Latest news with #UkrainianDefenseMinistry
NHK
19-05-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Ukraine unveils naval drone model capable of carrying missiles
Ukraine's defense ministry has unveiled its latest naval drone model, which is capable of carrying missiles. The ministry's intelligence agency presented the domestically developed Magura V7 suicide drone to media outlets on Wednesday. The model, which measures 7.2 meters long, can be equipped with two anti-air missiles. It can be operated continuously for up to seven days. The ministry started to deploy the model in combat situations late last year. The intelligence agency said the Magura V7 shot down two Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea earlier this month. The agency said various Magura drone models have destroyed 15 Russian military targets, including several major vessels and aircraft, over two years of combat deployment in the Black Sea. Agency spokesperson, Andrii Cherniak, said Russia has hidden its fleet and is afraid to approach Ukrainian coasts or enter the temporarily occupied region of Crimea. The official added that Ukraine is discussing underwater use of Magura drones.
NHK
19-05-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Ukraine: Russia plans ICBM launch on Monday night
Ukraine says Russia plans to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a training warhead on Monday night. The Ukrainian defense ministry's intelligence agency disclosed the information on social media on Sunday. It said Russia intends to conduct the launch from a complex in the central region of Sverdlovsk. It also said the missile's flight range exceeds 10,000 kilometers. The agency added that the launch is meant to "demonstratively pressure and intimidate" Ukraine, as well as EU and NATO member states. The agency did not mention other details, including a possible target of the missile.
Forbes
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
A Jam-Proof Russian Drone Just Blew Up A Ukrainian HIMARS
A Ukrainian HIMARS. Ukrainian defense ministry photo Russia's best drone unit just flew an un-jammable attack drone at least six miles behind the front line in eastern Ukraine and blew up one of the Ukrainian army's precious High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems wheeled launchers. It's the fourth U.S.-made HIMARS the Russians have destroyed. And while the Ukrainians aren't about to run out of HIMARS—there are around three dozen are left—the rate of loss could increase as Russia's best drones strike deeper behind the front line. The fast-moving HIMARS, each firing six 660-pound rockets as far as 57 miles, are some of Ukraine's best weapons for striking Russian troop concentrations, headquarters, air-defense batteries and artillery. They're top targets for Russian drones. But powerful electromagnetic jamming, which can ground radio-controlled drones, protects Ukrainian forces along the most critical stretches of the front. But drones controlled via signals traveling along millimeters-thick but miles-long optical fiber 'are impervious to any jamming,' explained 'Roy,' an expert in electronic warfare. As Russian forces have deployed more and more fiber-optic drones, the HIMARS have become more vulnerable—especially while traveling along main roads in daytime. A fiber-optic drone. Ukrainian defense ministry capture It's worrying for the Ukrainians, but hardly surprising given the rapid evolution of drone technology, that a fiber-optic drone hunted down and struck a HIMARS reportedly near Chasiv Yar on or just before Tuesday. The crew may have bailed out following the strike, but the $20-million launcher is a total write-off. The drone was operated by the Rubicon Center of Advanced Unmanned Systems, probably the best drone team in the Russian armed forces. In late February, Rubicon deployed to Kursk Oblast in western Russia and launched a devastating wave of attacks on the main supply line supporting the Ukrainian garrison in Sudzha, the center of the Ukrainian-held salient in the oblast. Swiftly destroying hundreds of supply trucks, Rubicon strangled the Ukrainian force—ultimately forcing it to retreat back toward the Ukrainian border in early March. Having accomplished its urgent mission in Kursk, Rubicon has apparently moved on to the next most important mission: destroying Ukraine's HIMARS. The Ukrainians know they're exposed. It's not for no reason they've been sending their own long-range attack drones to bombard the factories deep inside Russia that produce components for fiber-optic drones.
Russia Today
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
‘Unnecessary' to tell the truth to Ukrainians – Kiev's spy chief
Ukrainians should be kept in the dark about the details of the 'harsh reality' of the conflict with Russia, because many of them can't handle the truth, Kirill Budanov, Kiev's military intelligence chief, has said. In a conversation with journalist Anna Maksimchuk on Saturday, the three-star general expressed his views on information censorship during wartime, suggesting that Ukrainian society should only find out certain things in the future. 'During wartime, knowing the whole truth is not necessary. Otherwise, people may develop opinions,' Budanov said. 'Some minds are not prepared to grasp the harsh reality. Let's not put them to the test. Everything should be dosed.' Since 2020, Budanov has led the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (HUR) – an agency reportedly rebuilt from scratch by the CIA following the 2014 armed coup in Kiev to serve as a tool against Russia. Read more Ukraine's top general calls for censorship Prior to the escalation of hostilities with Russia in 2022, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky cracked down on critical media, claiming to do so in order to fight against local oligarchs under Moscow's influence. During the conflict, Kiev launched a news marathon with programming said to be directly controlled by the president's office – which critics have called state propaganda. Additionally, under martial law, Zelensky banned several opposition parties, claiming they posed a national security threat. Earlier this year, turmoil swept through Ukraine's media landscape following US President Donald Trump's decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization used by Washington to promote its political agenda through foreign grants. Researcher Oksana Romanyuk estimated in January that nearly 90% of Ukrainian outlets relied on foreign aid, with 80% specifically receiving funding from USAID.
Russia Today
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kiev ‘disrespecting citizens' by using cheeseburgers in military draft – ex-Ukrainian diplomat
The authorities in Kiev are desperately attempting to lure young citizens into the military with promises of McDonald's cheeseburgers because they have run out of experienced soldiers in the conflict with Russia, former Ukrainian diplomat and parliamentary adviser Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. Social media users expressed outrage this week after the Ukrainian Defense Ministry published a clip on its TikTok account, telling potential recruits they could buy 15,625 cheeseburgers for the 1 million hryvnia ($24,000) sum being offered to sign a contract with the military. Commenting in an interview on Friday, Telizhenko said the leadership in Kiev 'disrespects the people in Ukraine' by asking them to die for hamburgers. 'They are not talking about something national... something patriotic. They are talking about a foreign brand of a foreign country. They are throwing low quality burgers or sandwiches into the crowd and saying: 'Eat it,'' he insisted. The government of Vladimir Zelensky is 'trying to put this idea of freedom and democracy behind McDonald's and fast food – hideous fast food – to youngsters for them to go and fight for a cheeseburger, for food. This is just overwhelming,' the former diplomat added. Read more Kiev uses McDonald's to replenish depleted army ranks According to Telizhenko, Kiev's campaign targets those aged between 18 and 24 because 'there is nobody else to fight.' Experienced troops trained by NATO prior to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 'are all now destroyed,' he added. 'They are now gone… They died, more than a million of them.' Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said late last year that Kiev's losses during the conflict had amounted to over 1 million, which includes both killed and severely wounded. Anyone who would fall for the promise of 15,625 cheeseburgers is not going to receive that money anyway, Telizhenko insisted. 'The Ukrainian government is not paying out that money to the Ukrainians. That is a fact,' he said. Zelensky claims that just over 45,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the fighting so far because 'only those people were paid out – out of a million dead,' Telizhenko stated. .mediaplayer { min-height: 150px; } .jwplayer .jw-controls .jw-controlbar .jw-icon-cc { display: none; } .media__video_noscript { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%; } .full_transcript_text { display: block; }
