Iran’s rapid post-strike recovery of its Eagle 44 airbase proves that hardened mountain shelters remain a decisive shield against precision firepower, transforming how inferior air forces survive and deter superior adversaries. This month, The War Zone (TWZ) reported that Iran is actively repairing and expanding its subterranean Eagle 44 airbase in Hormozgan province, despite having […]
The head of the INSS and former military intelligence chief warns that the emerging concept doesn't see peace as the goal, and is looking to replace the US alliance
A Malta-flagged tanker carrying 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel is heading towards New York following an agreement with US President Donald Trump, LSEG data showed on Friday.
Trump has made several moves hoping to bring down diesel prices ahead of November 3 US mid-term elections including waiving parts of a new sanctions law against Russia and threatening Europe with a US diesel export ban unless countries released more from their emergency reserves.
The medium-sized tanker Agioi Fanendes was loaded with 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulphur diesel in the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk on October 22, according to shipping data. It is expected to arrive in the United States on November 7.
Russia agreed to lift a self-imposed ban on diesel exports and supply the fuel to global markets, including the US, after theagreementreached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.
Trump announced on October 9 that Russia would immediately export 300,000 metric tons, or 2.25 million barrels, followed by 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter”.
Russia will be able to increase diesel exports to between 3 million tons and 3.5 million tons per month by year-end, the country’s usual export volume of the fuel, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last week.
Last week, export diesel cargoes were loaded in the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk, but their final destinations are not clear, with most vessel are signalling Gibraltar, the Atlantic Coast or Port-Said, according to LSEG shipping data.
Since the full EU embargo on import of Russian oil products came into effect in February 2023 over the war in Ukraine, Russia has exported diesel mainly to Brazil and Turkey, as well as to an African countries.
"This decision to limit critical technology for a key ally... (puts) Ukrainian forces at risk and their people in peril," Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote in a letter addressed to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
This autumn, as Russia escalated its total-war-style strike campaign against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and economy, and relations between Kyiv and Washington hit an all-time low, the daily battles along Ukraine’s vast battlefield have faded into the background of the information space.
Ukraine is in talks with EU member states Poland and Slovakia about moving customs checks on lorries carrying grain exports from the border to inside those countries, to halt Russian drone attacks on the trucks, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Kyiv had set up joint border control points with Moldova and wanted to “scale up” the initiative with other neighbours, including Poland, the FT reported.
Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told the FT the move was driven by a “new security environment where Russia is deliberately trying to strike our borders” and that Kyiv wanted to finalise an agreement with Poland as soon as possible.
A photo of debris from the Filin cruise missile, as posted by Sternenko and Beskrestnov.
Screenshot via Telegram/Serhii Sternenko
Russia looks to be moving toward 3D printed cruise missiles for its next era of air attacks on Ukraine.
The threat could be so major, turbojet Shaheds would seem like a small problem, one drone guru said.
GUR recently posted details of the Filin, a cheap Russian missile reported to fly as fast as 500 mph.
Russia's next big bet in the air war will likely move past jet-powered Shaheds to a deep arsenal of new cruise missiles, two of Ukraine's most prominent drone experts warned on Thursday.
Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov and Serhii Sternenko wrote separately on their Telegram channels about the Filin, an 11-foot Russian winged cruise missile that Ukraine's military intelligence service recently unveiled.
These cheap weapons possess superior capabilities that would easily overshadow the threat posed by the Shahed, according to the pair, both former drone advisors to Ukraine's defense ministry.
"The mass use of this type of aerial attack weapon is what awaits us very soon," wrote Sternenko, who runs a major foundation that crowdfunds for Ukraine's military, in a Telegram post.
"Then we will remember the jet Shaheds only as a small problem compared to this," he added.
Beskrestnov, a drone analyst, said he had "long predicted that our adversary is betting on cheap cruise missiles for the future, not on jet Shaheds."
He wrote on his Telegram channel that the Filin can fly faster, maneuver better, and carry a heavier payload than Russia's current turbojet drones,
"They do not need drone ports, many of them can be launched from helicopters and UAVs. And most importantly, they can be produced from Russian components," Beskrestnov added.
A strike at nearly 500 mph for cheap
On Wednesday, Ukraine's military intelligence agency, GUR, released extensive details on the Filin, which it said Russia had begun deploying at the end of summer 2026.
The Filin, it said, is the "continuation of the trend of the Russian military-industrial complex to develop inexpensive air attack weapons with jet propulsion and ground launch."
The ground-launched missile can carry a 100kg warhead, and Russia has said that it can fly at speeds of almost 500 mph at a range of 745 miles. By comparison, the Kremlin's most advanced jet-powered drone deployed so far, the Geran-5, is known to fly at a maximum speed of 370 mph.
The Filin can also fly at "ultra-low altitudes" and as high as 3.7 miles, GUR said.
Similar to Russia's Shahed drones, the Filin features a carbon and fiberglass fuselage, with some of its parts produced via 3D printing, the intelligence service added.
And as with turbojet Shaheds, GUR also said that the Filin is filled with foreign electronics in its flight controller, inertial navigation system, equipment control unit, and counter-jamming hardware.
The agency listed 35 components from the US, including transistors and converters; 22 from China; and 13 more from Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the Netherlands.
Notably, GUR said the Filin's engine is Russian-made, compared to the Chinese engines used on many of Moscow's turbojet drones. The same engine has been found on other recently unveiled Russian missiles, such as the air-launched Kover and Monochrome.
