Drones of defiance
A drone workshop in a basement in Ukraine. Should the peace talks fail, the drone initiative is likely to take on more importance than ever. — Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
THE Ukrainian soldiers rose in the predawn, stretching, rubbing their eyes and rolling up sleeping bags in a basement hideout near the front line in the country's east.
Their day would not take them far afield. Most stayed in the basement, working with keyboards and joysticks controlling drones.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
5 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Nato wants Zelenskyy's presence at summit, but does not want to anger Trump
Officials organising a Nato summit in The Hague this month are expected to keep it short, restrict discussion of Ukraine and choreograph meetings so that Volodymyr Zelenskyy can somehow be in town without provoking Donald Trump. Though the Ukrainian president is widely expected to attend the summit in some form, Nato has yet to confirm whether he is actually invited. Diplomats say he may attend a pre-summit dinner but be kept away from the main summit meeting. Whether the brief summit statement will even identify Russia as a threat or express support for Ukraine is still up in the air. The careful steps are all being taken to avoid angering Washington, much less provoking any repeat of February's White House blow-up between Trump and Zelenskyy that almost torpedoed the international coalition supporting Kyiv. Nato's European members, who see Russia as an existential threat and Nato as the principal means of countering it, want to signal their continued strong support for Ukraine. But they are also desperate to avoid upsetting a volatile Trump, who stunned them at a summit seven years ago by threatening to quit the alliance altogether. If Zelenskyy does not attend in some form, it would be "at least a PR disaster", acknowledged a senior Nato diplomat. Since Russia's invasion three years ago, Zelenskyy has regularly attended Nato summits as the guest of honour, where alliance members pledged billions in weapons and condemned Russia for an illegal war of conquest. Leaders repeatedly promised that Ukraine would one day join Nato. But since Washington's shift under Trump towards partly accepting Russia's justifications for the war and disparaging Zelenskyy, the 32-member alliance no longer speaks with a single voice about Europe's deadliest conflict since World War 2. Trump has taken Ukraine's Nato membership off the table, unilaterally granting Moscow one of its main demands. After dressing down Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, Trump cut vital US military and intelligence support for Ukraine for days. Since then, the two men have publicly mended fences but mostly spoken remotely, with Zelenskyy twice phoning the White House on speakerphone while surrounded by four friendly Europeans — Britain's Keir Starmer, France's Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Friedrich Merz and Poland's Donald Tusk. Trump is expected to come away from The Hague with a big diplomatic victory as Nato members heed his longstanding complaints that they do not spend enough on defence and agree a much higher target. They are expected to boost their goal for traditional military spending to 3.5 per cent of economic output from 2.0 per cent. A further pledge to spend 1.5 per cent on related expenses such as infrastructure and cyberdefence would raise the total to 5.0 per cent demanded by Trump. But the summit itself and its accompanying written statement are expected to be unusually short, minimising the chances of flare-ups or disagreements. A pledge to develop recommendations for a new Russia strategy has been kicked into the long grass. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy may have to be content with an invitation to a pre-summit dinner, hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, diplomats say. Unlike at Nato's previous two annual summits, the leaders do not plan to hold a formal meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council, the official venue for talks between the alliance and Kyiv. On Wednesday, Nato boss Mark Rutte said he had invited Ukraine to the summit, but sidestepped a question on whether the invitation included Zelenskyy himself. Some European countries are still willing to say in public that they hope to see Zelenskyy invited as the head of the Ukrainian delegation. Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said he would like to see a "delegation led by President Zelenskyy". Asked about an invitation for Zelenskyy, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said "I, for my part, strongly welcome the invitation" without giving further details. But diplomats have tried to play down the importance of the formal status of Zelenskyy's role. A senior European diplomat said, "We should not get stuck on 'NUC or no NUC'. If he comes to the leaders' dinner, that would be the minimum".
The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
Russia sending bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the border, general says
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Trains with the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers will start moving to the border in an hour, TASS quoted Russia's Lieutenant General Alexander Zorin as saying on Sunday. He also said there were signals that the transfer of the bodies will be postponed until next week. On Saturday, Russia said that Ukraine had unexpectedly postponed exchanging prisoners of war and accepting the bodies of killed soldiers for an indefinite period. Kyiv said Russia's claims were untrue. (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
The Sun
14 hours ago
- The Sun
Ukraine drones attack on Moscow forces airport closure, Russia says
UKRAINIAN drone attack targeting Moscow forced the closure of two of the key airports serving the capital, Russian authorities said early on Sunday. Russia air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow by 0400 GMT, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app. Emergency services were dispatched to the sites where drone debris fell in the overnight attack, Sobyanin said. He did not report any immediate damage. A Ukrainian drone attack also sparked a short-lived fire at the Azot chemical plant in the Tula region, injuring two people, and seven drones were destroyed over the Kaluga region, regional governors said. Both regions border the Moscow region to the south of the capital. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that to ensure air safety it was halting flights at the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports. Russia and Ukraine have increased their attacks in recent weeks while also returning to peace talks for the first time since the early days of the war that Russia launched against Ukraine in February 2022.
