Ukraine

The most emblematic trucks in the US are multiplying in Russia. And they are using them to bomb Ukraine

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Last week, a documentary broadcast on the television channel of the Russian Army, Zvezda, revealed the Greater Russian Drones Factory fighting. In the images not only We saw hundreds of drones Geran-2 black finished, all in a row within the secret installation. We also saw that the factory had its own test field where the devices were mounted on trucks that serve as a shuttle. The model was surprising. Made in USA trucks. A Kyiv Independent Research He has revealed a mechanism for evasion of sanctions that allows Russia to have American pickup trucks, specifically the successful RAM 1500 models TRXdespite the prohibition of exporting them after the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The finding is particularly alarming because after the Zvezda documentary It has been verified that Kamikaze drones They are launched from these modified RAM 1500 models. According to the mediumalthough Ukraine points out that fixed catapults are more reliable for takeoff, the simple appearance of these vehicles in official propaganda demonstrates the use of western goods in Russian military machinery. Evasion of sanctions. After the imposition of sanctions, Stellantis (owner of the RAM brand) interrupted in 2022 All export to Russia. However, since then At least 130 RAM 1500 They have entered the country through indirect routes. Here are several companies based in the Arab Emirates, such as Automax Motors Fze, Fine Cars Eaeu-Fze or Mehrzad Post & Shipping, who have acted as intermediariesre -exporting dozens of vehicles to private Russian companies in San Petersburg and Moscow. This technique of “Transhipment”It is a classic evasion method, where goods first travel to a non -sanctioning country before being sent to Russia. In social networkssome of these firms have openly presumed shipments for Russia, which shows the laxity of control in certain Gulf markets. The direct route from the USA. But there is something more serious. It was discovered that Arivir Corpa company based in Virginia, sold at least eight RAM 1500 TRX manufactured in 2023 directly to the Russian subsidiary Arivir Rus, owned by a Russian citizen. According to filtered customs documents, the procedure It was systematic: The American company acquired vehicles in concessionaires, reluctant their Russian counterpart and managed shipping. No doubt, this trade clearly violates US export restrictions unless there was A special licensewhich is almost impossible to obtain in this context. Neither Arivir Corp nor the other firms contacted responded to research consultations. Instead, the Stellantis group has given explanations. The group remember that “has stopped all sales of vehicles in Russia and suspended its manufacturing operations in that country” from 2022. And he adds that “contractually prohibits all distribution channels sending vehicles to Russia.” Strategic implications. The experts consulted By ki they underline That any export of this type without a license constitutes a violation of the export controls of the United States, regardless of the location of the intermediary. In addition, the companies involved could face to secondary sanctions that would affect their ability to operate in the international market. For Ukraine, the situation reveals both the insufficiency of sanctions compliance mechanisms and the need for Western manufacturers to reinforce YOUR CONTROL SYSTEMS of customers and distributors. What are apparently simple trucks becomes a war resource capable of integrating into the Attack infrastructure Russian, adding another layer of complexity to the international effort to weaken Moscow’s military capacity. Image | Zvezda In Xataka | We already know what Russia’s trick is to multiply its drones: it is called “cooling units” and comes direct from China In Xataka | The Russian threat has activated the “Nordic model” in Germany. The Plan: Recruit 40,000 adolescents a year in the Army

The four -day workday has found an unexpected ally in Moscow: the Ukraine War

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The conflict in Ukraine continues to reconfigure not only Geopolitics and the European Budgetsbut it will also change the working day of thousands of Russian workers. Avtovaz, one of Russia’s biggest car manufacturers, has announced that it will apply the four -day work week As of September. According to The published by Reutersthis is not a measure oriented to Improve productivity or reduce the stress levels of its workers, but adopts this measure in the middle of a strong fall in vehicle sales, a crisis of consumption due to the wear of the invasion of Ukraine and a growing pressure of exports of Chinese cars. Russia does not sell cars. Avtovaz, is the manufacturer of the acquaintances Lada. After the first months of the Ukraine War, the Russian Automobile Industry lived a brief increase in defense expense and state subsidies. However, according to data from Reutersthis situation has begun to revert quickly. Avtovaz explained through a statement sent to Russian media that their sales fell 25% in the first semester, with only 155,481 units sold, and estimates that this will be the tendency for the entire source year. Avtovaz is not the only one to consider the four -day work week as a measure for shock the crisis of the sector. According to The local pressthe Russian manufacturer Gaz (Gorkovski Avtomobilny Zavod) will also apply the four -day week on his Gorki plant, for the same reasons that Avtovaz argued. Russia’s own Minister of Economy, Maxim Reschetnikov, He warned in June that the country “is on the verge of entering recession.” Avtovaz, as a reflection of this crisis, wants to use the letter of reduction of the work week as a way of maintaining employment without increasing the number of layoffs in difficult times. No money to make them or to buy them. According to published The Moscow Times“The final decision on the introduction of a reduced work week of four days will be taken based on the results of an analysis of market trends and economic factors, including the level of the key interest rate and the availability of credit products,” said the manufacturer’s statement. The main reason that has uncontrolled this crisis (in addition to being a derivative of the conflict in Ukraine), has been the increase in interest rates, which slows so much production Like consumption. “We are talking about a high key rate and more severe demands by the regulator for those facilitating cars loans,” Avtovaz explained in his statement collected. The impact of high types not only feels Avtovaz. The Russian giant of the Seversal Steel, pointed outthat “the high basic rate and low prices” were responsible for a 55% drop in their benefits in the second quarter of the source year. That is, as I know money is expensivecompanies lose profitability and citizens purchasing power to buy cars that are manufactured, generating a chain effect that complicates economic recovery. Chinese cars are unstoppable. To the already complicated economic crisis of the automobile sector worldwide, the massive emergence of imported cars from China is added, which sell their products at such low prices that Avtovaz directly accuses a “price dumping policy.” According to company sources these marches, mostly Chinese, are increasing the market pressure with very small prices to give out more than 400,000 cars that these importers have stored in their dealers and have not yet sold. Gaz starts already, Avtovaz leaves it for September. Russian Fuentes assure that Gorki de Gaz’s factory will implement the four -day work week immediately. From July 21 to August 3, the employees of this plant will enjoy their vacations normally. During this period, several divisions of the plant will continue to operate according to their work schedule. Once they finish, the four -day work week will be implemented at least until the end of August. Avtovaz indicates that it is still analyzing the way to implement the measure, so it will enter into force for September in the factory that the company has in Togliatti, in which one in 20 inhabitants of this city works. You know what it is to work four days. Although it is not done for the reasons for productivity and well -being improvement That this model of day is usually applied, this is not the first time that Avtovaz resorts to the reduced working day to deal with a crisis. In 2022, just after the imposition of First international sanctions To Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, the company implemented a four -day work week for three months. During that same year, the sales of its flagship model, the Lada, fell 48.2%, until 174,688 units, according to data publishedby The New Voice of Ukraine. On that occasion, four -day work week served to maintain a certain level of production In an adverse scenario. Today, three years later, economic conditions remain equally complicated, so companies re -apply the same recipe. In Xataka | Three Spanish companies tell us how it has gone after implementing a job utopia: the four -day week Image | Lada, Unspash (Sten Rademaker)

