Russian

In case there was not enough “gasoline” in 2026, the attack by a Russian drone has crossed a red line: that of Chernobyl

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In the early 1980s, a Soviet satellite detected what appeared to be the launch of several US nuclear missiles. The duty officer, Stanislav Petrov, suspected that something was wrong and decided not to report of an imminent attack. He was right: the sensors had mistaken reflections of the sun on the clouds for real missiles. That decision avoided a possible nuclear escalation during one of the most tense moments of the Cold War. Chernobyl, again. In a war where drones are already They attack strategic airfieldsmilitary bases and industrial centers located hundreds of kilometers from the front, it seemed difficult to find a new red line. However, a russian attack against a facility related to spent nuclear fuel near Chernobyl has revived one of Europe’s most persistent ghosts. There was no radioactive leak nor were safety limits exceeded, but the simple fact that a drone hit an infrastructure linked to the site of the worst nuclear accident of modern history was enough to generate international alarm. Almost forty years after the 1986 disaster, the name Chernobyl still have a unique ability to raise concern inside and outside Ukraine. Nuclear storage facility severely damaged in Chernobyl exclusion zone after Russian drone attacks The exclusion zone. According to Ukrainian authoritiesa Russian Shahed-type drone crashed into the reception building of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility located in the Chernobyl exclusion zone at dawn. The explosion caused significant damage into the structure and sparked a fire that was quickly extinguished. There were no victims and the stored nuclear fuel was not directly affected, since the containers were not in the area hit by the attack. Even so, the installation is part of the infrastructure intended to store for decades waste from Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which made the incident a matter of great political and strategic sensitivity. Why worry? The concern did not arise because of the material damage, but because of what could have happened in a worse scenario. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that very close to the building reached there is a large amount of nuclear material stored under strict security measures. Although radiation levels remained normal, the episode once again brought to the table an issue that accompanies the conflict. from 2022: the vulnerability of nuclear facilities in a war where drones, missiles and long-range attacks are part of the daily routine. Each incident forces us to remember that infrastructure designed to operate in peacetime now exists within a combat zone. A constant pressure. The attack is not an isolated event. Over the past few years, war has repeatedly placed nuclear facilities Ukrainians at the center of international concern. The best known example is Zaporizhia power stationthe largest in Europe, occupied by Russian forces since 2022 and a common scene of cross accusations about bombings, sabotage and security threats. Added to this is the precedent February 2025when another drone damaged the gigantic confinement arch built to cover reactor number 4 at Chernobyl. Although a radiological emergency did not occur then, the incident damaged part of the structure’s protection capabilities. A symbolic dimension. Beyond its physical effects, the attack seems to have an enormous symbolic weight. Ukraine presents it as a demonstration that Russia is willing to take risks related to nuclear security to increase pressure over kyiv. Moscow, for its part, has not acknowledged any responsibility. The truth is that the episode occurred in a moment of intensification of long-range attacks by both sides, with drones hitting increasingly deeper and more sensitive targets. In this context, reaching a facility linked to Chernobyl sends a message that transcends the battlefield and also seeks to impact international public perception. The return of European nuclear fear. we have been counting. The war in Ukraine has shown that the nuclear risks of the 21st century are not limited to atomic weapons. Power plants, spent fuel depots, energy supply lines and complex security infrastructures can become targets or get caught up in the conflict. That’s why he Chernobyl incident has had such an impact despite not causing immediate radiological consequences. In a Europe already marked by war, the arms race and tensions between great powers, the attack has served to remind us that the legacy of Chernobyl is still present. He 1986 accident It belongs to the past, but the fear it inspires continues to be one of the most powerful psychological tools on the continent. Image | IAEA ImagebankEnergoatom/Telegram In Xataka | We had been wondering for years why the Chernobyl wild boars were so radioactive. The answer was not in the accident In Xataka | Cartography of a nuclear disaster: the maps that 40 years later reveal the real magnitude of Chernobyl

A Ukrainian stork has managed to outwit a Russian drone in flight. The video is the best clue about who will win the war

