Introduction by Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio
Bringing Ukraine into NATO is a way to demonstrate to Russia that Europe intends to protect its ally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This is the peace strategy of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, very similar to that of US President Donald Trump, who adamantly declared that the escalation of attacks on civilian oil facilities targeted by the Kiev army would force Moscow to negotiate (video).
Trump’s unfortunate statement stems from the fact that, on the one hand, he wants to please his moderate electorate, now tired of constant and costly wars, and on the other, he must answer to his real masters: the Zionist financial lobbies that divide up most of the speculation in the arms industry.
So he can continue to pretend to seek a peace agreement in Ukraine amidst the many exclamations he himself has encouraged with his continued support for Zelensky, but if he were to win the elections again in 2028 it would be inevitable for him to be dragged by the United Kingdom, NATO and the European Union into a direct war against Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s latest remarks that the proposals for a Ukrainian settlement made at the Alaska summit had failed, emphasized the importance of clarifying who truly bears responsibility for the outcome.
He reaffirmed that Russia’s conscience remains clear, underscoring the principle that “a man’s word is his bond: you say you’re going to do something, and then you do it.”
Lavrov pointed out that Kiev’s dismissive rejection of US proposals, formulated at the Alaska summit, is primarily driven by the continued influx of weapons, a significant portion of which originates from the United States.
The Kremlin’s response, obviously, was the destruction of multiple Ukrainian energy facilities and the annihilation of over 200 gas stations in the country (video below), causing serious damage to the population that Zelensky has no say in.
WARS IN VIDEO – BREAKING NEWS from Middle East and Ukraine HERE
As two exceptional analysts, journalist Tucker Carlson and pacifist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, point out below, every military strategy is now hastily geared toward triggering NATO’s Third World War against Russia.
Johnson appears to be the ideal provocateur for several reasons:
This is yet another confirmation that the British plan for a direct confrontation with Russia, also fueled by the plan to supply nuclear weapons to Ukraine according to a pact signed by former PM Starmer on January, 2025, seems to have truly begun its countdown.
The fact that the United Kingdom has decided to support Trump in his war against Iran, providing military support bases, means that the two most powerful NATO militaries is ready to support George Soros’s 1993 plan to project the Atlantic Alliance into the New World Order by imposing a police state in EU countries, destined to transform into military dictatorships with martial law for war purposes.
A new pandemic, the migrant scare, and attacks on counter-information (anticipated as a primary target by the CEPA think tank since its inception) will be the excuses to implement these measures with different measures in various EU countries.
Below you can watch and read the topics which legitimez this analysis…
Former British PM Boris Johnson presented his “fake peace-plan for Ukraine”, a plan which might trigger the finally outbreak of World War III during an interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on SkyNews.
“One of the ways to end the war is for Washington, London, Paris and other capitals to reiterate what used to be the official policy: Ukraine should join NATO. You can’t hear it anymore. Today, you will no longer hear statements that Ukraine should become part of the North Atlantic Alliance”.
“You know how Putin will react to this? Putin will react by making a deal, because now he has no reason to believe that we are serious. Until he hears that the game is over and that the West has a long—term strategic goal of making Ukraine part of NATO, he will continue to put pressure on Ukraine, and some will continue to seek to divide it”.
“The United States is waging a war against Russia. American taxpayers’ money is being spent to help Ukraine target drones and missiles at targets in Russia”.
The famous journalist and oponionist Tucker Carlson warned in a new video.
“If you look at the situation more broadly, you can see that one country, the United States, is simultaneously waging two wars: one against Iran, the other against Russia. Make no mistake: the United States is at war with Russia. The Trump administration’s intelligence data, obtained from the CIA and other intelligence agencies, is being used by the Ukrainian government to target drones and missiles”.
“Thus, the U.S. government, at the expense of American taxpayers, is waging a war against the Russian government, regardless of whether U.S. citizens realize it or not and whether they want it or not. And, of course, most Americans, in his opinion, do not understand this. What is the result? Destabilize the Russian regime? Divide Russia into fifteen separate republics? Not yet“.
“This will lead to an increase in global energy prices, as Russia produces about 12% of the world’s oil and about 5% of petroleum products. And the war that the United States is waging against Russia is a war against energy. Russian oil refineries were attacked by missiles or drones, which were guided by the help of the United States”.
Roger Waters in an interview with RT — about the militarization of the West and the attempts of European leaders to frighten the war with Russia:
“I often tell people, ‘Do you know who Russians are? They won the Second World War (and 25 million of them died!), saving the world for us. Do you want to fight them?”
The co-founder of Pink Floyd, in a conversation with RT host Rick Sanchez, noted that the leaders of the European Union are “rattling weapons in front of Russia.”
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In this edition: in a pickle; gut feeling; king of pain; life (or something like it); for those about to rock.
