Government targets ‘warmonger' Putin with 100 new sanctions
The sanctions also target 14 more members of the Social Design Agency (SDA), which carries out Kremlin-funded information operations that are designed to undermine sovereignty, democracy, and the rule of law in Ukraine and across the world.
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The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Ukraine's drone attack on Russian air bases is a lesson for the West on its vulnerabilities
The targets were Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and command-and-control aircraft, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The weapons were Ukrainian drones, each costing under $1,000 and launched from wooden containers carried on trucks. 'Operation Spiderweb,' which Ukraine said destroyed or damaged over 40 aircraft parked at air bases across Russia on Sunday, wasn't just a blow to the Kremlin 's prestige. It was also a wake-up call for the West to bolster its air defense systems against such hybrid drone warfare, military experts said. Ukraine took advantage of inexpensive drone technology that has advanced rapidly in the last decade and combined it with outside-the-box thinking to score a morale-boosting win in the 3-year-old war that lately has turned in Moscow 's favor. How deeply the attack will impact Russian military operations is unclear. Although officials in Kyiv estimated it caused $7 billion in damage, the Russian Foreign Ministry disputed that, and there have been no independent assessments. Moscow still has more aircraft to launch its bombs and cruise missiles against Ukraine. Still, the operation showed what 'modern war really looks like and why it's so important to stay ahead with technology,' said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Where the West is vulnerable For Western governments, it's a warning that 'the spectrum of threats they're going to have to take into consideration only gets broader,' said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. In the past decade, European countries have accused Russia of carrying out a sabotage campaign against the West, with targets ranging from defense executives and logistics companies to businesses linked to Ukraine. Unidentified drones have been seen in the past year flying near military bases in the U.S., the U.K and Germany, as well as above weapons factories in Norway. High-value weapons and other technology at those sites are 'big, juicy targets for both state and non-state actors,' said Caitlin Lee, a drone warfare expert at RAND in Washington. 'The time is now' to invest in anti-drone defenses, she said. Low-cost options to protect aircraft include using hardened shelters, dispersing the targets to different bases and camouflaging them or even building decoys. U.S. President Donald Trump last month announced a $175 billion 'Golden Dome' program using space-based weapons to protect the country from long-range missiles. Not mentioned were defenses against drones, which Lee said can be challenging because they fly low and slow, and on radar can look like birds. They also can be launched inside national borders, unlike a supersonic missile fired from abroad. Drones 'dramatically increase' the capacity by a hostile state or group for significant sabotage, said Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at IISS. 'How many targets are there in a country? How well can you defend every single one of them against a threat like that?' he said. Ukraine's resourceful, outside-the-box thinking In 'Operation Spiderweb,' Ukraine said it smuggled the first-person view, or FPV, drones into Russia, where they were placed in the wooden containers and eventually driven by truck close to the airfields in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, the Murmansk region in the Arctic, and the Amur region in the Far East, as well as to two bases in western Russia. Ukraine's Security Service, or SBU, said the drones had highly automated capabilities and were partly piloted by an operator and partly by using artificial intelligence, which flew them along a pre-planned route in the event the drones lost signal. Such AI technology almost certainly would have been unavailable to Ukraine five years ago. SBU video showed drones swooping over and under Russian aircraft, some of which were covered by tires. Experts suggested the tires could have been used to confuse an automatic targeting system by breaking up the plane's silhouette or to offer primitive protection. 'The way in which the Ukrainians brought this together is creative and obviously caught the Russians completely off guard,' Barrie said. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at Irkutsk's Belaya Air Base, a major installation for Russia's long-range bomber force. At least three Tu-95 four-engine turboprop bombers and four Tu-22M twin-engine supersonic bombers appear to be destroyed. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian military has adopted a creative approach to warfare. Its forces deployed wooden decoys of expensive U.S. HIMARS air defense systems to draw Russia's missile fire, created anti-drone units that operate on pickup trucks, and repurposed captured weapons. Experts compared Sunday's attack to Israel's operation last year in which pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria. Israel also has used small, exploding drones to attack targets in Lebanon and Iran. The U.S. used Predator drones more than a decade ago to kill insurgents in Afghanistan from thousands of miles away. Developments in technology have made those capabilities available in smaller drones. Hinz compared the state of drone warfare to that of the development of the tank, which made its debut in 1916 in World War I. Engineers sought to work out how to best integrate tanks into a working battlefield scenario — contemplating everything from a tiny vehicle to a giant one 'with 18 turrets' before settling on the version used in World War II. With drones, 'we are in the phase of figuring that out, and things are changing so rapidly that what works today might not work tomorrow,' he said. How the attack affects Russian operations in Ukraine The Tu-95 bombers hit by Ukraine are 'effectively irreplaceable' because they're no longer in production, said Hinz, the IISS expert. Ukraine said it also hit an A-50 early warning and control aircraft, similar to the West's AWACS planes, that coordinate aerial attacks. Russia has even fewer of these. 'Whichever way you cut the cake for Russia, this requires expense," said Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute in London. "You can see the billions of dollars mounting up,' Russia must repair the damaged planes, better protect its remaining aircraft and improve its ability to disrupt such operations, he said. Experts also suggested the strikes could force Moscow to speed up its program to replace the Tu-95. While underscoring Russian vulnerabilities, it's not clear if it will mean reduced airstrikes on Ukraine. Russia has focused on trying to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses with drones throughout the war, including the use of decoys without payloads. On some nights last month, Moscow launched over 300 drones. 'Even if Ukraine was able to damage a significant portion of the Russian bomber force, it's not entirely clear that the bomber force was playing a linchpin role in the war at this point,' Lee said. Ukrainian air force data analyzed by AP shows that from July 2024 through December 2024, Russia used Tu-22M3s and Tu-95s 14 times against Ukraine but used drones almost every night. Sunday's operation might temporarily reduce Russia's ability to launch strategic missile attacks but it will probably find ways to compensate, Lee said. ——- Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