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Exactly a decade ago, the Dutch police presented a plan that seemed straight out of a medieval movie: training eagles to shoot down drones in full flight. That project lasted less than a year, because the birds They were too unpredictable and the propellers too dangerous even for them, but 10 years later it seems that they were not so wrong. The stork that left a Russian drone behind. In the middle of a war where Ukraine and Russia compete to automate battlefield, a seemingly trivial video has become an unexpectedly powerful metaphor. what we see: A Russian interceptor drone chases a Ukrainian white stork in mid-flight until the bird suddenly makes a sharp turn, leaving the device chasing shadows. The scene lasts just a few secondsbut it summarizes something much deeper: modern warfare is obsessed with creating machines that imitate capabilities that nature perfected millions of years ago, although we are still far from achieving it. The image is especially symbolic because the white stork is one of the national animals of Ukraine and because the video inadvertently exposes the enormous limitations that many drones continue to have when faced with an enemy as seemingly simple as a bird. The great military obsession. For years, military engineers they try to replicate the capabilities of birds flight. Modern drones can travel hundreds of kilometers, transmit video in real time or attack targets with enormous precision, but they remain much less agile than animals capable of instantly changing the shape of their wings, taking advantage of thermal currents or performing extreme maneuvers without losing stability. The video stork It does exactly that: detect danger, alter its trajectory and escape from a device specifically designed to intercept moving targets. The difference reveals a key problem with today’s autonomous war. Drones still rely heavily on relatively predictable trajectoriesimperfect sensors and reaction capacities much lower than those of biological organisms evolved to survive in the air. Drone warfare as an ecosystem. The conflict in Ukraine has accelerated the evolution of drones to unprecedented levels. Let us remember that at the beginning of the war they were relatively simple reconnaissance tools… and now there are coordinated swarmsinterceptors aerial FPVplatforms long range suicide bombers and autonomous systems capable of searching for targets by themselves. In parallel, the sky begins to fill with absurd situations and almost surreal where birds and machines share the same airspace. In the early years there were trained eagles to shoot down police drones. Today, just the opposite is happening: drones that chase birds because their radar signatures are too similar to those of enemy devices. Some species, such as storks or pelicans, are comparable in size to certain military drones and create enough confusion to cause real errors in combat. Nature is several steps ahead. The episode also leaves an uncomfortable conclusion for the military industry: the capabilities that militaries desperately seek already exist in nature. Birds master something that drones still cannot combine well: agility, energy autonomy, collective coordination and instant adaptation to the environment. An albatross, for example, can travel entire oceans taking advantage of wind currents Without spending much energy, Harris hawks or eagles coordinate extremely complex cooperative attacks. no centralized communicationand storks use thermals to gain altitude practically free. Meanwhile, defense engineers still experience with deformable wings, biomimetic systems and algorithms that allow drones to react with the same fluidity. The result is paradoxical: the more autonomous military technologies advance, the more evident it is that they continue to try to achieve abilities that a bird naturally possesses. A video that says much more. The Ukraine War will probably be remembered as the drone laboratory most important in modern history. Both sides are learning in real time how to automate attacks, saturate defenses and dominate airspace at low cost. But he stork video points towards something even more important: the winner will not necessarily be the one who has the most drones, but rather the one who manages to build capable systems to adapt to the environment with the flexibility of a living organism. Therein lies the great technological race that is beginning to take shape. Armies no longer just want fast or cheap machines, they also want platforms that learn, react, collaborate and survive like animals. And while Russia and Ukraine transform the sky into a permanent surreal experiment, a simple stork has just remembered that nature, for now, continues playing in another league. Image | Jean-Raphaël Guillaumin In Xataka | Ukraine has been terrorizing Russian soldiers with its heavy drones for years. Now they are literally giving it back. In Xataka | The war has entered the phase of mathematics: cheap Russian missiles are destroying the scarce Ukrainian interceptors

Ukraine has resurrected one of the oldest tactics of warfare. And he is isolating Russian cities without the need for soldiers

