Latest news with #Molfar
Russia Today
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
USAID funded Ukraine group that smeared Vance
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been implicated in funding a Ukrainian organization, Molfar, which labeled Vice President J.D. Vance and other US officials and public figures as 'foreign propagandists' aligned with Russia, according to an investigation by The Grayzone. Molfar, established in 2019, describes itself as an open-source intelligence community platform which 'collects lists of Ukrainian enemies to bring war criminals to justice.' The group's website identifies USAID and the US Civil Research and Development Fund (CRDF) as partners, indicating financial and operational support from US government agencies. The group's online blacklist not only targeted Vice President Vance for his statements opposing continued US financial support for Kiev and his stance against Ukraine's NATO membership, but also targeted other American figures, including US Counterterrorism Director Joe Kent and Representative Thomas Massie. Molfar's website advocated for their 'removal from public positions, the introduction of sanctions, and investigations into personal involvement in crimes.' In addition to political figures, Molfar has targeted American journalists, including Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of The Grayzone. The organization accused Blumenthal of disseminating Russian narratives and threatened to expose his personal information, including home addresses and family details. Other notable figures targeted by Molfar include billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson, and award-winning American economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs. A report published by Ukraine's National Coordination Cybersecurity Center (NCSCC), bearing USAID's logo, highlighted that Molfar assisted in training thousands of Ukrainian government employees in cyber warfare techniques and psychological operations. The report stated that over 2,000 public workers participated in practical assignments covering topics such as open-source searches, contact search, using Telegram bots, psyop as a method of information warfare, human intelligence and social engineering. According to The Grayzone, Molfar's activities are part of a broader network of Ukrainian organizations involved in Kiev's information war efforts at the expense of US taxpayer money. Another self-styled 'fact-checking' outfit, VoxUkraine, has received substantial funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID. Its VoxCheck project has been involved in censoring Americans' social media posts deemed pro-Russian. Similarly, the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), an official body under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, has collaborated with both Molfar and VoxUkraine to combat 'disinformation,' often labeling US public figures as promoters of Russian propaganda, including smearing now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Immediately upon assuming office, President Donald Trump suspended most US foreign assistance pending a three-month review to determine whether programs should continue based on their alignment with the new administration's 'America First' goals. USAID, Washington's primary mechanism for funding political projects abroad, has seen tens of billions of dollars' worth of approved grants frozen as a result. The NED's government funding was also frozen. Officially a US State Department-funded nonprofit for distributing grants to pro-democracy causes abroad, the NED has long faced allegations of acting as a CIA cutout for toppling foreign governments.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
10 Ukrainian drone makers to watch
In the three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine has almost certainly become the largest producer of drones in the Western-aligned world. Early workshop tinkering on mainly commercial Chinese drones evolved into steadily more professional and massive production of domestic unmanned aerial systems (UAVs). The industry's rapid growth has given Ukraine a fighting chance against a much bigger enemy, making drones a source of national pride. Details on the drone industry and its producers are hard to come by. Russia constantly targets weapons factories and even drone executives personally. But some drone makers are already clearly big businesses. Based on knowledge both publicly and privately sourced, the Kyiv Independent has assembled a list of makers ranging from mass-produced first-person view (FPV) drones to highly secretive deep-strike UAVs that we believe to be the biggest game in town. Going forward, many of these drone makers hope to sell their wares abroad once export controls are lifted, or the war comes to an end. Those looking to sell abroad are keen to headline non-lethal drone models like intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) or cargo drones, which face fewer restrictions than those more clearly designed to blow things up. Here are 10 of Ukraine's drone makers to look out for, in no particular order: Taking its name from a paradise in pre-Christian Slavic mythology, Vyriy produces what one long-time drone pilot describes as the best FPV he's ever worked with, the Molfar. The small and cheap Molfar has been in use since at least the start of 2023. For massive FPV makers, what's tricky is producing swarms that function reliably. By reputation, Vyriy manages as well as anyone. The firm is working to onshore production but cites a continued financial dependence on Chinese components that afflicts the drone industry worldwide. Notably, Vyriy's drones operate on low-frequency channels. Prior to 2022, most drones ran on 2.4 or 5.8 gigahertz (GHz) communications. Those channels are easily jammed by Russian electronic warfare systems at the front, so many operators, including Vyriy, have lowered their frequencies to under 1 GHz, which transfers less data but goes further and is harder to both jam and detect. Despite keeping a lower profile among its fellow major Ukrainian drone makers, Skyfall has brought production to a massive scale since launching in June 2022. Skyfall's most beloved model is the Vampire, which first became famous under the name Russian soldiers have for it, the Baba Yaga, named for a fairytale witch. The moniker is due to the drone's ability to run night missions, particularly while bearing payloads of up to 15 kilograms — over five times the standard for FPVs. One of Skyfall's biggest selling points is nocturnal navigation. It's