunkers incorporate specific designs to absorb explosions and increase the chances of survival, reflecting the extent to which physical protection is once again a vital issue in an attritional conflict. Destruction reminiscent of the last century. Although the casualty figures They are very inferior Like those of the First World War, the visual devastation is eerily familiar. Destroyed forests, towns reduced to ruins and fields covered in craters constantly appear in images captured by reconnaissance drones. Various military analysts hold that the lethality of the Ukrainian front is close to that of the great battles of a century ago, not because of the absolute number of deaths but because of the constant danger faced by those fighting on the front lines. Stagnation and the search for a way out. The slow pace of progress illustrates the nature of the conflict. In some recent operations, Russian forces have progressed at a pace even slower than that recorded in some of the most stagnant battles of the First World War. With negotiations practically paralyzed, neither side has yet found a formula to break the balance. Ukraine tries to weaken Russian economic capacity through attacks against energy infrastructures and oil companies while flooding the front with thousands of attack drones, seeking to impose unsustainable costs on the adversary. The final paradox is that a war that began with the promise of quick victory increasingly looks like to the Great War: a prolonged struggle of attrition, marked by technology and with no clear end in sight. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun In Xataka | In case there was not enough “gasoline” in 2026, the attack by a Russian drone has crossed a red line: that of Chernobyl

If the question is whether we can delay aging, Russia has an unusual plan with the “cousin” of the wild boar and humans

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In 1928, a Soviet scientist convinced that young blood could rejuvenate the body exchanged his own with that of a university student. The experiment turned the student into a survivor and the researcher into a of the first victims of the modern pursuit of longevity. The great Russian bet. If the question is whether aging can be delayed, Russia has decided to respond with an initiative of extraordinary dimensions. Under the direct impulse of Vladimir Putin, the weekend counted the wall street journal that the Kremlin has made longevity a national priority through a program valued at about $26 billion that seeks to develop technologies capable of prolonging human life and combating age-related deterioration. What for many Western leaders and businessmen remains a private bet financed by technological fortunes, in Russia has become a state strategy which combines genetic research, organ printing, xenotransplantation and other experimental technologies with the promise of saving hundreds of thousands of lives before the end of the decade. New organs for aging bodies. One of the most ambitious ideas of the project consists of progressively replace the defective parts of the human body as if it were a complex machine. It we have told before and Putin himself even commented publicly on the possibility of achieving a kind of practical immortality through the continuous replacement of damaged organs. To get closer to that goal, Russian scientists are working on two main lines: three-dimensional bioprinting of living tissues and the growth of human organs inside minipigs, a variety of pork considered especially compatible for this type of research. The stated goal is to achieve functional transplants of laboratory-produced organs by 2030, a goal that, if achieved, would represent one of the most important biomedical advances of the century. Genes, tissues and pigs at the service of longevity. The program also includes the development of gene therapies aimed at slowing down cellular aging. According to Russian authorities, these treatments represent some of the most promising tools to combat the biological wear and tear that accompanies the passing of the years. At the same time, researchers they claim having managed to print human cartilage and a mouse thyroid gland using bioprinting techniques, preliminary steps towards much more complex structures. The combination of Genetic engineering, organs grown in animals and the manufacture of artificial tissues paints a vision in which medicine stops limiting itself to repairing damage and begins to replace entire components of the organism. Putin’s daughter and the architects of the project. Behind this strategy appear some of the most influential figures of the presidential circle. Among them stands out Maria Vorontsova, Putin’s daughter and an endocrinologist linked to various state genetics programs, as well as the physicist Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the historic Kurchatov Institute and one of the Kremlin’s main scientific ideologues. Kovalchuk holds that humanity is approaching an era in which organs can be routinely repaired or replaced, prolonging life for increasingly longer periods. For its defenders, aging will no longer be seen as an inevitable destiny and will begin to be treated as a technical problem susceptible to scientific intervention. Between cutting-edge science and community doubts. However, the program’s promises are far from to generate consensus. Many researchers they point out that much of the progress announced by Russia has barely been published in peer-reviewed international scientific journals. Some scientists who participated in the early stages of these investigations hold that there is a great distance between the proclaimed objectives and the results actually demonstrated. International sanctions, scientific isolation derived from the war in Ukraine and the difficulty of collaborating with Western centers also limit the capacity Russian to validate many of these projects. For critics, some of the statements made by the authorities should be interpreted more as aspirations for the future than as technologies close to becoming a reality. Personal obsession turned into state policy. Putin’s fascination with longevity it’s not new. For years he has cultivated a public image associated with physical strength through exhibitions Carefully constructed for sporting activity, hunting or outdoor adventures. At the same time, their behavior during the pandemic showed a extreme concern due to illness and physical deterioration, with strict quarantines, disinfection protocols and isolation measures that attracted the attention of the entire world. At 73 years old, also surrounded by an aging political and economic elite, the fight against the passage of time seems to have become more than a personal curiosity: it is part of a strategic vision shared by much of the Russian leadership environment. The long Russian tradition. The current project does not come out of nowhere either. Russia and previously the Soviet Union have historically shown a recurring fascination for research aimed at prolonging human life. Since the experiments with rejuvenating blood transfusions carried out by Alexander Bogdanov in the twenties until the theories of Oleksandr Bogomolets Regarding a life expectancy of 150 years supported by Stalin, different generations of Soviet and Russian leaders have pursued the idea of ​​overcoming aging. Paradoxically, many of those pioneers they died long before to reach the extraordinary ages they defended. A race against an uncomfortable demographic reality. The bet is even more striking because it takes place in a country that continues to suffer some of the worst mortality indicators of the developed world. Male life expectancy in Russia He is currently around 68 years, well below that of the United States or Western Europe. In this context, the gigantic longevity program promoted by Putin it reflects both a scientific ambition and a national need. The question is whether printed organs, genetic treatments and minipigs capable of hosting future transplants will bring Russia closer to that vision of a increasingly longer life or if they will end up joining the long list of projects that promised to defeat aging and ended up crashing into a biological reality much more difficult to defeat. Image | IToldYa, Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation, Picryl In Xataka | We knew that living … Read more