North Korea is transforming its army into the Ukraine War. And the strangest thing is the response of South Korea

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Russia and North Korea confirmed In April an open secret: that Pyongyang It is cooperating With Moscow in the War of Ukraine at various levelsincluding from troops to military arsenal. In return, Russia is giving North Korea what longs for: a functional army and a military capacity that could represent a challenge to global strategic balance. Thus, the strangest thing is the position of South Korea. Seoul’s silence. I remembered this week The Guardian. Although South Korea reacted rapidly to condemn the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea in May, his government kept absolute silence when a KN-23 missile North Korean (designed precisely to attack South Korean objectives) hit a residential building in kyiv, Killing 12 civilians. That omission was not an isolated case: there was no answer when Russia displayed An anti -aircraft system To protect Pyongyang, or when it was learned that Russian instructors They were training to North Korean drones operators in their own territory. All this points, According to analyststo a disturbing lack of understanding by Seoul about the scope of the military transformation that is experiencing North Korea, a fed transformation not (alone) into theoretical exercises, but in the real crucible of war in Ukraine. A metamorphosis. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, North Korea supplies 40% of ammunition that Russia uses in its offensive against Ukraine. In parallel, Pyongyang has accelerated its own arms production and has sent an initial contingent of 12,000 soldiers to the Russian region of Kursk, a figure that has grown with another 6,000 troopsmilitary engineers, bridge experts and railways, logistics staff, military police, electricians and even interpreters. Although officially these soldiers unfold in reconstruction tasks, the real gain for Kim Jong-un lies in what their troops They are learning: Modern War, Coordination of Combined Weapons, Management of Recognition and Attack Drones, Electronic War and Technological Systems unknown so far for its Army. And more. Moscow’s support has also been translated into Technology Transfersincluding improvements in the precision of KN-23 ballistic missilesalready used against urban centers such as Járkov. According to Ukrainian intelligence, North Korean soldiers captured They revealed such an extreme ideologization that they tried to commit suicide biting their own veins to avoid being interrogated. One of them proudly said would return to your country as a hero for having fought in a modern war. Political calculation It is the other leg that slides. While Zelenski warns directly To South Korea that the time to act is now, before thousands of North Korean missiles and improved drones begin to threaten Seoul or Tokyo, the South Korean authorities seem look. The posture, According to expert Yang Ukresponds to a delicate balance Between strategy, internal policy and economic considerations. The reason? Openly recognize the danger of North Korean rearmament and his experience in combat would imply have to answer With firm measures (including perhaps sending weapons to Ukraine), something deeply unpopular among the South Korean population. In addition, Lee Jae Myung’s government is committed to a pragmatic foreign policy focused on economic recovery, in a context where Russia was one of its main commercial partners before war. On the political level, the South Korean ideological division revolves around the position against the north: while the right insists on the rearme and the hardening of the defense, the left Defend the dialogue And he maintains that South Korea has no obligation with Ukraine. The recent political crisis derived from the attempt of declare martial law He has left many officials reluctant to expose themselves publicly or make decisions that may be subject to political attacks. Between ambiguity and paralysis. If you want, Seoul’s hermeticism can be understood as an extension of its traditional “strategic ambiguity”, an unwritten doctrine of not getting involved in international conflicts that may put their own relations with key actors such as China or Russia at risk. However, some analysts warn that this position is staying dangerously outdated Faced with threats that evolve in months while military bureaucracy continues to work with planning times that require years. Godzilla level. He told the Guardian The retired general Chun In-bum that South Korea faces a threat comparable to a “level 10, super Godzilla”, but his institutional apparatus still acts as if only saw a tiger. In his opinion, the South Korean military doctrine remains anchored in a paradigm prior to the era of drones and is not adapted to face an adversary that is assimilating, In real timethe lessons of the most brutal conflict of the 21st century. From its point of view, the country is in front of a train that approaches at full speed, and is still in time to move or prepare, but not for much more. Reconfigured future. In short, the Military cooperation Public between Russia and North Korea is already leaving a mark on the Asian power structure. Moscow is integrating Pyongyang into its logistics chain and long -term supplies, in an alliance that could alter regional military balance even after the war ends in Ukraine. Meanwhile, South Korea seems willing to Keep observing From the barrier, trapped between fear of conflict, economic calculation and a political class immobilized by polarization. The problem is that northern neighbors seem to be gaining experience, technology and internal prestige to full machine for his role in a real war. And in that scenario, the question no longer points to whether that experience will turn against Seoul, but rather when. Image | Morning Calm, Getharchive In Xataka | North Korea has been sending armament for months to Russia. In return, Russia is giving him what longs for her: a functional army In Xataka | Russia gave animals, artillery and raw to North Korea. His last gift places his army at another level: space