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One of the many movie scenes that took place during the soviet blockade of berlin occurred in 1948, when the United States and its allies kept an entire city alive using an airlift that landed every few minutes with food, coal and medicine. The operation highlighted a lesson that military strategists never forgot: in any war, sometimes the most important thing is not to conquer a city, but to decide who can continue to supply it. A silent return. For centuries, sieges were one of the tools more brutal and effective of the war. Surrounding a city, cutting off supplies, and waiting for hunger, exhaustion, or lack of ammunition to do the job was a military logic as old as empires themselves. Ukraine is now recovering that same idea, but adapted to the drone era. The big difference is that you no longer need to physically surround a city or send thousands of soldiers to isolate it. It is enough to control the roads, monitor movements and constantly destroy everything that enters or leaves. What is happening around Mariupol It is beginning to look less like a traditional war and more like a medieval siege executed from the air and hundreds of kilometers away. Mariupol as a laboratory. After conquering Mariupol in 2022, Russia turned the city into one of the ggreat logistics centers of its southern front, using its roads and port to move fuel, ammunition, troops and equipment towards Donetsk and Zaporizhia. Ukraine has started to attack precisely that circulation network. Reconnaissance and attack drones patrol the main access routes to the city looking for tanker trucks, ammunition transports or logistical convoys. The logic is extremely simple and very old: There is no need to destroy a fortified position if you can prevent it from continuing to function. According to different military sources and published videos by Ukrainian units, some drones already operate up to 160 kilometers within of territory controlled by Russia, turning entire roads into permanent risk zones for any Russian military vehicle. Turn logistics into the new front. The most important transformation of this strategy is that the main objective is no longer necessarily soldiers, tanks or trenches. They are the supplies. Ukraine is exploiting a classic vulnerability: any army depends on fuel, food, ammunition and constant transportation to maintain positions. The drones greatly facilitate that job because logistics trucks are relatively easy targets: they follow predictable routes, have little protection and often transport extremely flammable or explosive material. Even small ammunition can destroy them completely. That explains why Ukraine is dedicating so many resources to chasing supply vehicles instead of directly attacking fortified positions that are much more difficult to neutralize. From Mariupol to Moscow. The same logic also appears behind the massive drone attacks against Moscow. They remembered in Insider that Ukraine no longer uses only small improvised FPVs near the front. Now deploy long-range platforms such as FP-1 Firepointthe RS-1 Bars or the new Bars-SM Gladiatorhybrid drones between a cruise missile and unmanned aircraft capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers and crossing one of the densest anti-aircraft networks in the world. The objective is not only to cause specific damage, but to force Russia to disperse defensesspending resources and living under constant pressure even far from the front. The attack with more than 120 drones on the Moscow region demonstrates the extent to which Ukraine attempts to transfer the logic of attrition and isolation far beyond the traditional battle lines. A battle for movement. What is really important is that Ukraine seems to be redefining a fundamental idea of modern warfare: it is no longer necessary to completely control the terrain to control the situation. Just control movement. If any road can be surveilled by drones, any convoy can be destroyed and any resupply can end up intercepted, maintaining a position begins to be much more difficult even if the enemy retains numerical superiority. There is no doubt, that profoundly changes traditional military logic. The future sieges They may no longer be represented with circles surrounding cities on a map, but with invisible networks of drones capable of slowly collapsing enemy logistics without the need for major ground offensives. The war in Ukraine is demonstrating precisely that: that today you can isolate a city, wear down an army and force it to abandon positions without moving practically a single soldier. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

Russian Tu-95MS bombers have just flown over the Arctic Circle with cruise missiles. And they were not alone

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At the beginning of the sixties, various military radars installed in the extreme north of Alaska frequently detected enormous echoes approaching from the polar horizon. For a few minutes, the operators did not know if they were seeing simple patrol flights or the beginning of something much more serious. These constant alerts ended up transforming the Arctic into one of the most monitored places on the planet. Because in the coldest and emptiest regions of the world, any air movement can have enormous meaning. The return of strategic bombers to the Arctic. It announced the same social networks of the Russian Armed Forces along with a video so that it was clear. Russian strategic bombers Tu-95MS They had just flown over the Polar Circle armed with Kh-101 cruise missile while they were escorted by fighters and supported by tankers near NATO airspace. There is no doubt, the image recovers a scene very typical of the Cold War: large nuclear deterrence platforms patrolling for hours on Arctic routes while Western forces monitor them from a distance. As we said, Moscow also wanted the deployment to be visible, disseminating images of the missile under the wings of the bomber and indirectly reminding that these devices can carry up to eight Kh-101 thanks to your AKU-5M systems. Although several analysts believe that the missile shown was an inert version training, the message remains evident: Russia wants to normalize the presence of armed strategic bombers near the borders of northern Europe. A patrol designed to send a message. The mission lasted more than seven hours over the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea and included two Tu-95MS, at least one escort Su-30SM2 and a Il-78M tanker aircraft to practice in-flight refueling. The Russian Ministry of Defense published detailed images of takeoff, aerial maneuvers and the return of the bombers still armed, something unusual even for this type of operations. Moscow insisted that everything was done over neutral waters and in accordance with international standards, although he added an important detail: during part of the route the planes were accompanied by fighters from other countries, probably NATO aircraft who followed the patrol closely. The Arctic thus once again shows signs of constant aerial surveillance between both blocks. The Kh-101 completely changes the meaning of flight. The presence of the Kh-101 missile turns these patrols into something much more serious than a simple routine exercise. This cruise missile, widely used for Russia in Ukrainecan reach targets located at approximately 2,800 kilometers and continues to evolve with new variants equipped with penetration systems, decoys or different types of guidance. Even if the version carried during the flight was only for testing, displaying it over the Arctic serves as a strategic demonstration towards the West. Russia makes it clear that it maintains active its ability to launch long-range attacks from polar corridors that are once again gaining enormous military importance. An increasingly constant air pressure. Plus: These flights fit into much broader Russian military activity around Europe and the Pacific. In recent months too Tu-22M3 have been seen armed with Kh-22 or Kh-32 missiles, MiG-31 carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and Su-24 conducting raids near the Baltic airspace. Precisely one of those episodes recently forced the Rafale fighter deployment French from Lithuania within the NATO air policing mission, together with Romanian F-16s. At the same time, the Tu-95MS themselves have continued to carry out flights of more than ten hours near Alaska and the Sea of ​​Japan, forcing both NORAD and allied European and Asian forces to react. The north once again resembles the Cold War. For years, the Arctic was seen above all as a strategic region for its resources and sea routes, but for some time now it seems to be becoming a priority military corridor. The Russian decision to show armed strategic bombers flying over the Polar Circle with fighter escort and resupply support conveys precisely that idea. If you like, the Kremlin seems to assume that the military rivalry with the West will be long-lasting and that the northern routes will have a central role in any future scenario. The final image that remains is difficult to ignore: nuclear bombers, cruise missiles, Western interceptors and long-distance patrols once again cross paths over the frozen skies of the Arctic. Image | Telegram 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 | A nuclear giant designed to make way in the Arctic: this is the most modern icebreaker in the Russian fleet

