Family and colleagues mourn beloved Kyiv teacher killed in a Russian strike
Last week, she perished in a Russian strike on a nine-story building in the Svyatoshinsky district of the capital. The attack, which targeted multiple neighborhoods in Kyiv, claimed the lives of 31 people, including five children, making it the deadliest to hit the capital since the full-scale invasion.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
False Flags, Fake Flags: Propaganda Muddles the Trump-Putin Meeting
The meeting in Alaska between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has spawned a miasma of propaganda and disinformation, online trolling and unhinged conspiracy theories. Russia's Defense Ministry warned this week, without evidence, that Ukraine was planning to stage a false attack on its own soil for the benefit of 'Western reporters' and blame it on the Russians in an effort to disrupt the talks. The claim, posted in English by the Foreign Ministry on X, spread widely in Russian media and online, according to Alliance4Europe, an organization that tracks disinformation. (A Russian drone did strike Sumy, in northeastern Ukraine on Friday, according to Ukrainian reports, but the attack did not cause the 'large number of casualties' the Defense Ministry claimed would happen in a provocation.) False claims by Russia about the war have become routine, but in the United States, a website with a history of spreading disinformation also echoed Russian efforts to disparage Ukraine ahead of Friday's meeting by fabricating the foiling of an assassination plot. The website claimed on Tuesday that the United States Army's 10th Special Forces Group had killed a would-be Ukrainian assassin in Wasilla, a town north of Anchorage, according to NewsGuard, a company that tracks disinformation online. No such killing took place, but the conspiratorial theme spread across social media platforms including X, Instagram, Substack and Rumble, NewsGuard said. One post on X from a user that previously promoted the QAnon conspiracy claimed there were two assassins who intended to kill 'both Trump and Putin.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Russia's Shahed-136 Drones Are Laying Anti-Tank Mines
Russia is now apparently using the Shahed-family drones to lay anti-tank mines, echoing a tactic used by Ukrainian multi-rotor 'bomber' drones, though with very different advantages. Though it's unclear how widely this new use for the Shahed is being employed, it represents yet another challenge to Ukraine from a drone that has terrorized the country for years now. A new video emerged on social media showing at least one of the delta-winged uncrewed aircraft dropping PTM-3 anti-tank mines from canisters attached underneath the Shahed's blended flying-wing-like fuselage. Each canister contains one mine, released by a small explosive charge, which is visible in the video. At least two Ukrainian vehicles appear to have struck the mines. Russian drones dropping anti-tank mines on roads. — Clash Report (@clashreport) August 10, 2025 'Today on our channel is the premiere of the latest drone tactics against ground-moving targets,' wrote the Russian NGP-Razvedka military Telegram channel, which posted the video on Sunday. 'Some time ago, the enemy posted anxious messages claiming that under the wing of the Geranium [the Russian name for Shaheds] were found cassettes with mines, suspended with unknown purposes. The malicious NgP soldiers were testing some technologies, but silently.' 'The Geranium conducts remote mining of enemy supply routes in real time, resulting in one transport unit going down, while another with shredded infantry manages to escape, though not very far in such a state,' NGP-Razvedka claimed in an explanation of what is seen in the video. 'The guidance system will be refined, the tactics of use expanded, and the logistics of the Nazis will be turned into a complete nightmare. The range of the Geranium is over 1,000 km (621 miles), do you get what that means?' The use of Shaheds to drop mines was first revealed last week by the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) after one of the drones was shot down in the Sumy region. 'This method allows the enemy to remotely mine roads, agricultural lands, and more,' NPU explained on its Telegram channel. 'The PTM-3 mine, small in size, in a plastic casing, has a magnetic detonator and reacts to machinery that is nearby or passing by.' The NPU post included four images of the system recovered from the recovered Shahed, which you can see below. The police urged 'citizens to be vigilant and careful! This especially applies to drivers of any machinery working in the fields, as well as those moving along field roads where visibility of the road surface is limited due to grass vegetation.' NPU also warned anyone finding one of these mines to contact authorities immediately. 'This also applies to enemy UAVs detected that did not explode upon falling,' NPU added. 'In addition to a powerful warhead, they may also contain mine traps or sensors that can trigger an explosion if tampered with.' The PTM-3 is a Soviet-era scatterable anti-tank mine that can be deployed either by hand, vehicle, artillery, or helicopter, according to the U.S. Army. The mine's case 'is configured to produce a shaped charge effect on five sides,' the Army noted. 