Russia is the great missing person in the AI ​​race. He has neither chips nor talent, and his great ally only gives him the leftovers

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What’s happening with AI in Russia? The artificial intelligence race has as absolute protagonists to the US and China, and it’s surprising that a power like Russia does not seem to be advancing in this type of field. The truth is that he is doing it, but his situation in this area is worrying. Russia does have AI models. Although they are hardly talked about, there are several AI models that are developed by Russian companies and that, above all, are totally oriented towards their citizens. The country does not have access to Western models such as ChatGPT or Claude, but it does have access to these alternatives: GigaChat: is probably the most advanced Russian model. It is developed by the financial institution Sberbank, and It is available via web although to use it it is necessary to have an account in said entity. Yandex Alice: the company that has already offered a search engine in the image and likeness of Google for years also has its own artificial intelligence model, called Alice AI. It is possible to use from its official website in both English and Russian (Spanish is not supported) like a traditional chatbot. MTS AI – one of the largest telecom operators in Russia also has its own model, MTS AImore aimed at companies and developers with its Cotype models that recently support the ability to create agents for enterprise applications. behind. The veto of chips and advanced technology from the US has been one of the factors that has caused these models to be clearly behind the latest frontier models from companies such as OpenAI or Anthropic. He proves it launched three months ago from GigaChat-3.1-Ultra-702B, an open weights model derived from DeepSeek 702B A36B. In the published benchmarks, the performance of this model is at the level of DeepSeek v3 (launched in December 2024) or Qwen3-235B (launched in April 2025). This model is for example available at Hugging Face. China is your natural ally. China and Russia have long maintained a geopolitical alliance that has an impact in various areas. The curious thing is that in this case that impact is being felt less than one would expect. Russian AI models are based on Chinese open models, but at the moment it seems that These are somewhat old versions which they later adapt to Russian. And as happens with Chinese models, which censor certain topics, Russian models apply that same filtering to avoid sensitive issues. Without chips there is no AI. The big problem Russia faces is the same one China faces, but amplified. They don’t have access to advanced Nvidia chips to train their models, so they have looked Shortcuts to bypass trade restrictions and be able to develop those models. Russia, get in line. Sberbank, for example, is trying to get access to Chinese AI chips like the Huawei Ascend 950 for your projects, but there are two problems here. The first is that these chips are aimed at model inference, not their training. The second, that at the moment those who have priority access to these chips are the Chinese companies themselves, which are reserving large quantities for their future projects. ByteDance, Tencent or Alibaba have placed important orders that leave Russia in a complicated situation. Russian chips in the (distant) future. These problems of access to specialized chips could be solved if Russia manages to boost its semiconductor industry. Baikal Electronics has been working on alternatives to x86 chips from Intel and AMD for some time, but also promise develop AI chips in 2029 or 2030. Once again, commercial and technological vetoes mean that in both scenarios the company’s proposals cannot compete with the latest advances of its Western competitors, at least for now. Industrial and military use. Russian LLM developments not only try to present an option for Russian citizens, but also for military applications. The war with Ukraine has actually revealed how Russia is using the well-known AI miniPCs Nvidia Jetson for its Shahed missiles. Russia has it very difficult. The current situation in Russia makes it difficult for the country to present notable alternatives to the most advanced AI models of the US or China (or even Europe). The war with Ukraine also caused an exodus of talent and Russian engineers, although companies like Sber have tried to boost campaigns to attract talent in the university environment. All of this adds to Russia’s difficult access to the most advanced hardware and software and its dependence on an ally like China that is prioritizing its own AI companies. In Xataka | Russia already has its own multi-core CPUs for AI. What it doesn’t have yet is the most important thing: its GPU

