How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump Firstpost America
How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump | Firstpost America | N18G
How Ukraine's Drone Assault on Russia Was a Message Donald Trump | Firstpost America | N18G
Ukraine launched its most far-reaching drone attack yet, striking deep into Russian territory and claiming to destroy 40 military aircraft worth $7 billion. President Zelensky called it a 'brilliant' operation, planned over 18 months. Russia admitted some aircraft were damaged and said it intercepted 162 drones. Meanwhile, 12 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a Russian strike, prompting the resignation of Ukraine's land forces commander. Despite escalating violence, Russian and Ukrainian officials are meeting in Istanbul for a second round of peace talks. Moscow plans to present a 'peace memorandum,' demanding Kyiv drop NATO ambitions. But with both sides continuing attacks, the negotiations appear symbolic, with little sign of real compromise to end Europe's most devastating war since WWII.
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Hindustan Times
25 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Ukraine hit fewer Russian planes than it estimated, US officials say
* US officials estimate 10 Russian warplanes destroyed in Ukraine drone attack * Ukraine's operation 'Spider's Web' targeted four Russian air bases with drones * Risk of escalation seen rising as Ukraine strikes Russia's nuclear-capable bombers WASHINGTON, - The United States assesses that Ukraine's drone attack over the weekend hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two U.S. officials told Reuters, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Still, the U.S. officials described the attack as highly significant, with one of them cautioning that it could drive Moscow to a far more severe negotiating position in the U.S.-brokered talks to end more than three years of war. Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow would have to respond to attack, Trump said in a social media post. Trump added it "was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace." Ukraine says it targeted four air bases across Russia using 117 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from containers close to the targets, in an operation codenamed "Spider's Web." It released footage on Wednesday showing its drones striking Russian strategic bombers and landing on the dome antennas of two A-50 military spy planes, of which there are only a handful in Russia's fleet. The two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated the Ukrainian strikes destroyed around 10 and hit up to 20 warplanes in total. That estimate is far lower than the one Zelenskiy offered to reporters in Kyiv earlier on Wednesday. He said half of the 41 Russian aircraft struck were too damaged to be repaired. Reuters could not independently verify the numbers from Kyiv or the United States. Russia, which prioritizes its nuclear forces as a deterrent to the United States and NATO, urged the United States and Britain on Wednesday to restrain Kyiv after the attacks. Russia and the United States together hold about 88% of all nuclear weapons. The United States says it was not given any notice by Kyiv ahead of the attack. The war in Ukraine is intensifying despite nearly four months of efforts by Trump, who says he wants peace after the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Russian and Ukrainian embassies also did not immediately reply. ESCALATION RISK Ukraine's domestic security agency, the SBU, said the damage to Russia caused by the operation amounted to $7 billion, and 34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields were hit. Commercial satellite imagery taken after the Ukrainian drone attack shows what experts told Reuters appear to be damaged Russian Tu-95 heavy bombers and Tu-22 Backfires, long-range, supersonic strategic bombers that Russia has used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine. Russia's Defence Ministry has acknowledged that Ukraine targeted airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan and Amur regions and were repelled in the last three locations. It has also said several aircraft caught fire in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions. The attack has bolstered Ukrainian morale after months of unrelenting Russian battlefield pressure and numerous powerful missile and drone strikes by Moscow's forces. It also demonstrated that Kyiv, even as it struggles to halt invading Russian forces, can surprise Moscow deep inside its own territory with attacks up to 4,300 km from the front lines. Influential Russian military bloggers have accused Russian authorities, especially the aerospace command, of negligence and complacency for allowing the nuclear-capable bombers to be targeted. Trump's Ukraine envoy said the risk of escalation from the war in Ukraine was "going way up," particularly since Kyiv had struck one leg of Russia's "nuclear triad," or weapons on land, in the air and at sea. "In the national security space, when you attack an opponent's part of their national survival system, which is their triad, the nuclear triad, that means your risk level goes up because you don't know what the other side is going to do," Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, told Fox News on Tuesday.
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Business Standard
41 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Microsoft offers to boost European governments' cybersecurity for free
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
US to veto UN Security Council resolution on Gaza ceasefire amid hostage concerns: Report
The US has informed Israel that it will later on Wednesday veto a United Nations Security Council demand for an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire' between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to a report read more The United States has informed Israel that it will later on Wednesday veto a United Nations Security Council demand for an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire' between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The 15-nation council will vote on a text - put forward by 10 members - that also demands aid access across the Palestinian enclave, where experts say famine looms and aid has only trickled in since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on May 19. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to a Times of Israel report, citing an Israeli official, the US believes the resolution fails to sufficiently hold Hamas accountable for the ongoing conflict and does not align with the Trump administration's current efforts to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages in Gaza. The US also argues that the resolution's call for the UN to resume aid distribution could undermine the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Washington supports to ensure aid reaches civilians without being diverted by Hamas, added the report. The vote marks the first time the UN Security Council will consider a substantive resolution on the Gaza war since US President Donald Trump took office, reported Times of Israel, citing the office of Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon. Danon is expected to tell the Council that 'anyone who supports a one-sided and biased resolution is effectively providing aid to Hamas,' his office said. 'Instead of pressuring Hamas to accept the framework currently on the table, there are those who believe international pressure will stop Israel. Our message is clear: No discussion or resolution will cause us to leave the hostages behind,' he added in the statement. The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in an October 7 attack and took some 250 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies. Many of those killed or captured were civilians. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. They do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants but say civilians have borne the brunt of the attacks and that thousands more bodies have been lost under rubble. With inputs from agencies