Ukraine has knocked down Russian shaheds from a hotel 500 kilometers away

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During a military test in the United States, a pilot managed to land a fighter plane without touching the controls and miles away, guiding it only through a remote connection as if it were a simulator. A decade has passed, and what then seemed like an almost experimental technological curiosity revealed a disturbing possibility: that one day the most critical decisions in a conflict could be made very far from where they actually occur. The war from the basement. Ukraine has introduced a silent but profound change on the battlefield: the possibility of fighting without being physically in it, operating drones from secure locations hundreds of kilometers from the target. counted in one piece the financial times that, from spaces as discreet as basements in kyiv, highly specialized operators control interceptors that no longer depend on short-range radio frequencies, but on secure internet connections that eliminate distance as a real limitation. This leap allows the same pilot to intervene in multiple scenarios without exposing himself to enemy fire, transforming the traditional logic of combat and reducing one of the greatest costs of war: direct human risk. The distance no longer matters. The unprecedented fact that a drone has been controlled from a hotel 500 km away to shoot down two Russian shahed drones is not a technological anecdote, but a clear sign of where the conflict is evolving. Until recently, pilots had to operate close to the front, making them priority targets. Now, that vulnerability is diluted. Modern warfare enters a phase in which the location of the operator becomes irrelevant (due to remoteness), and where the range is no longer determined by the vehicle, but the network that connects it. The invisible key. The Times told This leap is based on a combination of advanced connectivity and artificial intelligence that allows you to maintain control even in the most hostile environments, with interference or momentary signal loss. As? It seems that current systems not only transmit orders, they also interpret images, identify targets and correct trajectories in real time, reducing operator burden and increasing accuracy. In this context, connectivity (that kind of militarized “WiFi”) stops being a support and becomes the true core of the system that pulls the strings. From improvisation to mastery. Plus: what started as an emergency solution to the shortage of missiles has become anthe pillar of defense aerial in certain areas, spaces where drones already intercept most threats. The key is once again that low cost and ease of deployment that allow saturate airspace with multiple layers of protection, freeing up more expensive systems for critical missions. This model not only resists massive attacks, but quickly adapts to new threats. Hitting where it was impossible. At the same time, this developing technology is making it possible to bring war to the enemy rear with unprecedented precision. We are talking about drones with autonomous decision-making capacity that are attacking logistics routes (the surrounding area of ​​the city of Donetsk) and weakening key defensive systems, facilitating operations that were previously unfeasible, and the decrease in these defenses opens windows of opportunity for deeper, more frequent and effective attacks. A system without borders. It is the last of the legs to analyze, because the integration of air, land and naval platforms reinforces this entire transformation, creating a kind of distributed combat network where each element amplifies the scope of the whole. In fact, that’s why intercepting drones from the sea (this week they shot down a shahed for the first time from a naval platform) or coordinating attacks from multiple domains is no longer an exception, but the next step logical. In this scenario, war is no longer defined by geographical lines and begins to depend on networks, nodes and connections. Invisibility. If you also want and as a last note, these advances give a conflict model where physical distance loses all the relevance of yesteryear compared to the capacity for connection. In other words, a scenario that until recently was more typical of a science fiction movie is opening up, one where a few operators can manage multiple systems from locations as remote as a room or a basement 500 km away away from “the war”, and where the front dissolves to become an extended network. Image | National Police of Ukraine In Xataka | From printing drones to looking at lasers, 300 reports have revealed that Iran’s battle manual has one name: Ukraine In Xataka | A disturbing idea has begun to take hold in Europe: Ukraine has turned Russia into a fearsome air force