If the question is what China is giving Russia in the Ukraine War, we have news: a complete army

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At the beginning of July Bloomberg he took Some documents They showed how a little known firm based in Khabarovsk, at the eastern end of Russia, had emerged as one of the main drone manufacturers of the country. I did it thanks to a dense cooperation network Covering with Chinese companies. Now, Ukraine’s intelligence has shown something much bigger: Beijing is giving Moscow a 100% Made in China complete army. A new generation. The Ukraine Defense Intelligence Directorate (Gur) He has revealed The existence of a new type of Russian decoy drone manufactured entirely With Chinese componentsa disturbing milestone that shows the growing implication of Beijing in the Kremlin war machine. Although for years it is has documented the use of foreign pieces (including Chinese) in Russian arsenalthis would be the first time that an unmanned aerial system used in the Ukrainian front is completely built with technology from a single country: China. Chinese shahed. The drone, of the delta and reduced size, reminds superficially to the Shahed-136 Iranianbut it works mainly as a decoy to saturate Ukrainian aerial defenses, although it can also incorporate an explosive load of up to 15 kilos. The existence of this platform confirms that Russia has not only perfected its saturation tactics With drones, but has also consolidated new technological supply chains that avoid international sanctions. All the components and blocks of the drone are of Chinese origin Commercial components. Of the two drones recovered by the Gur, one of them contained exclusively Chinese pieceswhile the other included two still unidentified components. According to The investigationalmost half of the pieces of the first came from a single company: Cuav Technology Co., a Chinese firm based in Guangdong that It specializes in open source created systems. The components were flight controllers with autopilot functions, navigation modules, antennae and air speed sensors. The most notable is that this company, which in 2022 had publicly announced restrictions on the sale of products both to Russia and Ukraine to avoid its military use, has ended up starring in The technical nucleus of a new Russian weapon. The paradox. The contradiction is even more striking to know that Russia had previously presented a supposedly native vertical take -off drone that turned out to be a direct adaptation of a Cuav acquired product acquired Through Aliexpress. The fundamental difference with the new lure does not lies in the origin of its parts, but that it is now a Russian endogenous production based completely on Chinese technology, not a simple direct purchase. Some of the Chinese components found in a new Russian decoy drone AI and tactical expansion. Chinese involvement is not limited to passive electronics. Ukraine has documented The use of artificial intelligence in Russian drones as the V2Uwhich uses algorithms to Identify and select Objectives autonomously. This drone used a Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer and a central processor with Jetson Orin de Nvidia module, which reveals a combination of Western and Chinese hardwareused by Russia to incorporate AI capacities in its operations. In addition, Beijing has contributed to the development of fiber optic drones long journey, allowing Russia to extend the scope of these platforms up to 50 kilometers. This technology offers immunity against electronic interference and signal blockages, in addition to overcoming geographical obstacles that limit control via radio frequency. Thus, Beijin has endowed Kremlin with key tools to maintain Your tactical advantageespecially in an increasingly conditioned conflict for The electronic war and the saturation of enemy sensor. Foreign pieces war. We had gone counting In the previous months. Actually, the drone lure manufactured in China is only one more piece within the vast Russian war gear assembled with foreign components. The Gur has recovered multiple Russian arms systems (such as Shahed-136 drones, cruise missiles S-8000 flagcommand vehicles with Radar 9S932-1attack helicopters KA-52 and missiles KH-101) that They contained pieces Native of the United StatesIran, Taiwan, Switzerland, Japan or South Korea. In all cases, the parties escaped the export controls and ended Integrated in armament deployed on Ukraine. Even complete systems have been detected, Like a laser of Chinese origin designed for Brink Ukrainian droneswhose presence in Russia was confirmed after circulating videos on social networks. This transfer, identical to systems already provided By China to Iranreinforces the hypothesis of an active and sustained collaboration between both authoritarian regimes in the development of sophisticated weapons. China and implications. Although Beijing claims to maintain a neutral position before the war in Ukraine, its behavior seems the opposite. Filtered statements This month in CNN they revealed that Foreign Minister Wang Yi confessed to a meeting with the EU Foreign Policy Head of Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, which Beijing “cannot accept a Russian defeat” because it would allow the United States to focus their attention on containing China. In private, admitted that a prolonged war could benefit Beijing by distracting Washington from their strategic interests in Asia. This geopolitical calculation does not seem trivial: it reflects that for China, Ukraine is not a secondary issue, but A key piece on the global power board. His strategy seems to focus on keeping Russia sufficiently strong to erode Western influence, without compromising enough to become target of direct sanctions. The axis and the transformation of the conflict. Plus: unlike North Korea support (focused on Artillery, missiles and troops), the Chinese contribution It aims to silently mold the technological architecture of the conflict. The supply of microelectronics, complete platforms, AI tools and critical components has allowed Russia reconfigure your economy In war code and adapt your military industry to resist in the long term. A pattern that suggests that the flow of Chinese technology will not only continue, but will probably intensify, extending, perhaps, throughout the Russian arsenal. With Moscow Diplomatically isolated and financially pressedthe convenience alliance with Beijing is emerging as one of the most decisive variables in the future of war. Image | Gur In Xataka | It is not that the war is asymmetric, is that Russia is attacking with … Read more

A huge secret factory is tilting the balance in the Ukraine War. Russia is multiplying a relentless army