Ukraine has turned military bridges into impossible targets. Russia just responded with a Frankenstein on wheels

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In World War II, six soldiers could carry parts by hand of a Bailey bridge and build a passage for tanks in a matter of hours. Eight decades later, the real challenge is no longer building the bridge: it is making it survive long enough to enter service. River crossings are a nightmare. Crossing a river has always been one of the most delicate operations for any army. Crossing points are predictable, vehicles must be concentrated in a small space, and engineers need time to deploy bridges or pontoons. In Ukraine, however, the problem has become a new dimension. Drones constantly monitor roads, accesses and banks, detecting any preparation for a crossing long before it occurs. This means that forces attempting to cross a river can be attacked even before reaching the water. What for decades was a complex engineering operation has been transformed into a race against time under permanent surveillance. A problem since the start of the war. Russian difficulties in crossing rivers they are not new. One of the most remembered episodes occurred in May 2022, when a Russian tactical group was practically destroyed during an attempt to cross the Siverski Donets. More than three years later, the problem remains unresolved. They remembered in Forbes That even relatively modest obstacles like the Vovcha River can slow down entire operations because the challenge is no longer just overcoming the water, but surviving the deployment process. Every bridge, every pontoon and every engineering vehicle automatically becomes a priority target for Ukrainian drones, artillery and other precision strike systems. The strange “Frankenstein”. Thus a scene has taken place that has remained recorded on video by Ukrainian forces. It happened when one of the most peculiar vehicles seen in the war appeared. A Russian unit built an improvised system using military truck chassis, probably Ural or KamAZ, transformed into a kind of articulated pontoon. The structure was made up of a drive section and a large adapted trailer, creating a set long enough to cross narrow sections of the river. Its appearance was so rudimentary and strange that Ukrainian observers compared it to a creation straight out of a Mad Max movie and they baptized as a four-wheeled “Frankenstein”. More than a visual curiosity, the vehicle reflected the need to find alternative solutions to a problem for which conventional means seem increasingly less effective. A mission observed from start to finish. The broadcast images by the Ukrainian Wolfhound unit show the complete route of the vehicle towards its objective. The group advanced at high speed through Vovchansk in an obvious attempt to reduce the time of exposure to possible attacks. During the trip, the trailer repeatedly left the road, knocked down an electrical pole and activated several mines without being disabled. Even so he managed to reach the river bank. However, Ukrainian air surveillance had followed their every move. As the soldiers began to deploy the system and the forward section began entering the water, several attack drones They destroyed the vehicle before he could complete his mission. A deeper problem. The most striking thing about the episode is that Russia has specialized teams capable of carrying out this type of operations. Systems such as launchable bridges MTU-72 or the PMP pontoons They were designed precisely to allow the passage of troops and armor through rivers much larger than the Vovcha. For a unit to resort to a such an improvised solution suggests that these means were not available in that sector or that the losses accumulated during the war have reduced their presence on the front line. It also reflects an industrial reality: the current priority is on producing tanks, armored vehicles, drones, ammunition and artillery, while engineering equipment receives much less attention and replenishment. Modern warfare forces us to reinvent everything. He “Frankenstein” by Vovchansk fits into an increasingly visible trend within the Russian military. In recent years, protected armored vehicles have appeared with anti-drone cagesvehicles covered with netsmodified robots for new features and all types of adaptations carried out directly by combat units. The speed at which threats evolve often outpaces militaries’ ability to develop and deploy new solutions. Although the makeshift pontoon was destroyed, its existence is revealing. It demonstrates the extent to which drones have disrupted a military task as basic as crossing a river, and how soldiers are attempting to fill the gap between battlefield needs and the ability of military machinery to respond with ingenuity, recycled parts, and emergency solutions. Image | x In Xataka | Russia’s enemy in Ukraine is basically an AI. So you’re painting your tanks CAPTCHA color In Xataka | Thousands of elderly Ukrainians are isolated at the front. An army of drones is coming to your rescue

Russia shielded its logistics routes against drones. Ukraine has responded by attacking something much more vulnerable: asphalt