Much of Russia's ability to reduce the cost of its new cruise missiles is owed to its use of commercial engines and components. Another high-profile Russian missile that also uses civilian tech is the Banderol, which emerged in the spring of 2025 and has been straining Ukraine's air defense networks in the last few months.
The Banderol flies more slowly and has a shorter range than the Filin, but it still reaches a max speed of 435 mph, making it much harder for Ukraine to intercept with drones. Its estimated price is $150,000 per unit — about a sixteenth the cost of a traditional Kh-101 cruise missile — so it's easier to mass-produce.
The frequent use of weapons like the Banderol over the summer has led to fears that Russia will lean into its tactic, often nicknamed "missile spam," to keep pushing Ukrainian air defenses.
"What is the Air Force command doing now to build up countermeasures in advance?" Sternenko wrote on Wednesday about the missile threat.
Iran's state television reported that seven oil tankers either caught fire or were damaged by mines overnight Wednesday into Thursday after being targeted or striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Ukrainians are desperate for more defense systems to repel Russia's relentless onslaught of drones and ballistic missiles. For the missiles, no system is more valuable than the U.S. Patriot interceptor. But years of use in Ukraine and by the U.S. and allies in the war with Iran have depleted thin stocks. Special correspondent Mike Cerre has an exclusive look at the Patriot manufacturing process.
Officials at Rosneft have privately voiced concerns that even a few more months of Ukraine's continued attacks could lead to lasting damage for the company.
Czech President Petr Pavel on Tuesday said President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia derailed peace talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine, saying both sides were “so close” to a ceasefire. “It will be much harder now,” Pavel told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes Politico. “Russia uses this momentum to get out of…
Czech President Petr Pavel on Tuesday said President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia derailed peace talks between the Kremlin and Ukraine, saying both sides were “so close” to a ceasefire. “It will be much harder now,” Pavel told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes Politico. “Russia uses this momentum to get out of…
It is being reported that the U.S. is evacuating Americans from countries in the Middle East in what could be the beginning of an escalation of the war there.
Could an “October Surprise” be imminent as we get closer to the U.S. mid-term elections?
Report: US Troops and Diplomats Evacuating Posts Across the Middle East
The US military has been scaling back its presence at bases across the Middle East, and the US has ordered staff reductions at multiple diplomatic posts in the region, NBC News reported Wednesday, amid growing signs that the US and Israel may be preparing to launch another attack on Iran.
Sources told NBC that similar drawdowns were carried out before the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28. US troops at bases in Jordan are among those that have been moved as Iran pounded the facilities during exchanges of strikes in the summer, attacks that caused significant US casualties. The US is also pulling troops out of facilities in Kuwait and Qatar.
One US official told the outlet that moving troops out of harm’s way was part of the US military’s planning as President Trump considers restarting “major combat operations” against Iran potentially before or after the November 3 US midterm elections.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also appears eager to restart the bombing campaign as he’s facing elections in less than a week.
Daniel Davis, a retired U.S. military officer who has a popular YouTube following, just interviewed Professor Seyed M. Marandi from inside Tehran a couple of hours before I published this article.
Professor Marandi states that the Iranians are ready for any new offensive from Israel and the U.S., and that if their energy infrastructure is attacked, which is what is being threatened, that the rich Arab Gulf states will all be destroyed, which will drag down the global economy with the loss of all the oil they produce.
This will, in turn, cause the current refugee problem in places like Latin America to become even worse, as they will seek to cross the borders into Western countries like the U.S. and Europe.
Marandi references some recent statements by Trump about San Diego and Los Angeles being bombed, stating that Iranians would have no motivation whatsoever to bomb U.S. cities, which means this would be a “false flag” event caused by the U.S. in an attempt to gain public approval for their war against Iran.
Both Davis and Marandi talk about how none of the reasons given to attack Iran make any kind of sense whatsoever, because there are no winners in such a doomsday scenario that could include nuclear bombs.
It is a product of the Zionist belief system, and really nothing else.
Are Americans prepared to die for “Greater Israel”?
Many Americans are already leaving the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia where the Yemen resistance forces continue bombing areas in Saudi Arabia where many Americans live, such as the Aramco complex in Dhahran.
This article was written by Human Superior Intelligence (HSI)
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The answer, delivered during a debate with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, aligned Marshall with President Donald Trump's freshly antagonistic posture toward Ukraine, which has spent more than four years defending itself against an invasion.
"Overall, nothing has changed anywhere," a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 22. Starlink's speed cap of 161 kilometers per hour remains in effect, the official said.
Along Russia’s remote Arctic coast last month, Igor Sechin stood beside a waiting tanker in the freezing cold with a message for Vladimir Putin: After years of construction, the country’s next great oil frontier was finally coming to life.
US President Donald Trump called Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starlink, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US officials.
The Starlink system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the Trump-Musk conversation, according to US and Ukrainian officials cited by the Journal.
Some Ukrainian officials told the newspaper the system was not restored to full functionality but was working at higher speeds than under the cap.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier on Thursday that Starlink speed had not been restored for Ukraine, adding that he hoped for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the coming days.
Trump told Musk he was frustrated the system’s speeds remained capped at around 100 mph (160 kph), the Journal said, citing officials.
Rubio said on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine’s access to Starlink were up to its parent company SpaceX and its CEO Musk, not the White House.
Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations. Restricting the satellite service hampered the country’s attack and air defense drone missions against Russia.
Intel officials say the Palestinian terror group has up to 40,000 operatives, has strengthened its control in Gaza and restored much of its tunnel network amid stalled negotiations
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