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The war in Ukraine has entered a stage of tactical saturation where volume, rather than sophistication, has become The decisive weapon. Russia It has increased And much the use of Shahed drone swarms in Russian territory under the Geran denominationmanaging to pierce Ukrainian defenses at an unprecedented rate. How much? A video has revealed what is about to happen. Swarm war. I remembered The Financial Times that, according to official data, between April and June 2025, the percentage of drones that managed to impact their objectives reached 15%tripling the success rate of the previous three months. It We count: On the night of July 9, he marked a record when Russia launched 728 Drones and Shahed, along with Kinzhal and Iskander Balistic missiles, in a clear attempt to saturate and overflow the Ukrainian aerial defenses. This tactic demonstrates that the massive use of cheap platforms can overcome expensive and sophisticated defense systems, exposing a critical point: the imbalance between cost and effectiveness in modern combat. Gera-3 and a lethal machine. The technical improvements introduced by Moscow in their drones have raised their effectiveness notably. Among them stands out The Geran-3a vturbocharged arizing capable of reaching speeds of up to 800 km/h in chopped, which makes it almost invulnerable to the traditional anti -aircraft weapons mounted in trucks, such as heavy machine guns. In addition, current shahed can fly to greater altitudeavoiding the optimal impact areas of terrestrial defenses. This change, rather than reflecting Ukrainian weakening, shows the Russian capacity to quickly adapt its attack doctrine and exploit the weaknesses of the adversary. The Night wavespersistent and combined with more sophisticated missiles, they seek to wear not only the technical defenses of Ukraine, but also the moral of their population and force political concessions through exhaustion. A horror factory. And this is where Russia’s last announcement appears. Moscow He has revealed to the world which describes as its greatest and more Secret drone plant: Alabuga’s industrial complex, in the Tartaristan region, where Geran suicide drones are assembled. The plant, located in the Yelabuga Industrial Park and officially launched in 2023, appears In a video of the Russian military channel Zvezda, who does not spare to show adolescents operating work stations and manipulating technological pieces in assembly lines. According to Timur ShagivalievExecutive Director of the Special Economic Zone of Alabuga, the installation has multiplied by nine its planned production, reaching a monthly rate of 5,200 units Between attack drones and lure models, which converts it, he says, “the largest plant of its kind in the world.” The scene, no doubt, is disturbing: teenagers building weapons designed to kill a great distance, while the Kremlin presumes a relentless manufacturing capacity. Geran-2, cheaper. If the third version is the most advanced, its predecessor, the direct version of the Shahed-136 Iranian, is the drone Factory Key. We talked about a 3.5 -meter device with a 50 kg eye, a cruise speed of 300 km/Hy a range of 1,800 km. Its estimated cost of between $ 35,000 and $ 49,000 makes it an affordable massive destruction tool, ideal to saturate enemy defensive systems. Compared to western interceptors such as Patriot missile (valued at several million dollars per unit) The Geran-2 embodies an asymmetric disruption: cheap, resistant, easy to manufacture in mass and with a devastating psychological effect. New strategic threshold. To the Russian drone industry, with that Alabuga factory At the head, news has been added that has put Ukraine alert. Russia prepares to achieve unprecedented attack capacity: the simultaneous launch of 2,000 drones against kyivaccording to the German general Christian FreudingHead of the Working Group for Ukraine of the Ministry of Defense of Germany. This figure, which completely redefines the scale of the unmanned war 2 million FPV and 30,000 long -range drones or lure, According to reports of Ukrainian external intelligence (Szru). Overwhelmed defense. Ukraine, meanwhile, has responded to all this machinara with a combination of classic techniques In interceptor drones. In fact, Zelenski recently announced a according to Eric Schmidtformer executive director of Google and current leader of Swift Beat, for the co -production of hundreds of thousands of drones, including interceptors. According to the Ukrainian president, these devices are already Broving dozens of Shaheds In each attack and begin to demonstrate good results, with hundreds of confirmed eliminations in just one week. In any case, to be effective against the new flight profile of Russian drones, these interceptors must reach speeds of at least 200 km/hy altitudes of up to 6 km, capacities that allow to counteract saturation attacks that easily overflow the Ukrainian mobile units armed with technology from the mid -twentieth century. Adaptation without truce. The scenario is part of a dynamic of continuous evolution Between offensive and defensive: A cycle of innovation and counter-innovation that accelerates exponentially. Andrew Turner, former Air Marshal of the Royal Air Force and current director of Saibre Capital, summed up in the Times This dynamic as a “persistent staircase and countermeasures that in Ukraine is renewed every 14 days.” Thus, the conflict has become an accelerated laboratory of unmanned air war, where the decisive factor is no longer the number of fighters or tanks, but the ability to produce and adapt swarms of autonomous machines at a faster pace that the enemy can respond. A single color. In short, the drone war In Ukraine it has reached a new level of complexity. On the one hand, Russia has managed to integrate successfully volume, speed and saturation to create a constant threat that escapes traditional air defense schemes. On the other, Ukraine, with foreign aid, begins to build a defensive layer equally decentralized and reactive based on interceptor drones. In this confrontation of swarms, the balance does not lean simply by the number of weapons, but by the speed with which each side Learn, adapt and scale Your production. The aerial battlefield has become an industrial and algorithmic competition, where software, distributed manufacturing and AI are replacing cannons and missiles as decisive tools of … Read more

It is not that the war is asymmetric, is that Russia is attacking with thermobárica and Ukraine with pellet shaheds with pellets