'Once deployed, the mine arms itself after 60 seconds. The mine uses a magnetic influence fuze that detonates the mine when a vehicle passes over it. It is also reported to have an anti-handling device that is sensitive to movement.' Using Shaheds to drop mines is the latest development of the Iranian-designed weapon that first appeared on the battlefield for Russia in September 2022. They have been frequently improved on since and have become by far Russia's main standoff weapons, used to cause widespread damage across Ukraine. In addition to adding new capabilities like jet engines and new tactics for evading Ukrainian air defenses, Russia is drastically increasing the number of the drones it is producing. As we have previously noted, while Russia initially relied on Iran to supply its Shaheds, it now produces its own at the rate of 2,000 per month with plans to nearly triple that in the not-too-distant future. It is by far the primary method by which Russia launches long-range strikes into Ukraine. Another major concern is the infusion of AI into the Shahed-136 airframe, which is already underway. This will have massive repercussions, which we discussed in great detail a year and a half ago in this previous feature. Not only do we not know how frequently Russia is using Shaheds to drop mines, it is also unclear how many of the systems they have and if the concept is still in a highly experimental state. It is possible that these operate near the front lines, with a human in the loop controlling them. Standard Shahed-136s operate autonomously on autopilot and fly to a fixed target area before diving toward it and detonating. By using man-in-the-loop control, it would provide more agile use of the drones for mining roadways near the front and higher sortie rates. The need for two-way communications to control the drone would be the big limiting factor when it comes to its range and, to some extent, its survivability. On the other hand, the Shahed could be following a planned route on autopilot, dropping the mines as programmed. This would be a very concerning development as the drones could mine roadways hundreds of miles deep into Ukraine, where no mines would be expected. Again, we discussed the worry that Shaheds will become a far more dynamic threat deep in Ukraine in our past piece linked here. With this in mind, the video we are seeing could be early combat trials footage from man-in-the-loop nearby mining operations. If not, it would require an autopiloted Shahed to return to friendly territory for the video to be physically recovered from the drone or it would have to uploaded opportunistically via cellular networks while deep over Ukraine. We just don't know the current or planned concept of operations for these mining-optimized Shaheds at this time. Meanwhile, Shaheds aren't the only drones Russia is using to deliver PTM-3s. Moscow is now starting to use the mines as warheads for its Lancet line of loitering munitions, according to the Ukrainian Militarnyi media outlet. However, instead of being dropped by Lancets, they are getting installed as the drone's primary kinetic device. With a total weight of 4.9 kg, the PTM-3s pack a stronger punch than the standard KZ-6 warhead, Militarnyi noted. The site offered no information about how widely the PTM-3s are being used in this manner. Moscow is far behind in using bomber drones to drop mines in this manner, one drone expert claims. 'Using a Geran-2 (Shahed) long-range strike UAV to drop just two PTM-3 anti-tank landmines on frontline roads reflects the pathetic failure of Russia to develop a heavy-lift drone fleet,' an open-source expert using the Grandpa Roy X account stated on the social media platform. 'Ukraine has used its large heavy drone fleet to precision place many thousands of PTM-3s.' Using a Geran-2 (Shahed) long-range strike UAV to drop just two PTM-3 anti-tank landmines on frontline roads reflects the pathetic failure of Russia to develop a heavy lift drone has used its large heavy drone fleet to precision place many thousands of PTM-3s.1/ — Roy (@GrandpaRoy2) August 11, 2025 With the increasing numbers of Shaheds being produced and plentiful PTM-3s, widespread use of these weapons would pose additional danger to a Ukrainian logistics system already under tremendous pressure from Moscow's ubiquitous attack drones. If the drones are able to scatter these mines virtually anywhere in Ukraine, taking advantage of their long-range, than that could prove to be a terrible problem for Ukrainian military personnel and civilians alike. Contact the author: howard@ Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine Sinks Russian Cargo Ship In Caspian Sea