People are choosing cremation far more often these days. Open-casket funerals are on a steep decline, along with the professions that allow for loved ones to comfortably view their dead for the last time. For Harper’s Magazine, John Semley talks to Anthony Saldivar, Berri Cooper, Danielle Colquitt, and Hannah Bugos, all of whom competed in the Restorative Art Technical Showcase, “the highlight event of last year’s National Funeral Directors Association convention.” These elite undertakers are highly skilled in what’s known as restorative art, the process by which humans disfigured by grievous injury or disease are made to look like they did in life, so that their loved ones can bid farewell to someone they recognize.
Cooper has dealt with several particularly complex restoration cases during her long career. While we chatted, she pulled up images on her phone of a father who’d been burned so badly in an accident that he was, save for some faintly visible protruding teeth, barely identifiable as a person. She was able to perform a full facial reconstruction on him based on photographs, so that his loved ones could say goodbye to someone who was not only recognizably human, but familiar to them. “There’s not a body where I’ve said, ‘No, I couldn’t,’ ” she told me. That includes the mutilated body of a stillborn baby, whom Cooper embalmed and restored at a grieving mother’s request.
The vanishing of any craft is a tragedy to all who prefer the existence of a thing to its opposite, but restorative art represents more than just a niche domain of aesthetic achievement or a macabre postmortem racket. With its disappearance, we stand to lose a whole way of memorializing our dead: one that might be pricey, unnecessary, and even a little absurd, but only out of commitment to the notion that an occasion as final as death is worthy of pomp and circumstance.
For Men’s Health, Brian Underwood investigates the flood of sunscreen misinformation on Instagram and TikTok, where influencers push inaccurate data about chemical UV filters, play chemist and promote their own DIY formulas, or even encourage no sun protection at all. Underwood sorts fact from fear, talking with dermatologists, chemists, and professionals who are working to reshape the messaging around sun exposure and sunscreen.
Environmental concerns may have also shown up in your feed, with suggestions that these same filters are poisoning our oceans, giving rise to a whole category of sunscreens labeled “reef safe”—a meaningless marketing term that’s not regulated by the FDA (the same goes for products labeled “natural” or “organic”). Dr. Nelson’s point about “low-relevance models” is something to consider here too: The research demonstrating that oxybenzone, octinoxate, and other active ingredients may lead to reef bleaching was done in a lab setting where coral was exposed to levels of these chemicals significantly higher than has been found in the natural environment. It conveniently left out the fact that inorganic filters like zinc oxide (the one typically used in “reef safe” formulas) would have the same effect in similar doses.
It is 2028. The war in Ukraine ended in an uneasy ceasefire eighteen months ago. Russian forces remain in occupied territories, and Ukrainian forces hold defensive positions, armed with American weapons and European money. The ceasefire talks failed to establish either a buffer zone or an observer mission because the parties could not agree on the terms. Europeans have given vaguely formulated “security guarantees” with an ill-defined American backstop, but NATO has no clear presence near the contact line.
One morning, Ukrainian intelligence detects Russian armoured movements towards the ceasefire line. The government in Kyiv claims Russia is preparing for invasion; officials in Moscow insist it is routine repositioning. Within 48 hours, shooting starts and each side blames the other. Russian forces cross the ceasefire line at three points. Calls go out to European capitals and Washington, but no one agrees on what the intelligence shows. The security guarantors reach for the ceasefire documents and find they say different things depending on who is reading them.
Nobody knows what to do—whether NATO should respond militarily, whether European states should act alone, or whether America, focused since 2027 on a series of interventions in Latin America, should engage at all. Nobody has agreed what the rules are, what triggers intervention, what constitutes a proportionate response or who decides.
The outcome of this scenario is chaos and escalation driven by uncertainty and domestic political pressure. These are the conditions that precede catastrophic wars. The goal of this paper is to help prevent that scenario or, more precisely, to ensure clear answers exist before the shooting starts. The post-war environment in Europe will be unstable in the near term and perhaps for a generation or more because the war will almost certainly end without a genuine peace settlement that resolves key questions of sovereignty, security, power or identity. The wounds are too deep and the sides too evenly matched to agree on a comprehensive peace.
This is not an unusual situation after inconclusive wars. To adapt the historian Michael Howard’s insight, the end of fighting does not itself create peace. Between war and peace lies a large and dangerous space of armistices, frozen conflicts and unstable political settlements. The task for American and European policymakers will be to build enough structure around that dangerous space to prevent it from producing the next war.
America and Europe can do this by transitioning from chaotic confrontation with Russia to “managed disorder”: a state in which rivalry remains, but becomes less vulnerable to accident, panic and domestic political pressure.
To achieve this state of managed disorder, this paper proposes a staged framework built on verification, certification and conditional incentives. The framework would temporarily freeze facts on the ground, but not legitimise them, and give the main actors reason to adhere to agreements. This would help American and European policymakers maintain stability in Europe, defend Ukraine and deter further revisionism while reducing the risk of escalation. It would also give Russia a sense of safety and a seat at the table to discuss European security. Hostility would persist but it would be channelled into rules, limitations and predictable behaviour.