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The Ukraine War has been a pioneer in the massive drone usebut over the months the devices have had updates that have made them machines increasingly lethal. One of them was recently counted on the use of the double impact After the arrival of the Shahed. Now Russia has multiplied the scope of its deadliest weapon, and Ukraine can barely answer. Thermobaric load. The war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous phase with the growing use by Russia of Unidirectional Attack drones equipped with thermobárica ojas. These devices, commonly known Cempty pumpsthey disperse a cloud of aerosol fuel before detonating, generating an explosion that reaches temperatures greater than 2,000 ºC and that, in addition to razing structures, consumes the oxygen of the environment and causes devastating effects on human bodies. According to testimonies collected in Ukraine, such as that of Commander Oleksiy of the Territorial Defense Forces, the explosive burdens that were previously around 40 kg have reached 90 kgduplicating its destructive capacity. Although his unit has not yet managed to reduce these larger drones, their appearance in military reports since end of last year Point out a significant change in the danger scale. These systems can not only destroy several -story houses and buildings, but they are particularly lethal in closed spaces, where the expansive wave and vacuum caused have devastating effects. Russian adaptation. The use of thermobaric ammunition is not new in Russian military doctrine. They were already denounced in previous conflicts as in Afghanistan and Chehenia, and more recently in the first bars of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine with systems such as the RuncoCohetes TOS-1A. However, the novelty now lies in the delivery medium: Russia has begun to integrate this type of weapons into Shahed-136 dronescapable of “loungeing” about an objective before impacting. This tactical transformation allows Moscow Expand the number of high -power attacks without depending on larger and more vulnerable platforms to radars. According to Kateryna Stepanenko, from the War Study Institute, this adaptation has allowed Russia to intensify the bombings to civil infrastructureas recently happened In Járkovalready military positions in the front. The most disturbing thing is that these weapons, being integrated into modest but precise platforms, allow much greater and, of course, more difficult to intercept than conventional systems. Limited responses. In response to this growing threat, Ukraine has intensified its efforts to neutralize production centers of these explosives. In early July, the Ukrainian army attacked a Russian factory dedicated to the manufacture of Thermobárica ojivas for Shahedin an attempt to stop the supply in origin. In this way, the magnitude of the challenge does nothing but grow. Moscow has begun to launch massive attacks combining hundreds of missiles, explosive drones and lure systems designed to exhaust Kyiv’s anti -aircraft defense reserves. In a single day, the Ukrainian Air Force reported a Attack with almost 270 drones and artifact lure, of which they managed to demolish approximately two thirds. Although these interception percentages are high, the constant saturation of these attacks puts in tension defensive capabilities of Ukraine, which cannot replace its air defense systems with the same speed with which Russia can manufacture its kamikaze drones. A new solution: pellets. They counted in Insider that the Ukrainian defense is forming a new type of rifle ammunition. Unlike traditional projectiles, these bullets Anti -Didstock 5.56 mm They contain a load that, after traveling a certain distance, is fragmented into multiple pellets, increasing the probability of impacting small aerial targets. Developed by The Brave1 programpart of the Ukrainian military innovation ecosystem, these ammunition seek to replace the current tactics of demolishing drones with 12 caliber shotguns, a method that requires units transporting additional weapons and dangerously approaching the target. With these ammunition, the infantry soldier will be able to use his standard weapon to face aerial threats more quickly, safely and efficiently, which represents a key adaptation in the tactical evolution of the conflict. New ammunition. The new Ukrainian design, which has not been in detail, is described as a personalized design eye dispersed dense fragments at high speed, allowing the shooter to cover a larger volume with a single shot. This type of ammunition transforms the conventional rifle into a portable anti -aircraft defense tool, compact and available for any infant, without the need for specialized resentment or additional logistics. The declared objective is that each soldier in the front can carry this type of cartridges and react quickly to sudden aerial threats. Artisanal solution Interestingly, the idea of Anti -Didron bullets is not exclusive to Ukraine. Russia too has experienced with improvised versions, with cartridges of 5.45 mm modified for AK Rifles. The ammunition carries a thermoretractile tube that contains four pellets, designed to disperse after the shot. In fact, several videos They show Russian soldiers manually manufacturing these projectiles, cutting tips and assembling the tubes in impromptu tables. The initiative reflects the same urgency for counteracting drones without depending on sophisticated, expensive or scarce systems. The future and ethical dilemma. Regarding the integration of Thermobaric ammunition In drones, not only expands the scale of the conflict, but also raises new legal and moral dilemmas. These weapons, for their ability to cause indiscriminate damage and extreme suffering, have been Controversy object in human rights organizations. Its systematic use in urban areas could be considered a war crime if the deliberate intention of attacking civilians is demonstrated. However, beyond the legal aspect, what is manifested is a dangerous technical evolution: Russia has managed to combine three key elements (lethality, low cost and high availability) in a formula that can redefine conventional war. While Ukraine and Western Allies They seek to counteract This threat through preventive attacks, improvements in detection systems and the development of new countermeasures, the technological career between attacker and defender is accelerating alarmingly, and increasingly asymmetric. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian cities and their population continue to pay the highest price, exposed to a type of offensive that combines Surgical precision with a level of destruction comparable … Read more

Drones have become the great threat of Ukraine. So you are covering kilometers of roads with nets