Sky News
18 hours ago
- Sky News
Why Putin is in 'victim mode' over Ukraine's airbase drone attack
Why you can trust Sky News It's only been ten days since Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin crazy following a series of Russian attacks on Ukraine. But now the attacks have been flowing in the opposite direction, it feels like the Russian president has seen an opportunity to win back Washington's affections. It involves playing the victim. The Kremlin, for example, said the leaders' call was focussed on Ukrainian attacks "on Russian civilians". 3:55 And before it, Putin accused Ukraine's leadership of being a "terrorist organisation", in his first comments since the spate of assaults began. He was referring to Saturday's bombing of a highway bridge in the Bryansk region, which left seven dead and dozens injured after part of a passenger train was crushed. No one has claimed responsibility but Russia blames Ukraine. "The current Kyiv regime does not need peace at all," said President Putin. "What is there to talk about? How can we negotiate with those who rely on terror?" It's exactly what Ukraine has been saying about Russia for the last three years, but there was no mention of that. The Kremlin is in full-on victim mode. 54:37 The aim, I think, is to turn the tables on Ukraine, cast itself as the injured party and make Donald Trump believe that Russia has a right to respond to the drone attack on its long-range bombers. The tactic may well have worked. "President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields," Trump wrote on social media after the call. Did he try to talk Putin out of responding? We don't know, but it doesn't sound like it. If anything, Trump actually announced Russia's retaliation himself. And even though Putin discussed the drone attack with Trump, he still hasn't commented on it in public - four days on.
Powys County Times
19 hours ago
- Powys County Times
All pupils in families on universal credit to be entitled to free school meals
All pupils in England whose families claim universal credit will be eligible for free school meals under an expansion of the Government-funded support. Hundreds of thousands more children across the country will be able to access means-tested free school meals when the provision is extended from September 2026, the Department for Education (DfE) has said. Currently, households in England on universal credit must earn below £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits) to qualify for free school meals. But the Government has announced that every pupil whose household is on universal credit will have a new entitlement to free school lunches from the start of the 2026/27 academic year. The move comes after campaigners and education leaders have called for free school meals to be extended to all children whose families are on universal credit to ease pressures on young people living in poverty. Nearly 2.1 million pupils – almost one in four of all pupils (24.6%) – in England were eligible for free school meals in January 2024. The DfE has said more than half-a-million more children are expected to benefit from a free meal every school day as a result of the expansion, and nearly £500 will be put back into parents' pockets every year. It suggested that the expansion will lift 100,000 children across England completely out of poverty. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: 'Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents' pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn. 'This expansion is a truly historic moment for our country, helping families who need it most and delivering our Plan for Change to give every child, no matter their background, the same chance to succeed.' The DfE is due to release data on Thursday morning showing the number of state school pupils in England who are eligible for free school meals. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets. 'From free school meals to free breakfast clubs, breaking the cycle of child poverty is at the heart of our Plan for Change to cut the unfair link between background and success. 'We believe that background shouldn't mean destiny. Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.' The Government's child poverty taskforce is due to publish its 10-year strategy later this year. Nick Harrison, chief executive of the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, said: 'This is a significant step towards taking hunger out of the classroom. 'Children can't learn effectively when hungry, so this announcement not only helps to tackle the effects of child poverty, but will also likely help improve education outcomes for disadvantaged young people. 'Giving free school meals to all families who are eligible for universal credit is also easier for parents to understand, so has the potential to increase take-up rates.' Kate Anstey, head of education policy at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) charity, said: 'This is fantastic news and a game-changer for children and families. 'At last, more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. 'We hope this is a sign of what's to come in autumn's child poverty strategy, with government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK.' Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'There's some detail to be worked through on exactly how this transition will work and we look forward to talking with the Government about that. 'But, certainly, expanding free school meal eligibility in this way is absolutely the right thing to do.' Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: 'We join families and schools across England in welcoming this necessary and overdue first step in expanding free school meals eligibility. 'The existing threshold had been unchanged since 2018, meaning hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive.' But he added that many children in families who just miss out on being eligible for universal credit will also 'miss out on a hot, healthy school meal'. Mr Kebede said: 'Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.' The Liberal Democrats said the change was a 'victory for thousands of passionate campaigners' but was 'only a first step' towards helping children in poverty. The party's education spokeswoman Munira Wilson MP said: 'Liberal Democrats have been pushing hard for this crucial change for years. It's a victory for thousands of passionate campaigners that the Government has finally listened.' She added: 'To end the cost-of-learning crisis, the Government needs to commit to auto-enrolling eligible children for free school meals, lifting the two-child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to truly change the lives of children in poverty. We'll hold their feet to the fire to make sure today's change is just a start.'