Managed disorder does not imply legitimising territorial conquest or rewarding aggression. It also falls well short of a durable settlement. Importantly, it does not require “trust”, a commodity that is generally lacking in international affairs and particularly in relations with Russia.
However, building such a system will be politically hard. Russia may prefer chaos to managed disorder. Ukraine may reject any arrangement that appears to freeze partition. European states will disagree over deterrence, sanctions, reconstruction, enlargement and engagement with Moscow, and the US may remain indispensable but unreliable. But these are not objections to managed disorder; they are the reasons it is needed. Its purpose is precisely to manage these political pressures through rules, incentives and procedures before a crisis makes improvisation the only option.
This paper traces the hard road to the modest achievement of managed disorder. It first outlines the sources of disorder after the war in Ukraine and why the key players might find managed disorder preferable to the alternatives. It then describes a staged plan to get from a ceasefire in Ukraine to a hopeful but realistic stability. The plan accepts that the future is contingent and will certainly surprise us. It therefore seeks to adapt to circumstances even as it keeps in mind where we want to go and what we want to avoid.
The war in Ukraine is likely to leave relations between Russia, Europe and the United States in significant disorder. A ceasefire, armistice or exhausted pause in the fighting would stop large-scale violence but not settle the question of sovereignty over contested territories. Russian forces will probably remain on Ukrainian territory while Ukraine continues to assert its territorial integrity. Europe will still face a revisionist Russia on its borders and the United States will still have to decide how much of European security it intends to underwrite.
This state of affairs will be the first source of disorder. The ceasefire will probably not resolve any of the geopolitical ambiguity. It will also likely fail to clarify what counts as a violation or establish who monitors the ceasefire, who enforces it and who decides when one side has broken it. This is the central danger of the post-war moment. Although major combat may be absent, every movement of forces, artillery exchange, drone incident, act of sabotage and political crisis in Kyiv or Moscow could result in renewed escalation.
The second source of disorder lie within the West itself. America and Europe will not enter this period as a single strategic actor, even though they will retain important common interests—both will want to prevent a wider war, avoid nuclear escalation and stop Russia from conquering Ukraine outright. For the US, Russia will remain a nuclear power and a disruptive actor, but no longer the organising threat of American strategy. Washington will increasingly focus on China, the Western Hemisphere and the fiscal costs of global leadership. Europe will have no such luxury. Russia will stay a nearby military threat, and Ukraine’s reconstruction will become a European problem. Any failure of deterrence will unfold on Europe’s doorstep.
This divergence means that the Atlantic alliance will become less automatic, even if it does not collapse. The US may remain essential for nuclear deterrence, intelligence, sanctions enforcement and crisis diplomacy with Moscow, but it may also grow less willing to sustain Ukraine’s conventional defence, less patient with European divisions and more tempted by bilateral understandings with Russia that promise quick gains or theatrical success. Europe will fear both American abandonment and American freelancing. It will need Washington to work towards managed disorder, but will no longer be able to count on it to take the lead.
Europe will also generate disorder of its own. The war has produced a rhetorical consensus—Ukraine must survive and Europe must do more for its own defence—that hides deep disagreements. Poland, Sweden and other eastern and northern states will judge any post-war arrangement through the lens of deterrence, vulnerability and Russian deception. Spain, Italy and others will place more weight on stability, fiscal pressures and eventual economic normalisation with Russia. Some governments, such as those in the Baltics, will want to accelerate Ukraine’s integration into the EU and the European defence economy. Yet others, like Poland, will worry that Ukraine’s accession—and its agricultural exports, corruption, security needs—could transform the bloc in ways it cannot control.
These divisions will shape security policy and domestic debates. Russia will try to exploit them. Any post-war arrangement must therefore manage Europe as much as it manages Russia. It must prevent European disunity from becoming an instrument of Russian strategy.
Ukraine itself will form a further source of disorder. It will depend on American and European weapons and money for years after the fighting stops—creating leverage but also resentment. If Ukraine concludes that a post-war order locks in partition while offering only vague promises of future integration, it may resist the whole idea. If Europe concludes that Ukraine is using its support to pursue military aims that Europe cannot sustain, European commitment may fracture. This arrangement, therefore, cannot simply constrain Ukraine. It must give Ukraine a visible future: a defensible state, deepening European integration, reconstruction and a credible non-military path to eventual territorial restoration.
Russia will create the most obvious source of disorder, but not necessarily through renewed invasion. Moscow may accept a ceasefire because it believes time is on its side. It may calculate that Ukraine will become politically divided, that European publics will tire, that American attention will wander and that sanctions will erode. It may use the pause in fighting to rebuild forces, probe American and European resolve, influence European politics and normalise its gains—all while formally conceding nothing. A ceasefire may therefore mark not the end of Russian revisionism, but its movement into a different register.