Ukraine has carried out an audacious drone strike on the Caspian Sea port of Olya, in Russia's Astrakhan region, hitting one cargo vessel that Kyiv says was being used to transport arms from Iran. U.K.-based maritime security firm Ambrey confirmed to TWZ that this is the first time that a direct attack of this kind had been made on Olya and that it had resulted in one ship sunk. It also appears to be the first time that Ukraine has successfully targeted any kind of vessel in the Caspian Sea area. According to the Ukrainian military, the attack on Olya yesterday was carried out by units of the country's special operations forces, in coordination with other branches of the armed forces. The cargo vessel that was hit was the 400-foot-long, 4,900-gross-ton Port Olya-4, and imagery from the port shows the ship partially submerged, while it was alongside at anchor. Extensive scorch marks on the bridge and superstructure of the Russia-flagged vessel suggest that this was the likely point of impact. Unconfirmed reports, relayed by Ambrey, suggested that all of the crew had been rescued. The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces and other AFU units "struck" the Caspian Sea port of Olya sinking the general cargo ship, "Port Olya 4." The ship was reportedly carrying components for Shaheds and ammunition from Iran. Imagery of the sunken vessel shows extensive fire… — OSINT Intuit (@UKikaski) August 15, 2025 The Ukrainian military said the Port Olya-4 was being used to carry drone components and ammunition from Iran. The drone components reportedly included parts for the Shahed-type drones that Russia has employed heavily in its regular strikes on Ukraine. Russia is now building more than 2,000 of these long-range one-way attack drones each month, with that number only expected to grow in the coming months. While the precise nature of the cargo cannot be confirmed at this point, both the U.S. Treasury Department and Ukrainian military intelligence report that the vessel regularly transits the Caspian Sea, bringing cargo between Iran and Russia. Ukrainian Armed Forces bombed a Russian cargo ship carrying 'Shaheds' in the Astrakhan port The ship Port Olya 4 was transporting Shahed-type UAVs and Iranian ammunition, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported. The strike took place on August 14. The… — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 15, 2025 Last September, the U.S. Treasury and State Department imposed sanctions on ships and shipping firms it said were involved in supplying Russia with Iranian weapons. It's unclear what kind of drone Ukraine used to target the port, with no clarification from the Ukrainian military on this point. Kyiv has relied heavily on drones for long-range attacks against targets in Russia and occupied Crimea. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had shot down an undisclosed number of Ukrainian drones over nine regions, although it did not mention that any were brought down over the Astrakhan region. However, the Russian defense ministry did say that one Ukrainian drone was downed over neighboring Kalmykia. Subsequently, Russian authorities confirmed a drone attack on Olya. The governor of the Astrakhan region stated that all the drones had been 'suppressed by electronic warfare or destroyed [and] no damage was caused to the port infrastructure… [but] a ship was damaged by debris from a downed UAV.' This year, Ukraine has maintained a steady tempo of long-range drone strikes against Russia, with a particular focus on oil refineries and other energy infrastructure. However, ports have also been important targets. According to the Ukrainian military, ports and terminals account for seven percent of its successful strikes on Russian territory since the start of the year. As well as the port of Olya, Ukrainian forces also struck the Syzran oil refinery in Russia's Samara region overnight, which produces a range of fuels and belongs to oil company Rosneft. Multiple strikes hit Russia overnight, damaging the Syzran oil refinery — one of the largest in Rosneft's system, according to Russian media. Its shutdown or damage could cause a regional fuel shortage. — NOELREPORTS (@NOELreports) August 15, 2025 In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said the attack on the Syzran refinery led to a fire and explosions. Samara's regional governor confirmed that a drone attack caused a fire at an unspecified 'industrial enterprise' in his region, but claimed that it had been put out quickly. The timing of these latest strikes is notable, coming hours before the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska. The two leaders will be discussing the war in Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials have not been invited. As for the latest attack on Olya, it is also significant for the apparent targeting of a single vessel, a comparatively very rare direct Ukrainian attack on a merchant ship. It appears that Ukraine attacked a particular ship known to be carrying drone parts, making it a very high-priority target and reflecting the reality that, as of now, the Shahed series is by far the most important method by which Russia launches long-range strikes into Ukraine. It had long been expected that Ukraine might start to target vessels running arms deliveries from Iran to Russia, and this has now become a reality. Together with expanded long-range drone technology, we may now see a systemic interdiction campaign against these vessels. Also important is the fact that this is the first known instance of Ukraine sinking a vessel in the Caspian Sea, extending its operations into a new area. Regardless, the operation underscores Ukrainian efforts to undermine Russia's devastating long-range drone strikes, which now include prosecuting key logistics hubs used for importing military supplies from Iran. Contact the author: thomas@ Solve the daily Crossword