The United Kingdom has just detained a Russian oil tanker in Gibraltar. The problem is the possibility that they are armed

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Spain controls one of the busiest maritime passages on the planet: for the Strait of Gibraltar More than 100,000 ships cross each year, including thousands of oil tankers. Just a few kilometers from its coasts, a good part of the crude oil that feeds Europe circulates, and any alteration in that flow has a direct impact on the Spanish economy, from the price of energy to maritime security. From sanctions to interceptions. What for months was a silent economic war you have just crossed a new visible line. The Royal Navy no longer limits itself to observing Russian maritime traffic, it now follows it, identifies it and makes it easier to approach. The case of the MV Deyna oil tanker in Gibraltar mark that change. It is not an isolated incident, it is the symptom of a strategy that is beginning to materialize at sea. And in this turn there is a key detail: for the first time, the pressure on the shadow fleet stops being just legal or financial and becomes operational. The fleet in the shadows. Russia has built a network of hundreds of opaque tankers to continue selling crude oil despite the sanctions. This includes everything from old ships to constant flag changes or business structures that are difficult to trace. All designed for keep the flow of income that fuels its war economy. This network has been for years difficult to attack because it operates on the margins of international law. But now that margin is narrowing, and every interception at key points like Gibraltar points directly to a critical vulnerability of the Russian system. HMS Cutlass stopped the tanker Gibraltar and the bottleneck. The strait, furthermore, is not just any place. As we said at the beginning, it is one of the most guarded maritime crossings on the planet. and convert it at pressure point against Russian oil has a clear logic: controlling traffic is controlling business. HMS Cutlass operations near France show that NATO is willing to use intelligencesurveillance and naval presence to stop this flow. If you will, each intervention sends a message that goes beyond the specific ship, one that announces that it is no longer safe to operate in the shadows near Europe. The problem. It turns out that this is where the story really changes. Because Russia not only wants to protect its fleet, it is considering doing so with military means. Armed patrols, fire equipment on board and even the possibility of militarizing the tankers themselves. What until now were civil ships with economic functions could be transformed into platforms with defensive capacity. And that turns any approach or follow-up into an operation with a real risk of escalation, where an inspection can turn into an armed incident. From drones to oil tankers. Ukrainian naval drone attacks against Russian ships have been the trigger of this change. They have shown that even large maritime assets are vulnerable, and Russia has responded hardening his stance and preparing an active defense. This connects directly with the current global scenario, where energy transportation has become in strategic objective. The sea, which for decades was a relatively stable highway, is beginning to look more and more like a diffuse war front. The domino effect. The paradox is quite evident. While the West try to cut Russia’s revenues, the war in the Middle East has put Moscow’s crude oil back to the center of the market global, with India and China absorbing shipments that previously found no buyer and prices rising higher and higher. And meanwhile the shadow fleet returns to be indispensable. That makes any try to stop it have global consequences, turning each interception into more than just a naval operation: a piece in a much larger battle for control of the global energy flow. A new red line. If you like, the final scenario is the most uncomfortable and dangerous. A Russian tanker detained in Gibraltar It is no longer just a sanctioned ship, it may be the first link in a chain of tensions that escalate rapidly. Because if those ships start to go armedeach interaction at sea stops being administrative and becomes potentially military. And at that point, the question stops being whether the shadow fleet can continue operating, and becomes what will happen the day someone shoots first. Image | kees torn In Xataka | The Canary Islands and Galicia have set off the Navy’s alarm bells. Russia’s ghost fleet has arrived in Spain with warships In Xataka | A ghost fleet has mapped the entire underwater structure of the EU. The question is what Moscow is going to do with that information.