American and European policymakers should not assume Russia fears disorder the way they do. Disorder may serve Russian purposes. Ambiguity can help Moscow test thresholds. For instance, hybrid operations impose costs on the West while preserving deniability. Political interference can weaken European unity without triggering a military response. For America and Europe, deterring a second invasion of Ukraine may well be the easier task; the harder one will be to curb Russia’s appetite for exploiting turbulence around Europe’s borders.
The post-war order will also face regional spillover. Ukraine will remain the epicentre of the confrontation with Russia, but Moldova, the Black Sea and the Arctic could face intensified coercion too. Africa and the Middle East may offer Russia opportunities to punish Europe indirectly through migration, mercenary activity, energy disruption or political leverage. A system that manages only the line of contact in Ukraine will not contain all of the disorder stemming from the conflict.
China will add another layer of complexity. Its economic weight can cushion Russia from Western pressure, but Beijing’s interest in stability also constrains Moscow’s options.
The final source of disorder will come from the absence of accepted leaders. During the cold war, the US claimed and largely exercised the role of Western leader. That world will not return. Europe cannot yet replace America: the EU cannot speak with the speed or unity of a state. NATO can deter, but it cannot resolve every political dispute a bad ceasefire creates. Individual European leaders may speak to officials in Moscow, Washington or Kyiv, but none can credibly represent the whole continent. In that vacuum, others will try to manage the disorder: private envoys, Gulf intermediaries, business figures, transactional American negotiators or ad hoc coalitions formed in crisis. Without rules, the system will fill with middlemen.
These sources of disorder will keep producing flashpoints that risk a return to war. Maintaining stability in post-conflict Europe will take conscious, active management. A comprehensive settlement to the Russia question remains out of reach for now, so the aim should be to prevent a bad and incomplete peace from decaying into a more dangerous confrontation.
Managed disorder will hold together only as long as its incentives do. America and Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and China each bring different interests, so the system of managed disorder must align incompatible motives around a limited common interest: avoiding a return to uncontrolled war.
Stabilising and strengthening Ukraine is the foundation of the entire system. For that, Ukraine must want to comply with it rather than be forced to because it needs American and European money and weapons to rebuild itself and deter Russia. The benefits need to be tangible and politically defensible at home. Therefore, in addition to sustained military aid, joint defence production and reconstruction funding, a stable system must offer Ukraine a path into the EU and a credible route to recovering lost territory without renewed fighting. Ukraine will not abide by the rules of managed disorder if it experiences it only as a restraint on its actions rather than as a route to a stronger Ukrainian state.
The main part of that route goes through EU membership. Europe should tie the pace of Ukraine’s accession—market access, regulatory alignment, reconstruction funding—to its conduct within this system. Cooperation opens the door; obstruction closes it. No Ukrainian government can afford to turn its back on a European future.
That pull is real, but it has limits. EU membership is economic and political; the bloc’s mutual-assistance clause, Article 42.7, carries none of NATO’s integrated command structure or binding defence commitments. However, Ukrainian officials under domestic pressure may present accession as delivering that protection anyway, leaving the public expecting a NATO-style military response that Article 42.7 was never built to provide. Any actual security guarantee will need its own separate instrument with defined triggers, scope and decision-making process.
In any case, Ukraine will benefit more from sustained American and European military aid, joint defence production and a homegrown arms industry than from any ambiguous or unenforceable security guarantee. The country will need artillery, air defence, drones and the factories to build them for decades to come. But offensive or long-range systems—capable of striking deep into Russian territory—should come from Western allies only if Russia attacks again, keeping the line between defending Ukraine and arming it for renewed war visible to Moscow and to sceptical Western publics.
Ukraine’s own expanding arms industry will blur that line. Washington and European capitals can condition their weapons transfers, but they cannot control what Ukraine builds. To manage disorder, therefore, they should tie reconstruction, defence-industrial cooperation and military assistance to rules about defensive posture and escalation.
The territorial question needs careful handling. A settlement must preserve Ukraine’s claim to the occupied lands—legally, politically and morally. Refusing to recognise Russia’s conquests should remain a core principle. But America and Europe must be honest too: Ukraine cannot retake its territory by force. Restoration will come through Ukrainian resilience, European integration, legal non-recognition, diplomacy and long-term shifts in the balance of power—not a bet on a better war later. Ukraine can keep hoping for its territory back without believing that another war is the way to get it.
Coalition dynamics will shape compliance with managed disorder too. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia—Ukraine’s strongest backers—will have to be part of any difficult trade-offs. If these countries can support a compromise, Ukrainian leaders can argue that managed disorder strengthens Ukraine rather than abandons it, and western European governments can show that restraint does not mean appeasement. If they oppose it, critics in Kyiv and across Europe will portray the arrangement as a deal made over Ukraine’s head and at the expense of Europe’s most vulnerable states. In that case, neither Ukrainian nor European leaders could easily sell compliance at home.
