Latest news with #BBCUkraine
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's defence forces report shortage of FPV drones
Ukrainian troops have reported a critical shortage of FPV drones, severely affecting their ability to hold off Russian offensive operations. Source: BBC Ukraine, as reported by Mezha Media, a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company) Details: BBC recalled that Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade (currently being restructured into a corps), revealed the unit had not received a single FPV drone in three months. The outcry prompted a delivery of drones to the brigade, but the deeper, systemic issue remains unresolved. FPV drones are considered the primary strike tool for Ukraine's defence forces, accounting for nearly 80% of confirmed target destruction. Despite government claims of scaling up domestic drone production to 10 million pieces, many brigades are still forced to procure equipment themselves or rely on volunteer aid. Currently, almost 500 UAV pieces operate within Ukrainian forces under a mixed supply model. Captain Yurii "Achilles" Fedorenko, commander of the 429th Separate UAV Regiment, said that about one third of drones come directly from the state, another third are procured using unit-held funds, and the remaining third are donated with the help of Ukrainian civilians. This spring, the greatest setback came from the third meant to be supplied centrally by the state. Serhii Varakin, commander of the unmanned systems battalion of the 58th Independent Motorised Infantry Brigade, said that a year ago his unit could launch up to 100 FPV drones per day. Today, they receive only 200-300 per month, far below operational needs. Mariia Berlinska, a volunteer and the head of the Aerointelligence Support Centre, attributed the issue to a change in leadership at the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA). However, the DPA denies any delay in drone procurement this year, stating that by May 2025, it had signed state contracts for over 2.3 million FPV drones, several times higher than in previous years. The BBC also highlighted that the selective distribution of drones between brigades adds to the crisis. In addition to the shortfall, troops are reporting a decline in quality. Soldiers often have to modify FPV drones themselves, and fibre-optic drones are proving unreliable, jeopardising operations on the frontline. Meanwhile, Russia has significantly scaled up its FPV drone production and is integrating new technologies, including artificial intelligence. Ukrainian commanders acknowledge the challenge and pledge to resolve the issue swiftly. The DPA recently announced that by May 2025 it had signed state contracts covering 81% of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' projected drone needs. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Russia Today
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russian military confirms shooting down Ukrainian F-16 jet
Russian forces have shot down a US-designed F-16 fighter jet operated by Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. It is the first time that the Russian military has announced the destruction of an F-16 since Kiev's Western backers began deliveries of the fourth-generation aircraft to Ukraine last summer. 'An F-16 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down by air defense means,' the ministry said in its daily briefing on Sunday without revealing any further details. On Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of one of its F-16 fighters. An interdepartmental commission was then established to find out what caused the plane to go down, it added. Read more F-16 pilot killed during 'combat mission' – Kiev Vladimir Zelensky later confirmed that Ukrainian pilot Pavel Ivanov had been killed 'during an F-16 combat mission.' He promised a 'strong and precise' response, implying Russia was behind the destruction of the jet. A government source told BBC Ukraine on Saturday that the F-16 had been shot down by the Russian military. 'In total, the Russians fired three missiles at the plane. It was either a guided anti-aircraft missile from a S-400 ground-based system or an R-37 air-to-air missile,' the outlet claimed. The source also ruled out friendly fire as a reason for the loss of the jet, claiming that Ukrainian air defenses have not been active in that area. It marks the second confirmed loss of an F-16 by Ukraine. The first was destroyed and its pilot killed under unclear circumstances last August. The results of an investigation into the incident were never announced to the public. However, multiple media reports indicated that the plane was likely shot down by the country's own anti-aircraft defenses by mistake. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway pledged to supply Kiev with up to 80 F-16s after receiving permission to do so from the previous administration of US President Joe Biden, though most of them will take years to arrive. In 2024, Ukraine received about 18 aircraft. READ MORE: Western F-16s 'can't compete' with Russian Su-35s – Ukrainian Air Force The Kiev authorities once claimed that the US-designed jets would become a game-changer in the conflict with Russia. But since the loss of the first aircraft, their use in combat has been limited, with the F-16 being mainly deployed away from the contact line for air defense purposes.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Don't fall for doctored clip of BBC reporter making crude on-air comment about Zelenskyy WH meeting
Claim: A video authentically showed a journalist saying, 'I saw a meme say this is the second time ever that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office' into a hot microphone during a live BBC News broadcast. Rating: In early March 2025, social media users shared a video that allegedly showed a BBC reporter accidentally making a crude comment into a hot microphone during a live BBC News broadcast. The comment concerned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's tense Feb. 28 White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The video began with the final few seconds of a report about the meeting from BBC Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse. After Waterhouse's segment ended and the broadcast cut back to BBC News presenter Lucy Grey, a voice that resembled Waterhouse's said, "Are you done? Okay. I saw a meme say this is the second time ever that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office." The clip appeared in posts on social media platforms including X (archived) and Facebook (archived). In short, Waterhouse did not make the off-the-cuff remark in the original footage of the broadcast, which BBC News posted to its official YouTube channel on March 1, the day it originally aired. In other words, versions of the video that included Waterhouse allegedly saying "this is the second time ever that a U.S. president f***ed someone in the Oval Office" were doctored to misrepresent reality. As a result, we've rated the claim fake. On March 5, Waterhouse addressed the video in an X post (archived), saying that someone had added the purported "hot microphone" remark to the original footage of the broadcast using artificial intelligence (AI) software. He wrote, "There's AI-generated clip of me doing the rounds - for those who believed it - you can watch the original feed from 7:20." Waterhouse's post included a link to the official BBC News YouTube video of the broadcast, which is embedded below. In that original clip, Waterhouse did not say anything after the broadcast returned to Grey. We've reached out to Waterhouse for further comment, and will update this story if and when we hear back. It was not immediately clear where or when the edited clip first appeared. In a March 6 newsletter, Eurovision News — part of the European Broadcasting Union — identified two different versions of the doctored video, one with English subtitles and one with Russian subtitles. Neither version appeared to have circulated before March 4, three days after BBC News uploaded the clip of the original broadcast to YouTube. We have also not been able to confirm Waterhouse's claim that whoever edited the footage used AI software to do so. While it's possible that the edited version's creator used AI voice-cloning software, it's also possible that the voice audible in the edited clip belonged to a real human skilled at imitating other people's voices. At the time of this writing, the doctored video continued to circulate on Russian-language social media platforms. For example, the official account of the Russian news organization Izvestia shared (archived) the version of the edited video featuring Russian subtitles on the Russian content aggregator Zen. We previously looked into whether a hot microphone authentically caught former U.S. President Joe Biden saying "No one f***s with a Biden." Hauser, Jenny. BBC Broadcast about Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting Doctored with Crude Hot Mic Audio. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025. Holland, Steve, et al. "Trump and Zelenskiy Clash, Leaving Ukraine Exposed in War with Russia." Reuters, 1 Mar. 2025. Liles, Jordan. "Yes, Biden Said 'No One F***s with a Biden' on 'Hot Mic.'" Snopes, 6 Oct. 2022,