Ukraine refused to fix a bombed Russian oil pipeline. The EU has given you 90 billion reasons to do so

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Choking off Vladimir Putin’s war machine seemed like a seamless plan for Europe, but geopolitics has a bad habit of ruining the best strategies. The outbreak of the Third Gulf War has shaken the foundations of the global energy market. Now, with prices skyrocketing and a European Union desperately searching for oil, all eyes have once again fallen on an old Soviet relic: the Druzhba pipeline (which, ironically, means “friendship” in Russian). This gigantic steel tube has today become the trench of a new cold war that threatens to fracture the EU itself. Ukraine, a victim of constant bombings, refused out of principle and security to repair a section of this pipeline that continues to supply crude oil to the European countries closest to Moscow. However, as he advances Financial Timesunprecedented pressure from Brussels and the blocking of a vital loan have forced kyiv to make a 180-degree turn and give in to its European partners. What has happened? To understand the problem, we must go back to the end of January 2026. According to the Ukrainian media Suspilne Mediaa Russian airstrike severely damaged the Brody pumping station in the western Lviv region. The flow of Russian oil transiting through Ukrainian territory towards Hungary and Slovakia was cut short. The diplomatic consequences were immediate. Hungary, which has an exemption to continue buying Russian crude due to its energy dependence, accused Ukraine of delaying reparations for political reasons. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán issued a lethal ultimatum, picked up by the chain NPR: “If there is no oil, there is no money.” A threat that was fulfilled. The Hungarian president vetoed a package of macro-financial and military aid from the European Union to Ukraine valued at 90 billion euros, in addition to blocking the twentieth package of sanctions against Russia. Faced with the risk that Ukraine would run out of funds to sustain its economy and its defense, the European Commission decided to intervene. According to PoliticalCommission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa sent a letter to Zelensky offering “technical support and financing” with European funds to repair the pipeline. Cornered by financial asphyxiation, the Ukrainian president ended up giving in and accepted the offer. “I call this blackmail”. For the kyiv government, this transfer has been an extremely bitter pill. In statements to the press collected by EuronewsVolodymyr Zelensky has not hidden his frustration, stating that forcing them to reopen the tap of Russian oil is, for practical purposes, the same as lifting sanctions on Moscow. “I openly say that I am against it. But if you give me the condition that Ukraine will not receive weapons, then, excuse me, I am powerless in this matter. I told our friends in Europe that this is called blackmail,” said the president, reproaching his country for being forced to “finance anti-European policies.” But the Hungarian blockade does not respond only to energy needs; It has a strong domestic component. As pointed out Al JazeeraHungary faces very close parliamentary elections on April 12. Orbán is nine points behind his main rival, Péter Magyar, is using the supply crisis and the figure of Zelensky as an electoral scarecrow. In fact, the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, did not hesitate to denounce upon his arrival in Brussels that Orbán is “using Ukraine as a weapon in his electoral campaign.” Maximum tension between kyiv and Budapest. On the ground, the situation is confusing. On the Ukrainian side, Zelensky has calculated The repairs will take about a month and a half, but at the moment there are no clear indications of what that might be like. While the agency Suspilne Media reports that a small delegation of EU engineers is already in Ukraine assessing the damage (excluding Hungarian and Slovak experts), Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, declared to The kyiv Independent have no record of any official European mission in the country. On the Hungarian side, the escalation has gone beyond the merely rhetorical to enter the realm of physical retaliation. According to Deutsche WelleIn early March, Hungarian special forces intercepted two armored vans from the Ukrainian entity Oschadbank that were transiting from Austria. In the operation, Hungary seized $80 million in cash and 9 kilos of gold on suspicion of “money laundering.” Various legal experts consulted by the German media greatly doubt the legality of this seizure, suspecting that it is a direct retaliation for the closure of the pipeline. Zelensky, for his part, has not hesitated to describe this act as plain and simple “banditry.” Drones as the “new oil.” While forced to compromise on Russian energy, Ukraine is seeking to capitalize on its own warfare technology to gain international relevance—and funds. As detailed in an analysis of the BBCZelensky has offered the United States and the Gulf countries a $50 billion joint production deal based on Ukraine’s experience making cheap interceptor drones. “For us, this is like oil,” said the Ukrainian president, trying to position his country as a vital provider of security in the midst of the Middle East conflict. In parallel, the energy war is not limited to the Druzhba pipeline. As revealed The Moscow Timesthe Russian state company Gazprom recently denounced that Ukraine launched a wave of 26 drones against compression stations in the Krasnodar region. These infrastructures are key for the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines, which are currently one of the few remaining routes for Russia to export gas to Europe through Turkey, demonstrating that kyiv continues to try to hit the Kremlin’s energy portfolio wherever it can. The final pulse in Brussels. All this tension has led to the summit of European Union leaders that starts today, March 19, 2026, in Brussels. As he emphasizes TVP Worldthe pressure on Viktor Orbán is absolute. Upon arrival at the summit, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, went straight to the point: “It’s time to show our support for Ukraine.” In Brussels right now they are crossing their fingers. As pointed out … Read more

There is a Russian bomb floating in the Mediterranean coming from Ukraine. And Europe trembles because it can explode at any moment