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Neither tanks nor mines nor sophisticated fighters. What really removes the dream of the soldiers who fight in the Ukraine War (and it is a feeling shared by both sides) are The dronesunmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) loaded with explosives. So much so that the military have baptized the 10 km strip that extends to each side of the front as “Zone of Death”an area infested with remote piloted drones and that can neutralize their objectives with a much lower investment than would require a similar missile. The UAV play such an important role in the war that a curious picture is left: kilometers and more kilometers of road protected with networks. A landscape covered with networks. To complicated problems, imaginative solutions. The France-Presse (AFP) agency has published A chronicle in which he tells how the war between Ukraine and Russia is having a curious effect on the wide range of the front: it is covering it with networks. Networks and more green networks that are installed on post -high posts along kilometers of road in the region of Donetskone of the great stages of war. AFP recounts how Ukrainians are riding that vast tangle of networks to cover their main supply routes, but the panorama is not very different on the other side of the front. The Russians have also set to work to perform a similar task. “Let’s weave nets, just like spiders! We do it for birds without extremely dangerous feathers,” Ironiza In April a nicknamed ‘Ares’. But what birds are those? Drones Drones swarms, surveillance vehicles, kamikazes or equipped with explosives that suppose a serious threat to soldiers and civilians. With meshes the military seeks to repel them in a seemingly as simple as effective way. “When a drone impacts the network, a short circuit occurs and cannot attack vehicles,” Explain To the French agency Denis, a commander of the 27 -year -old engineers. The initiative is not entirely new. A few months ago We told you Already how Ukraine was taking advantage of tons of old Danish fishing networks to repel Russian drones. Now already measure that the Ukraine War is on its way to turning three and a half its use seems to be extending on the front. In March a small sailor town of Jutlandia, Thyborøn, It was news precisely by donating 450 tons of drag networks made of nylon fibers. In origin, meshes were thought to capture tons of fish, but they have also been useful to keep drones away from strategic objectives, especially as the expanding the Fiber optic modelscapable of making fun of devices that cut the connection with the pilots. The drone war. It may seem exaggerated, but if for something the Ukraine War is highlighting, it is precisely because of the role that drones and the threat they represent for soldiers. Reuters cites today Internal reports of kyiv that confirm that the UAV already represent about 69% of the attacks against Russian troops. Moreover, in 2024 they were behind 75% of the attacks undertaken against vehicles and equipment. They are percentages that far exceed those of the use of conventional artillery, which move between 15 and 18%. The great threat. Reuters cites a squad commander, Ivan, 35, who Openly recognize That the soldiers of both sides see the unmanned aerial vehicles already as the main threat to their lives. Your swarms too They take away the dream In the cities, kilometers away from the front. Yesterday Russia launched An attack against Dobropillia as part of an offensive that included the use of hundreds of drones. His role is so relevant that Mark Boris Andrijanic, Slovenian politician, has published An analysis in which it slides that an increase in drones financed by the West would allow war. Images | Ann-Sophie Qvarström (Flickr), Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (Flickr) and Trong Khiem Nguyen (Flickr) In Xataka | The Ukraine War is getting rid, first of all, with drones. And that is leaving an infinite fiber optic trail through the field

The war enters the field of science fiction. Ukraine has captured Russian soldiers without humans: the robots did it

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In the last hours two unpublished facts have been known in the Ukraine War. The first of all occurred a few hours after Trump announced the Partial resumption of sending weapons to kyiv and criticize hard To Putin. Then Russia launched The biggest attack with long -range drones from the beginning of the war. The second goes directly to History booksbecause Ukraine has stopped Russian troops only through machines. Drones and robots on the front line. In an unparalleled event in modern military history, the 3rd separate assault brigade of Ukraine managed to capture Russian soldiers Without using infantry human, using exclusively aerial drones and terrestrial robotic platforms. The operation, announced on July 9 by official Ukrainian sources, represents a unprecedented milestone In the evolution of automated combat, marking the first time enemy soldiers surrender directly to unmanned systems. According to The statement of the brigade, the terrestrial drones were the immediate receptors of the surrender, an event that until now belonged to the science fiction and that has now materialized in the context of the war in Ukraine. Asymmetric technology and war. The operation took place in the Járkov region, northeast of the country, an area high intensity on the front from the beginning of the large -scale invasion by Russia. The Ukrainian unit deployed FPV drones and robotic platforms Kamikaze -type terrestrial to assault Russian fortifications that had resisted previous attacks from other units. These tools, developed as part of a national strategy to reduce human casualties and adapt to a saturated artillery and surveillance war theater, allowed Ukrainian forces to execute an offensive Without exposing directly to your soldiers. According to Brigade’s storythe drones destroyed several Russian positions, and as a terrestrial robot approached a partially damaged shelter, the Russian soldiers entrenched there chose to surrender, without there being human presence in the immediate vicinity. An automated capture. After the surrender, the prisoners were guided outside the fighting zone by The same drones Ukrainians, in a sequence more typical of fantastic literature that demonstrates not only the offensive capacity of these systems, but also their effectiveness to operate complex tasks such as custody and remote control of enemy movements rendered. Subsequently, the Russian soldiers were taken in custody by Ukrainian forces. The success of this maneuver, they tell, not only allowed capture without direct physical contact, but also facilitated the taking of the fortifications previously defended, as well as the control of a adjacent forest line of considerable tactical value. New military paradigm. No doubt, the episode not only shows the degree of sophistication achieved in Ukraine in the matter of Automated warbut also raises fundamental questions about the future of land combat. The Rendary against drones Terrestres is a radical turn in the psychological dynamics of the battlefield: the soldiers, in this case Russians, did not face visible, human enemies, but to silent machines that approached relentlessly, having destroyed all previous defenses. This type of deployment, which mixes destructive capacity with occupation and control functions, anticipates a new paradigm where direct human interaction could become exceptional even in capture operations. Russia attack in Ukraine An unprecedented offensive. But as we said, if the capture of Russian soldiers was a historical fact of modern wars, Russia’s attack It is not precedents From the beginning of the invasion. On one night that could redefine the limits of the unmanned air war, Russia unleashed the greatest drone attack, launching 728 Shahed drones (including lures) and 13 missiles, including feared Kinzhalagainst 741 objectives throughout the country. The epicenter of the attack was the city of Lutsk, in the Ukrainian northwest, a few kilometers From the border with Polandwhich caused the Polish and NATO Air Forces to be deployed in maximum alert. According to kyivmost of the projectiles were intercepted, especially thanks to electronic warfare systems, although hypersonic missiles managed to cause unspecified damage. War in the front and in court. While the sky becomes a network of autonomous swarms, the situation on land remains marked by intense fighting No significant advances. Russian troops They continue to press In Sumy, Járkov, Luhansk and Donetsk, although reports indicate that Ukraine has contained attacks on most of those fronts. In parallel, a Russian soldier belonging to a criminal battalion He denounced publicly Inhuman conditions and the lack of gunner support, describing suicidal assaults in improvised vehicles and without air backup. On the legal level, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia has systematically violated human rights Since 2014including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced deportation of children and forced labor. The Kremlin, on the other hand, dismissed the ruling as “null and without effect.” Plans. They counted the Twz analysts that kyiv, anticipating a large -scale response, would be preparing a thousand drones long range against Russian objectives, including areas near Moscow. In addition, the Ukrainian Secret Service arrested Two Chinese citizens accused of trying to spy technologies of the Neptune missileused in the Moskva’s sinking and now adapted for long -range terrestrial attacks. On land, the proliferation of unmanned land vehicles, such as New UGV “Snail” Or improvised models with wheels made of mines, shows that automation not only dominates the heavens, but also advances on the mud and steel of the front. The war in Ukraine, ultimately, thus enters a phase every time More hybrid and technological of the traditional forms of combat. The contest, that already It had been a pioneer In use massive drones Of recognition and attack, another threshold has crossed, this time historical and unimaginable does not so much: the surrender of soldiers against machines. Image | Arx Robotics, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, Emergency Service of Ukraine In Xataka | The production of Russian drones was so huge that Ukraine has opened them looking for clues. The surprise is China In Xataka | We were accustomed to seeing strange things in Ukraine, but this is different: ships and bombers with no one behind the wheel