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In the spring of 1945, the United States launched a campaign called Operation Starvation. Instead of concentrating on destroying Japanese ships one by one, he began laying mines in the straits and sea routes through which they had to pass. The result It was so effective that dozens of convoy routes had to be abandoned and Japanese maritime traffic plummeted, making logistics as valuable a target as the vehicles themselves. From trucks to roads. The logistics war between Russia and Ukraine is entering in a new phase. For months, Ukraine concentrated its efforts in destroying trucksconvoys, fuel depots and other targets that kept the Russian army supplied. Moscow responded by strengthening the protection of its supply routes, deploying anti-aircraft defenses, adapting its movements and building corridors that were increasingly protected against drones. Now kyiv appears to have identified a vulnerability that is more difficult to fix: the infrastructure itself on which those supplies circulate. Instead of only pursuing specific vehicles, Ukrainian drones are beginning to lay mines on the roads that connect Crimea with the occupied territories, transforming essential routes for Russian logistics into spaces where any movement can become a risk. The strategy of the logistical blockade. Ukrainian authorities describe this campaign as an attempt to impose a “logistical blockade” on the Russian military. The goal is not necessarily to completely cut off communications or destroy every vehicle that passes through them. The key is slow down movement of supplies, increase uncertainty and force the enemy to dedicate increasing resources to protection and cleanup tasks. If a convoy must constantly stop to inspect the road, if each journey requires additional escorts, or if a route remains closed for hours after the appearance of a mine, the cumulative effect can be as damaging as the direct destruction of vehicles. Modern warfare depends on both the speed and the volume of supplies, and any reduction in the pace of movement has a direct impact on units deployed on the front. Roads to Crimea under pressure. Information from Russian sources they point because the campaign is focusing especially on the land corridor that connects Russia with Crimea through the occupied territories of southern Ukraine. Roads such as the M-14 between Mariupol, Melitopol and Chongar or the R-280 Novorossiya have suffered partial closures, traffic restrictions and damage caused by mines dropped from drones. In one of the most notable incidentsa Kamaz truck was reportedly destroyed and several vehicles damaged after mines fell on a road near the border between the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. These episodes also occur after a series of attacks against tankers and convoys that had already forced Russian authorities to modify routes and temporarily limit heavy traffic. Drones that turn asphalt into a trap. The novelty does not lie in the use of mines, a practice that has been present for decades in any conflict, but in the way they are deployed. According to various analystsUkraine is using drones to distribute 3D printed light mines equipped with motion sensors or magnetic systems. These charges do not need to completely destroy a vehicle to be effective. Enough with immobilizing a truck in the middle of a road to create traffic jams, disrupt traffic and create a concentration of targets vulnerable to subsequent air attacks. A single mine can stop a whole column. Several mines spread periodically along a route can paralyze traffic for hours while inspections and clearance operations are carried out. The creation of interdiction zones. The tactic is part of a broader concept that seeks to turn Russian logistics routes into true layered interdiction zones. Drivers traveling these roads must already face ambush FPV dronesautonomous drones assisted by artificial intelligence and attacks directed against the anti-aircraft defenses that protect the logistics corridors. The incorporation of air-dropped mines adds a permanent threat under the wheels of every vehicle. The result is a combination of risks that multiplies the psychological and operational pressure on any movement of supplies, forcing Russia to simultaneously monitor the sky, the roadsides and the asphalt surface itself. The Russian adaptation. The Russian response is already beginning to be seen in some sectors of the front. Ukrainian sources claim to have destroyed Tor-M2 anti-aircraft systems that were being moved to reinforce the protection of these vulnerable routes. At the same time, some analysts believe that Moscow could try extend to roads further from the front the anti-drone network and tunnel structures that it already uses in closer combat zones. However, they remembered in Forbes that protecting hundreds of kilometers of open roads represents a logistical and economic challenge much greater than that of shielding some sections close to the battle lines. Precisely therein lies the logic of the Ukrainian strategy: the more extensive the infrastructure that must be protected, the more difficult it will be to guarantee its security. Crimea as an indirect objective. The pressure on the roads also has a strategic dimension related to Crimea. Ukraine has been attacking anti-aircraft systems, radars, missile launchers and other assets that protect the peninsula for months. If land routes supplying the region become slower and more dangerous, Russia could be forced to rely even more from the Kerch bridgeone of the few high-capacity logistics arteries that continue to directly connect Crimea with Russian territory. This would increase the importance of an infrastructure that has already been a priority objective of kyiv on repeated occasions. Keep a road open to make it useless. In short, the great innovation of this campaign is that it does not necessarily seek to permanently cut a route. Ukraine seems to be pursuing something more subtle: keeping the roads technically open while progressively reducing its usefulness. If each convoy requires more time, if each inspection causes delays and if each stop increases exposure to new attacks, the logistics flow is degraded without the need to destroy the infrastructure. Russia has dedicated enormous efforts to protecting its convoys and supply corridors from drones. The Ukrainian response now consists of moving the … Read more

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