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It is a fact that most of the world’s trade moves by sea. This means that every day thousands of ships cross key routes very close to European coasts. In this constant traffic, a single out-of-control incident is enough to put entire ecosystems in check and force several countries to react at the same time. The war in Ukraine has just ended activate one of them. A bomb adrift in the heart of Europe. The situation is the following: in the Mediterranean right now there is more than just a damaged ship, the Arctic Metagaz is a latent threat that mixes war, energy and environmental risk in a single point. We are talking about a loaded Russian tanker with gas, fuel and diesela ship hit by a drone attack from Ukraine that sails uncontrollably, with structural damage and a real risk of explosion. Not only that. It appears to have no crew, is leaking and catching fire, and is moving slowly between European waters and North Africa. What makes it especially disturbing is not only its condition, but its origin: It is one more piece of the war being fought in Eastern Europe that has ended up floating in the Mediterranean, moving the conflict directly to the doors of the entire continent. It’s not just the front anymore. The episode confirms something that was already intuited for some time: that the war between Russia and Ukraine is no longer confined to the Black Sea or the land front. Ukraine has expanded its radius of action by attacking Russian ships on much more distant routes, including those that are part of the called “ghost fleet”key to avoiding sanctions and financing the Kremlin’s war effort. These increasingly frequent attacks turn ships into de facto military targets, even if they are sailing through international waters or near European territories. The result is an extension of the conflict that blurs borders and places Europe in an uncomfortable position, because it is not a direct part of these attacks, but its potential scenario. Arctic Metagaz Ecological risk and implications. The immediate danger right now it’s pretty obvious: an explosion or massive spill in an area of ​​high ecological value could cause lasting damage in the Mediterranean, affecting protected ecosystems and coastal economies. But the problem goes beyond the environmental impact. These types of incidents also reveal to us the fragility of the maritime system in times of hybrid war, where poorly maintained, aging ships, with opaque structures and no safety guarantees, They circulate on key routes. The combination of sanctions, evasion and attacks turns these ships into risk vectors that can trigger crises at any moment. Europe and the threat. The European reactionwith Italy and France along with several EU members warning of the imminent risk, reflects a growing concern: countries have asked a coordinated response facing a problem that is not only specific, but structural. The difficulty in intervening (whether due to weather conditions, the location of the vessel or legal issues) also represents a capacity and governance vacuum in nearby waters. While Russia he ignores of incident management and points to coastal states as responsibleEurope faces a rather complex dilemma: managing the consequences of a war in which it neither controls the origin nor the evolution. Symbol of a new phase. If you also want, the derived from the Arctic Metagaz summarizes like few elements the evolution of the current conflict: a war that no longer only dynamits infrastructure on land, but is capable of turning the sea into a space constant riskwhere each asset can become a threat. It is not just, therefore, an accident or an isolated episode, but the proof (one more) that the conflict has acquired an unpredictable dimensionwhere an action in Ukraine can end up generating a crisis thousands of kilometers away. And that is precisely what it has of the nerves to Europe: not knowing when or where the next impact may materialize. Image | war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, in Ukraine they continue doing their thing: robot against robot battles where humans only watch In Xataka | Ukraine has become the world’s leading specialist against Iranian drones. And he won’t share his antidote

Netherlands warns of Russian cyberattacks against Signal and WhatsApp around the world: they don’t need malware