The production of Russian drones was so huge that Ukraine has opened them looking for clues. The surprise is China

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The situation It is not new In Ukraine. In the past they have opened Russian Shahed and other intercepted models to find out what was behind the device. Thus they found some paradoxes of the war, such as the fact that Moscow drones carried a wide variety of components of the United States or of kyiv’s allies. However, from a while to this part, Russian production was so immense that suspicions began. Someone else should be behind, and a document has just revealed it. Made in China. First it was Intelligence of Ukraine. Russia is managing to maintain and expand its weapons production despite Western sanctions, and is achieving it thanks to the constant supply of electronic components and materials from Chinaaccording to Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian commissioner for sanctions, in a context of intensification of Russian attacks with missiles and drones. The recent appearance of Manufactured parts In China in Shahed-136/Geran-2 drones recovered in Kyiv, added to previous reports on the involvement of Chinese companies in the Russian military supply chain, it reinforced what Ukraine qualifies as a Alcanza trend In Chinese technological support to Moscow. Vlasiuk warned that Beijing is not only expanding its logistics role, but already replicates US technologies, which increases its ability to support the Russian military complex. The document that certifies it. From the first bars of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has urgently sought forms of strengthen your arsenal of drones, key in the new paradigm of asymmetric war that is fought both in the front and in the sky. An essential part of that answer It has been Aero-Hita little known firm based in Khabarovsk, at the eastern end of Russia, which has emerged as one of the main drone manufacturers of the country thanks to a dense network of covert cooperation with Chinese companies. That is precisely what has been revealed thanks to documents obtained by Bloomberg. The medium counted a few hours ago how, despite Western sanctions, Russia has managed to channel components, technical knowledge and sensitive technologies From China Through intermediary companies, agreements in special customs areas and personal relationships with actors linked to both the industry and the Russian state apparatus. One of the Russian drones pieces shared by Ukrainian intelligence Strategic link. Aero-Hit’s production focuses on The Veles modela low -cost and high precision FPV drone that has already been deployed in military operations in zones Like sweaters. The United States Treasury Department itself sanctioned the company For the use of these drones against Ukrainian objectives, confirming their role in the Russian war machinery. The development of Veles has been reinforced by collaborations with Autel Roboticsa Chinese drone manufacturer that officially denies any link with Russia since 2022, but whose technology is repeatedly mentioned in the internal correspondence of Aero-Hit and in joint investment plans for more than 90 million dollars. A letter. According to a June 2025 letter published By Bloombergboth parties had restored technical contacts and negotiated the localized production of the model AUTEL EVO MAX 4Tan initially civil drone that has demonstrated high efficacy in combat thanks to its resistance to electronic interference. This process would not only imply integration into Russian systems, but also direct transfer Firmware, purification methods and repair capabilities, which reinforces the strategic value of the agreement. Khabarovsk: Moscow-Pekín axis pole. The epicenter of this operation is The city of Khabarovska few 30 kilometers from the Chinese border. There, since 2022, agreements have been woven between the Komax company (Property of the exagent of the KGB and occupation senator in Jersón Konstantin Basyuk) and representatives of the Chinese government, including officials in the Harbin Free Zone and the prestigious Harbin Technology Institute (HIT), a university linked to the Popular Liberation Army and sanctioned by the United States for developing advanced weapons. Between 2022 and 2023 They formalized plans To create an assembly plant with customs tax advantages, including sending 100 drone kits From China and official visits to Factories from Shenzhen, including the headquarters of Autel Robotics. The initiative received high-level political support, with meetings between Russian officials and Chinese executives during the Chinese-Russia Business Forum of 2024, and was cataloged as “priority” By Yury Trutnev, special envoy of the Kremlin for the Far East. Intermediaries and camouflage network. Bloomberg underlined that Aero-Hit, officially registered after these contacts, has undercover its relationship with China through a intermediary networkwhich includes fictitious or camouflaged signatures under other activities (such as air catering companies, seafood distribution or real estate logistics) that serve to manage orders, billing and transport. More: Documents of March and August 2024 show Drones deliveries to units deployed in Jersón and official requests from the Russian Defense Ministry to acquire thousands of Veles units, together with antennas and accessories. Companies such as Renewsio-Invest and Shenzhen Huasheng Industry (both sanctioned by the United States) have been key in the supply of pieces and electronics from China, even after the new commercial restrictions imposed by Beijing in 2023. Although some Chinese firms retired from the project for fear of sanctions, others They occupied their placeguaranteeing the continuity of the supply chain. Ukrainian forces after intercepting a Russian shahed Official ambiguity and mutual benefit. Autel Robotics has insisted on deny any link With Russia or Aero-Hit since February 2022, claiming that it is a civil company without military licenses and with strict compliance policies. However, the Documents obtained They suggest that links could be mediating through individual engineers, subsidiaries or intermediary vendors. Beijing, meanwhile, argues that he has never delivered lethal weapons to no side in war and strictly controls two -use goods exports such as drones, although the real depth of Chinese government knowledge about these transfers continues without clarifying. The persistence of technological flow from China to Russia raises uncomfortable questions about the effectiveness of the sanctions regime global and about the nature of the declared neutrality By the Government of Xi Jinping, at a time when the diplomatic pressure on Beijing intensifies. Prolonged war perspectives. Meanwhile, the Aero-Hit … Read more