a feature largely enabled by thermal cameras like those produced by Ukrainian company Oko (which means 'eye' in Ukrainian), and one that has proved especially effective as many Russian units reportedly lack night-vision goggles. In drone footage from a Shrike — Skyfall's smaller FPV model — shared with the Kyiv Independent by a Ukrainian drone pilot, a Russian truck stands out clearly from the treeline it is hiding inside before the Shrike hurtles into its grill before the signal turns to static. Data from government contracts show the Shrikes selling for a little over Hr 13,000 in 2024, or about $320, making them some of the cheapest quadrocopters being purchased en masse inside of Ukraine. TAF is possibly the largest-scale manufacturer of FPV drones in Ukraine today, producing some 40,000 drones per month. Its output is valued at over $1 billion per year, according to Forbes Ukraine. TAF's drones are fairly standard cheap quadrocopters that flock over the front line in Ukraine. TAF emerged from a charity fund run by now-CEO Oleksandr Yakovenko, which was already producing drone parts to be assembled by soldiers by early 2023. TAF's surge in production over the past year has been quite stunning. If true, 40,000 a month would account for about a third of the 1.5 million drones that the Defense Ministry said Ukrainian makers shipped to the frontline in 2024. One billion dollars in orders would be a similarly massive fraction of Ukraine's total drone budget — approximately $2.5 billion in 2025, not including money that individual brigades raise in donations. By many accounts the archetypical Ukrainian drone maker, UkrSpec dates back to 2014, when it was founded in response to Russia's initial annexation of Crimea and invasion of Donbas. UkrSpec has produced many models over the years, but almost exclusively of the highly engineered repeated-use variety — specifically intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The Shark is a long-range ISR drone that largely set the standard for the genre within Ukraine. The 'People's Drone,' or PD-2, is similar but can carry cargo up to 8 kilograms — in theory, anything including a few artillery shells — with a range of up to 1,300 kilometers. Avia Atlon is another firm that dates back to 2014. Its bread-and-butter model is the Furia, a long-range recon drone that the firm began exporting abroad prior to Russia's full-scale invasion. They were selling the Furia for just over $100,000 in 2022, per the accounting of local charity Come Back Alive. The most recent Furia model is a massive ISR drone that resembles a white manta ray and is specially designed to scout targets from up high for Ukrainian artillery. Far cheaper is Avia Atlon's Hrim, also known as Silent Thunder, which is a smaller kamikaze drone that remains more intricate than the average FPV drone of its class as it depends on a reusable quadrocopter for liftoff. Another of the founding fathers of what would become Ukraine's wartime drone boom, UkrJet shares some overlap in leadership with UkrSpec. Unlike UkrSpec, UkrJet is most famous for its actual explosive models. Its Bobr, or 'Beaver,' was the first of Ukraine's major deep-strike drones, flying up to 1,000 kilometers inside of Russia. UkrJet is a project of Oleksandr Chendekov, who a competitor referred to as 'the father of the Ukrainian drone.' Chendekov was chief technology officer at UkrSpec, UkrJet, and today, at Airlogix. Registered in 2021, UkrJet started public production of its attack drones in 2022, in the months following Russia's full-scale invasion. Terminal Autonomy is a relatively low-profile, internationally owned, Ukraine-based firm that nonetheless ships upwards of 1,000 of its AQ 100s and an unknown number of its deep-strike AQ 400s each month. At $30,000 and a range of 750 kilometers, the AQ 400s are likely the cheapest long-distance strike drones on the market. To cut costs, their drones are made of plywood. The similarly wooden AQ 100s are kamikaze drones, likewise designed to be deployed en masse, affordably. In addition to wooden frames, their fixed-wing design means they only need a single motor, unlike quadrocopters which, while more maneuverable, require four. The largest traditional aircraft maker in Ukraine, Antonov is often overlooked in considerations of drone manufacturers. Given its standing ties to Ukraine's government-owned weapons makers, it had little reason to advertise. Among drones, Antonov is most notable for its 'Lyuty' drone, a long-range model roughly analogous to the Iranian-made Shaheds that Russia sends into Ukraine nightly. Ukraine's long-range strike drones are typically tightly held secrets within Ukraine's drone programs. But Russian sources frequently identify Lyuty drones as those striking local oil infrastructure. Long a government-owned defense manufacturer, Antonov formally transitioned into a private holding in April 2024. Its ties to Ukraine's Soviet-descended, state-owned defense conglomerate, UkrOboronProm, remain well-established. The pricing on a single Lyuty comes in at just under $200,000 a unit. Airlogix is a large-scale drone maker that has seen massive growth since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Pre-2022, Airlogix launched with a hefty cargo drone. After Russia's invasion, they militarized their production. Their GOR model is an ISR drone that boasts four-hour flight times and sells for some $200,000 a piece, founder and CEO Vitalii Kolesnichenko told the Kyiv Independent. Kolesnichenko says Airlogix has quintupled sales of the GOR in the past year, reaching 500 units shipped in 2024, which adds up to about $100 million. Other sources say that Airlogix is also working on a deep-strike drone, but Kolesnichenko would not comment on details. Skyeton's Raybird is a hyper-advanced ISR drone whose latest models boast max flight times of 28 hours. A Raybird system, which includes three separate drones, sells for over $1 million a piece. Total battlefield usage remains a mystery as military acquisitions are secret, but public records show Ukrainian emergency responders buying at least five of those systems since the start of the full-scale invasion. Skyeton opened up production in Slovakia earlier in 2024 to escape wartime controls on Ukrainian military and dual-use equipment. The firm at the time claimed that the Ukrainian military was only contracting 50 of their drones annually, lamenting that internal production could have reached 100. Read also: How Ukraine's new drone-missile hybrids are changing long-range weapon technology We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