In the end, Western policymakers must design Ukraine’s decision space, not just hope it will make the right decisions. They must show that cooperation delivers EU integration, reconstruction, military assistance, long-term deterrence and a path to restoring territory by weakening Russia over time—West Germany pulled off exactly that with the East, decades later. Obstruction delivers economic stagnation, dwindling aid, isolation and an indefinite war footing with nothing to show for it. The goal is to make cooperation the rational, defensible choice for any government in Kyiv.
This paper does not assume that Moscow wants peace or even managed disorder. The only assumption is that a ceasefire would reveal some Russian interest in pausing large-scale war. The task is to exploit that pause to make restraint more attractive to Moscow than going back to war.
The logic is structured choice. Russia should know exactly what it gets for playing by the rules and what it loses for breaking them. If Russia complies, the rewards should be tangible—for instance, sanctions relief is immediate but reversible. If Russia violates the rules, the costs should be just as immediate—for example, suspended sanctions snap back automatically.
Military realities can reinforce this logic. The war has cost Russia dearly in soldiers, equipment, ammunition and political attention. Yet Russian weakness should not lull the US and Europe into assuming that Moscow’s appetite for aggression has diminished. Russia’s calculation will change only if Ukraine, armed by Europe, can defend itself. A second full-scale invasion would offer no easy win. Russia would confront a better-prepared Ukraine, a more fortified eastern flank and a Western sanctions system built to escalate rather than merely restore previous penalties.
Economic incentives can also matter, though they will not by themselves drive Russian policy. The Kremlin has shown it will sacrifice prosperity for war and ideology. But Russians value access to markets, targeted relief and the ability to travel, which shape interests inside the system, especially once the immediate demands of wartime mobilisation recede. Sanctions can thus create constituencies for restraint. Relief should remain selective, staged and reversible. It should reward observable behaviour, not political promises. And it should be designed so that renewed escalation hurts the specific people and networks that benefit from playing along.
None of this guarantees Russian cooperation. Moscow may still conclude that exploitable disorder serves it better than regulated confrontation, particularly if it can strike a bilateral understanding with Washington over Europe’s head. Western policymakers should therefore expect Russian violations and aim to narrow Russia’s room to exploit ambiguity.
Moscow does not need to like managed disorder to live with it. It only needs to face a world in which restraint brings some gains and cheating brings higher costs. Of course, the Russian government has not always responded to such incentives. No amount of pressure guarantees good behaviour. All any arrangement can do is make every alternative worse.
Turkey belongs in this system because the Black Sea cannot be managed without it. Ankara controls access to the Black Sea through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits, has direct interests in maritime security and commerce, and has maintained working channels with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the war. Any post-war arrangement that touches naval access, grain routes, energy transport, Russian warship movements, or the security of Ukraine’s southern coast will require Turkish participation. Ankara can either reinforce the framework or complicate it. Managed disorder should therefore treat Turkey as a necessary regional partner.
The other major power shaping Russia’s future options is China. The two are not formal allies, but their partnership is more than a marriage of convenience. Russia needs China for markets, technology, diplomatic cover and long-term economic resilience. Moscow’s options depend as much on what Beijing will tolerate as on what Washington and European capitals will permit.
China need not endorse managed disorder for its interests to tacitly reinforce it. Beijing benefits from a stable Russia that checks American and European power, but not from a Russia that collapses or continually destabilises Europe. Endless war raises energy prices, invites secondary sanctions and risks escalation that could disrupt China’s own growth and global positioning. A structured post-war settlement that freezes borders, channels competition and conditions economic reintegration offers China predictability without forcing political alignment. If American and European sanctions tie relief to Russian conduct and penalises circumvention, Beijing may find it cheaper to let the system work than to help Russia rearm—provided the system leaves Russia viable as a geopolitical ally for China and a source of natural resources.
Economic interests pull in the same direction. Beijing values access to European markets and reconstruction opportunities in Ukraine. Western leaders should therefore make clear that stability unlocks better China-Europe economic ties, while a collapse of managed disorder would push Europe toward militarisation, protectionism and tighter technological coordination with the United States. China can benefit from this arrangement without choosing between Europe and Russia, so long as it prefers predictability and stability to escalation and sanctions spirals.
Managed disorder also needs a China clause. If Russia uses China to rearm and restock its munitions, the consequences cannot fall on Moscow alone. Europe should tighten its China policy, deepen coordination with America and target Chinese firms enabling violations with economic pressure. China must understand that helping Russia evade these rules costs Beijing more than it benefits it, while tolerating stability keeps the door to European markets open.
In this sense, China is neither an adversary nor an essential partner, but a structural constraint that can reinforce, undermine or passively enable whatever security order emerges in Europe. A system that links market access to stability, invites selective Chinese participation and penalises circumvention turns Beijing, intentionally or not, into a stakeholder in restraint.
How the war in Ukraine ends will go a long way towards deciding the path to managed disorder. A fully disarmed or “neutralised” Ukraine is unacceptable to Kyiv and unsustainable for Europe. A permanently offensive Ukraine capable of striking deep into Russian territory would risk escalation and be unacceptable to Moscow. The same would be true if Ukraine were to host Western troops.