Ukraine has borrowed the most basic idea of ​​Lego. And has transformed it into the final machine for war

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Drones with shotguns of double cannonrobots Lanzaluelaunmanned vessels With missilesairplanes With shotgunsdevices with kilometer cables of optical fiber Looking for its goal through algorithms … The war in Ukraine became the largest war laboratory of modern contests, but in recent months that transformation has become more palpable than ever. Because soldiers are no longer recruited, they are recruited directly robots. Modular fights. They counted this week In Insider that among the key actors of this unprecedented experimentation of military terrestrial robotics is the company Estonia Milrem Roboticswhose land autonomous vehicle Themis It has been deployed by the Ukrainian forces on the front. The striking, however, is not only the presence of these systems, but the way in which Ukrainian soldiers are using them: unforeseen and highly creative. Kuldar Väärsi, founder of the company, He has highlighted that troops have managed to expand their abilities by adding modifications, adaptations and even using them to Not expected taskssuch as collection of corpses, controlled explosions, supply transport or mines. In a context where each resource can mean life or death, tactical innovation is born directly from the front. Military Lego. The Thanmis model can load up to 1,200 kgmove at 20 km/Hy wearing weapons like machine guns or launcherin addition to acting in evacuation, transport or deactivation tasks. However, its real value lies in its modularity: it is an adaptable system, almost like a set of War Legoaccording to Oleksandr Yabncanka, head of robotized systems of the Da Vini Wolves battalion. Without having specialized models for each mission, the Ukrainian units use a single type of robot as a common basis They modify according to your operational needs. This flexibility reflects a generalized philosophy in the Ukrainian army since the beginning of the conflict: improvise, adapt, survive. Fifth Generation Themis Military reinvention. Since the first year of war, Ukraine has been synonymous with reuse and Technical creativity. He has re -adapted Western lanzamisiles to Soviet platforms, mounted machine guns old in trucks, modified drones Commercial for suicidal missions and created mills such as unmanned ships and turrets with artificial intelligence. Milrem is not the only company at stake: local companies such as Roboneers either FRDMtogether with European signatures such as ARX ​​Robotics (Germany) or Isolit-Bavo (Czech), are actively collaborating in the design and deployment of new models of land robots. This confluence between foreign industry, local operators and tactical demands generates an eInnovation sew that had not been seen before on this scale. The war of the future. Be that as it may, there is a name that has risen above the other models. Bloomberg explained it With a scene: on the wooded banks of the Dnieper River, on the outskirts of kyiv, two small robotic vehicles descend towards the sand as if they were mechanized crabs. One transports food, the other sowing anti -tank mines. It is about Termit modelTangible symbol of how Ukraine, after three and a half years of total war against Russia, has become the forge of a new war paradigm: a war based on modular technology, cheap and fast to produce. In a context of scarcity, urgency and systematic improvisation, the country has managed to create an arms ecosystem that rivals (for its agility and efficiency) with the great industrial powers. Already the 40% of the armament which uses comes from National Sourcesand according to Zelenski, this autonomy can serve as model for allies of NATO that face an increasingly volatile and dangerous geopolitical future. Military production, as he says Oleksandr Kamyshin experthas become the oil of Ukraine, the resource on which its survival is constructed. Ukrainian Termit Models Robot and converted engineers. The case dE Maksym Vasylchenko embodies the metamorphosis of the country. In 2022 he worked by installing food machinery for international companies; today directs Tencorea startup that has developed The Termitthose modular robots that already use more than twenty military units in the front. With satellite connectivity Via Starlink and load transport capacity, evacuation of wounded or deployment of mines, these vehicles They have replaced to soldiers in areas of maximum risk, not only because they are more expendable, but for its lower cost: a basic termit It costs $ 20,000while the death of a soldier supposes the State a nearby total compensation at 380,000. A different company. Of five initial employees to early 2024Tencore has grown to 175 workers, six venues, and projections of 80 million dollars In annual income. All driven by direct collaboration with combatants: a chat with forty active users serves as a constant feedback channel, where every five or ten minutes suggestions are provided. This agility, impossible in the processes of acquiring Western governments, is one of the keys to the success of the Ukrainian model. An army of termit ready for operations An area of ​​death. We have coming counting: The war in Ukraine has established a new operational environment dominated by low cost drones. Approximately the 70% of the Russian team destroyed has fallen by unmanned vehicles, many of them converted commercial adaptations. These FPV units already operate in almost any climatic condition, deliver blood in trenches or attack tanks with surgical precision. The battlefield has become constant, immediate and three -dimensional, expanding the call Kill Zone At any time and place. At the beginning of June, Ukraine demonstrated its offensive capacity coordinated to the destroy bombers strategic in Russian bases that went from the north of the country to Siberia. The traditional logic of the front has been replaced by a decentralized war where the direct human risk is reduced to the minimum possible thanks to autonomous, fast and sacrifiable platforms. The Russian answer. Of course, Moscow has not lagged behind. As We have spoken For weeks, ha adapted the drones Iranian Shahed to your needs and has begun to display vehicles Fiber cable guided optics, which makes them immune to electronic interference. In May, the Russian production of combat drones increased 17% In a single month. The Russian strategy is clear: standardization, volume and industrial … Read more

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