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When we think about applications like Signal or WhatsApp we usually immediately associate them with the idea of ​​privacy. Both have been built on a very clear promise: end to end encryption prevents third parties, including the companies themselves, from reading users’ messages. This security model has made millions of people trust these platforms for personal, professional and even sensitive conversations. However, that protection does not mean that accounts are completely safe. The intelligence services of the Netherlands have warned now of a global campaign that seeks to compromise accounts of these unused applications malware nor exploit technical flaws. The objectives. The military intelligence service (MIVD) and the general intelligence and security service (AIVD) indicate that the attacks seek to access accounts belonging to dignitaries, public officials and military personnel. Authorities also acknowledge that Dutch Government employees have been both targets and victims of these attempts. In addition, the report indicates that other profiles that may be of interest to the Russian Government, such as journalists, could also be among the recipients of this type of attack. Social engineering instead of spyware. Unlike other episodes of digital espionage that have affected messaging services in the past, the campaign described by the Dutch services does not rely on malware or the exploitation of technical flaws. The report explains that attackers mainly resort to phishing and social engineering techniques to gain access to accounts. This difference is relevant when compared to tools such as Pegasusthe famous spyware capable of infiltrating mobile phones. In this case, the goal is not to compromise the phone system, but rather to take advantage of the user’s behavior to take control of their account or link a foreign device. “Account take-over”. One of the methods is direct takeover of the account. The attackers, they explain in the report, pose as the official support team of the application and send messages to the victim alerting them of alleged suspicious activities, possible data leaks or attempts to access their account. From there they request that the user complete a verification process and share the code they receive by SMS, as well as the PIN configured in the application. If the victim provides this data, the malicious actor can take control of the account and reassociate it with a number under their control. The trick of QR and linked devices. The report also describes a second access route that does not necessarily imply that the victim loses immediate control of their account. In this case, attackers use social engineering techniques to convince the user to scan a QR code or click on a seemingly legitimate link, for example under the guise of joining a chat group. That QR or link may be designed to link the attacker’s device to the victim’s account using the apps’ linked device features. Once connected, the attacker can access the conversations and, depending on the platform and access mode, see messages in progress or even part of the history, in addition to being able to send messages on behalf of the user. What the intelligence services recommend. The report also includes several practical recommendations to reduce the risk of these types of attacks. Authorities warn that you should never share verification codes or your account PIN through messages, even if the request appears to come from the app’s support service. They also recommend distrusting links or QR codes sent by unknown contacts and always verify these requests through another channel before interacting with them. Another important measure is to periodically review the list of devices linked to the account and remove any devices that are not recognized. The document also adds other useful measures, such as activating the registration block in Signal and notifying contacts by another means if there is a suspicion that the account has been compromised. Images | BoliviaIntelligent | Also AY In Xataka | That they can hack a mobile phone just by entering a website is scary. If that mobile phone is also an iPhone, it’s terrifying

This is the most modern icebreaker in the Russian fleet

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For centuries, Arctic ice has been a physical barrier to navigation. It is not just about extreme temperatures or rough seas, but about plates capable of closing entire routes for a good part of the year. In this scenario, clearing the way for ships does not depend solely on maps or satellites, but on very specific machinery: the icebreakers. According to CSISRussia has the largest fleet of icebreakers in the world, nuclear and non-nuclear, and that capacity has become a tool that combines logistics, economics and state presence in one of the most disputed regions on the planet. One of the most recent examples of that bet is the nuclear icebreaker “Yakutiya“. This ship is part of project 22220, a series designed to support annual navigation in the Russian Arctic and facilitate transit along the Northern Sea Route. Built at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg and operated by AtomflotRosatom’s icebreaker division, the “Yakutiya” is part of a generation of ships that Russia considers key to maintaining maritime activity in its Arctic waters. A boat designed to navigate the most difficult routes on the planet World Nuclear News reported on October 10, 2024 that the first of its two RITM-200 reactors had reached the minimum controlled power level after fuel loading and corresponding verifications. By December 2024, the vessel had completed the builder’s pre-delivery sea trials. Already in April 2025, the “Yakutiya” was sailing towards its home port in Murmansk and, according to The Barents Observerwas expected to continue into the Kara Sea to support operations in the Western Arctic. Beyond its construction chronology, what defines the “Yakutiya” are its technical capabilities. According to Rosatom data, the ship measures 173.3 meters in length and 34 meters in width, with 33 meters at the waterline, dimensions that allow it to open channels wide enough for large ships. Its displacement is around 33,000 tons. In open water conditions, it can reach a speed close to 22 knots, about 40 km/h. The most determining characteristic is its ability to break ice up to three meters thick. Rosatom explains, Furthermore, these ships are defined as universal nuclear icebreakers. They are designed to operate both in the open sea and in shallow areas of the arcticincluding the mouths of Siberian rivers. This combination significantly expands its field of action within the network of Arctic routes, where ice and depth conditions can change significantly depending on the region. In addition, icebreakers of this class can escort large commercial vessels, including oil tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers. Each unit is designed to operate for decades, with an estimated useful life of at least 40 years and a crew of approximately 75 people. To understand why Russia invests in ships like the “Yakutiya” you have to look at the map of the Arctic. The Northern Sea Route runs along the northern coast of Russia and connects the Bering Strait with the Kara Strait (Kara Gate), according to CSIS. The same analysis indicates that Moscow considers this sea route a pillar of its economic and security strategy in the region, since it facilitates the transportation of resources and reinforces its presence in an increasingly disputed area. In this framework, the advantage of scale in icebreakers makes it easier to maintain maritime transit in extreme conditions and sustain commercial and state activities in the region. The “Yakutiya” is one more piece within that commitment to the Arctic. What remains to be seen is to what extent Russia will be able to continue expanding and modernizing this fleet in a complex international context and with an industry subject to external pressures. Images | Rosatom | Atomflot In Xataka | As the US approached, the satellites have captured a shadow: Iran has resurrected a Russian Frankenstein for what is to come

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