Between these poles lies the most workable model: a defensible, resilient Ukraine that is armed to deter, but not configured for offensive operations. This “steel porcupine” posture follows the same logic as cold war West Germany: strong enough to make conquest costly but not positioned as a launchpad for offensive war. It separates Ukraine’s legal and political claim to territorial restoration from the military means that could reignite the war, without conceding Russia’s territorial gains.
Europe is likely to bear long-term responsibility for Ukraine’s rebuilding, military assistance and eventual integration into European institutions. Even a supportive United States may commit fewer resources over time. A framework for managed disorder must ensure that Europe can sustain Ukrainian security on its own if America steps back, while leaving room for deeper US involvement should political conditions allow.
To reach that state, American and European policymakers will need to work amid mistrust, division and partial compliance. They must create a system in which Ukrainian restraint earns visible progress, and Russian violations bring consequences and compliance rewards. Importantly, they should also ensure European disagreement does not become paralysis and American involvement strengthens the system without owning it.
Washington and European capitals share core interests yet diverge in priorities, attention and risk tolerance. The challenge will be to design a system that can operate with those differences built in.
A future American administration, whether populist or merely pragmatic, is likely to approach Russia as a file to manage rather than a sustained strategic priority beyond its nuclear dimension. To the extent it figures in US strategic calculations, Russia is more likely to be seen as part of America’s larger competition with China. Commitments to European security that once seemed permanent will depend on electoral cycles and budgetary politics.
That is why managed disorder should rely on European initiative and pre-agreed processes rather than sustained American focus: durability must be built into the mechanism itself, not assumed from Washington’s resolve.
European nations will see the landscape through a nearer lens. Russia is not a distant power but a neighbour capable of altering borders by force. European governments agree that Ukraine must survive yet disagree on what survival means: integrated or merely defended, heavily armed or cautiously defensible, anchored fully to Europe or held at strategic arm’s length. Populist and anti-migrant parties are often averse to sustained defence expenditure and will sometimes be open to friendly relations with Russia.
Given the European disagreements and the American focus on China, a genuine transatlantic consensus on a post-war order is unlikely to emerge. What is achievable and necessary is interoperability: a structure in which Europe and the US can act together when aligned and continue functioning when they are not. A framework to achieve managed disorder will therefore need to do two things. First, its stages, tracks and certification mechanisms should be designed to keep working whether or not Washington and European capitals are pulling in the same direction. Second, it should be designed for a permanently divided Europe. Its purpose should be to prevent disagreement from becoming paralysis.
That means creating a European core group: a few countries that can negotiate sanctions positions, military support thresholds, monitoring standards and responses to Russian violations before each crisis arrives. It should include the countries with the greatest military weight, financial capacity and geographic exposure—France, Germany, Poland and the UK, as well as the Nordic and Baltic states. The core group should drive the security logic; EU institutions should anchor the economic, sanctions, enlargement and legitimacy logic.
Russia will seek to widen any post-war process beyond the line of contact in Ukraine. It will want to discuss NATO enlargement, American and Western European basing, missile deployments, military exercises, the Black Sea and the military balance along its western frontier. Europe and the US should expect these demands, but they should neither dismiss them reflexively nor accept them on Russia’s terms. Some issues do raise genuine risks of miscalculation between Russia and NATO. Large military exercises near borders, missile deployments, ambiguous troop movements, air and naval incidents, cyber operations against critical infrastructure and uncontrolled activity in the Black Sea can create crises regardless of the justice of the underlying political claims.
To stop Russia from setting the terms of the debate, European leaders should pursue two distinct negotiations. The first would revolve around the ceasefire and subsequent security arrangement in Ukraine, and must preserve Ukraine as a principal actor. The second concerns the wider Russia-Europe security environment and must prevent either Moscow or Washington from treating Europe as an object of negotiation. Russia will try to conflate the two tracks so that it can use NATO-Russia talks to extract constraints on Ukraine or claim that whatever Kyiv gives up, the West gave up too. European policymakers should resist this and keep the two discussions separate, though separation also has risks: if either track collapses, the other will suffer because both tracks are needed to ensure regional security. The first maintains immediate stability along the line of contact between Russia and Ukraine; the second tackles the wider geopolitics.
Russia will prefer to discuss regional security with America rather than with Europe. It will try to cast Europe as the object of negotiation, not a participant in it. If the American leadership is distracted by other priorities or tempted by bilateral deals with Moscow, it might even support that Russian position. The answer for Europe is to define the terms of engagement with Russia in advance, with frontline states fully involved and with clear limits on what can and cannot be negotiated.
To do that, Europeans need the core group to define common positions before the United States and Russia enter any serious dialogue. European leaders cannot prevent every American side channel with Moscow, but they can limit the damage by insisting in advance on the principles that should govern any regional security conversation. These might include no recognition of territorial conquest, no Russian veto over its neighbours’ alliance decisions, no limits on Ukraine’s sovereign choices and no economic relief without behavioural restraint.
This regional security agenda will make many European leaders uncomfortable. Frontline states will fear that any discussion of basing, exercises, missiles or notification requirements gives Moscow a path back to influence over their security. They have reason to worry. Russia has used previous security conversations to claim rights over its neighbours. It has, for example, consistently used the indivisible security clause of the 1999 Charter for European Security to assert that it has the right to deny its neighbours membership in Western security organisations such as NATO. Despite this record, to exclude regional security from the framework would leave Moscow free to raise it bilaterally with Washington or exploit it during crises.
Regional security therefore is one of the central tests of managed disorder. If the US and Europe refuse to discuss it at all, Russia will use the refusal to justify probing, escalating and direct talks with America over Europe’s head. If they discuss it on Moscow’s terms, it will legitimise coercion and weaken the states most exposed to its power. The only viable course lies between those failures: to create a framework that channels Russian security demands into reciprocal, verifiable and limited mechanisms.
Every actor has reason to tolerate managed disorder over the alternatives, but tolerance does not sustain itself; it has to be built into rules. Managed disorder therefore rests on at least three mutually reinforcing principles:
Separate where necessary: Europe should first reduce its exposure to Russia with stronger defences and less dependence on Russian energy. Ukraine should tie itself economically more closely to Europe and be able to hold its ground militarily. Effective deterrence is a precondition for any dialogue.
Compartmentalise where you can: Certain issues—nuclear risk, Arctic exploitation, climate change and counter-proliferation—are in everyone’s interest to manage together. Even Russia wants to avoid, say, nuclear war or environmental collapse. The parties should fence such issues off from more neuralgic ones, such as Ukrainian sovereignty, to prevent crises from cascading into areas of mutual benefit. Cooperation here is a limited and mutually beneficial transaction, not the embryo of a broader relationship.
Make engagement conditional: Russia should earn sanctions relief, diplomatic reintegration and economic access by meeting specific, verifiable benchmarks. These rewards should be reversible and calibrated, so that, for Russia, compliance pays and violations are costly. This system does not require faith—just working mechanisms.
Within these pillars, Europe can emphasise defensive resilience and sanctions, while America manages nuclear and global issues. Both are compatible with the same architecture, if properly sequenced.
Managed disorder will not arrive by some grand bargain. It must grow semi-organically from whatever unsatisfactory deal ends the Ukraine conflict. Progress will be uneven and contingent: each stage will require stability in the previous one and give Russia incentives to value restraint over escalation. Optimistically, it will take years to move from ceasefire management to durable rules, and probably a decade or more before habits, institutions and political constituencies for restraint begin to take root. The framework will thus also need to “fail well” in the sense that Ukraine and Europe need to be able to bounce back if there is a setback.
The sequencing below shows how war-termination mechanisms can become stabilisation tools, then arms-control practice, then institutions. This is deliberate. America and Europe should commit openly to this trajectory, making clear that progress depends on Russia sticking to core principles. Even so, however technical the criteria for moving from one stage to the next may look, all the parties will accept progress only if their domestic politics allow it.
A ceasefire, negotiated principally between Ukraine and Russia, is the prerequisite for everything that follows. It would be good if that ceasefire laid the groundwork for a more stable peace, but experience suggests that it will only nod in that direction and leave much unsaid. In the end, the purpose of a ceasefire is to stop the shooting rather than to ensure permanent peace. In Ukraine, that would be an accomplishment in itself and would at least open the door to the more sustainable process outlined below.
The first phase is about preventing a return to large-scale violence, preserving Ukraine’s survival and creating minimum conditions for a wider managed confrontation. It should embed the principle that behaviour has consequences. Monitoring and verification should come first—they enable later agreements by normalising inspections, data exchanges and the idea of measurable compliance. Those, in turn, provide the basis for rewarding Russian restraint.
This phase should establish baseline rules and mechanisms.
The goal is to contain friction along the line of control and normalise external verification so that incidents do not spiral.
Monitoring in this phase should not be confused with Western intelligence assessments. A ceasefire mechanism needs visible procedures that both Russia and Ukraine can invoke when incidents occur. The American and European governments will also rely on classified intelligence, satellite imagery and Ukrainian reporting to assess whether Russia is preparing to attack again, but Russia need not accept those assessments for America and Europe to act on them. The two systems serve different purposes: the ceasefire mechanism manages incidents and referees disputes; intelligence assessments guide deterrence and enforcement.
Property claims will likely be one of the war’s most politically corrosive legacies. The framework must acknowledge them early, even if it cannot resolve them. Ukrainians have lost homes, businesses and land in occupied territories. Russian state assets and other linked private assets are frozen or seized across Europe. European nationals, companies and institutions have outstanding claims from pre-war investments. Left unaddressed, these grievances will curdle into domestic pressure against any government trying to sustain the framework. Experience from other post-conflict settlements suggests that unresolved property claims only get harder to settle and easier for spoilers to exploit the longer they sit.
This stage should therefore set up a dedicated arbitration channel for property claims, compensation and an inventory of assets in occupied territories. It should give affected populations a visible, legitimate process they can trust to address their claims eventually, even if immediate restitution is impossible. Otherwise, these issues become structural weaknesses that Russia, populist parties or affected lobbies can later exploit to fracture European cohesion.
No formal milestone marks the end of Stage 1—readiness to advance is a practical judgement. Triggers for progression to the next stage could include six to twelve months without major violations, inspectors consistently granted access or functioning communication demonstrated during minor incidents.
Once violence subsides, the next task is to keep it that way. This requires partial demilitarisation and transparency along the Ukraine-Russia and NATO-Russia contact lines. The logic resembles the earliest cold war confidence-building measures: small, technical arrangements that reduce risk without requiring political alignment.
Stage 2 creates, as noted, the two parallel negotiation tracks with Russia: one on the Ukraine-Russia contact line, Track A, and the other on NATO-Russia, Track B. Progress or failure in one track should have no bearing on the other, and the scope of Track B explicitly excludes Ukraine’s sovereign choices. Ukraine should be consulted before any Track B arrangement that materially affects its security. It should have no veto over NATO decisions, but it should not be treated as an object of them either.
The purpose of the negotiations would be to make the signs towards confrontation easier to read. Russia should be able to tell which US and European actions reflect routine deterrence from those signalling preparation for escalation, just as America and Europe need a clear read on which Russian moves stay within declared force posture and which mark renewed aggression. Ukraine, in turn, should know what kinds of Russian movements will trigger US and European responses—and frontline European states should trust that de-escalation measures will not come at their expense. The framework seeks to reduce the danger that military ambiguity becomes political panic.
Transparency measures and limits on destabilising deployments would increase predictability without weakening deterrence. The test is practical: a measure belongs in the framework if it reduces miscalculation while preserving the ability to defend Ukraine and NATO territory.
Examples of measures for each track include:
Track A—Contact line management (Ukraine-Russia, Western-facilitated)
Track B—NATO-Russia military transparency (NATO-led, Ukraine consulted)
Stage 2 should also expand crisis communications into separate channels, each with a limited purpose. A Ukraine-Russia channel should manage incidents along the line of contact. Exercises, air and naval encounters, forward deployments and missile notifications would run through a separate NATO-Russia military channel. A political channel—bringing together the European core group, the US, Ukraine and Russia—should handle cases that risk triggering sanctions snapback or military escalation. And the Black Sea requires a fourth channel, covering naval movements, commercial shipping, mine clearance, port access and other maritime incidents, with Turkey centrally involved.
The Black Sea requires special attention. Ukraine’s security depends on its land frontier as much as it does on Odesa—the country’s principal port and the conduit for the bulk of its grain exports, without which Ukraine would be cut off from global maritime trade. Turkey’s control of the Black Sea and its diplomatic channels to both Moscow and Kyiv make it indispensable here.
These channels should be linked by notification rules but should not be merged into a single negotiation. Their value lies precisely in compartmentalisation: failure in one channel should not bring down the rest.
Overall, these measures create predictability rather than normality. The metrics are practical: fewer surprises, lower risk of misinterpretation, calmer borders. Communication at the tactical level buys stability at the strategic one. The aim of the monitoring is to make suspicious behaviour visible enough, early enough that American and European governments can respond before ambiguity becomes paralysis.
Informal progression to Stage 3 could follow after 9–18 months of ceasefire compliance, a functioning inspection regime or verified pullbacks of heavy artillery or long-range systems from designated exclusion belts.
If stabilisation holds, America and Europe should shift their focus from military capability to deterrence. The relationship with Russia may remain adversarial, but it must be clear why and, within limits, predictable.
This stage should distinguish rearmament from deployment. At first, it should leave Europe, Ukraine and Russia to rebuild their armed forces. Capping rearmament outright would be unpopular, difficult to verify and potentially damaging to deterrence. The early aim is narrower: to curb the most destabilising forms of rearmament by regulating where forces are placed, how movements are notified, which exercises require observers, which long-range systems create escalation risks and what kinds of external assistance to Russia would trigger penalties. In short, managed disorder should allow rearmament but make it less surprising, less offensive in posture and less likely to spark a crisis.
Hybrid activity is a harder problem because Moscow has made it part of its regional strategy. Disinformation and cyberattacks cannot be managed through traditional arms control. The US and Europe cannot negotiate a clean cyber or hybrid non-aggression pact with Russia, but they can set conditions for participation in a wider framework. Russia cannot stop the drone war in Ukraine while continuing an infrastructure war across Europe and still expect sanctions relief and cooperation. A reduction in major hybrid attacks should become part of the price of entry into the framework.
This will require clear thresholds. Not every disinformation campaign warrants a crisis response, and not every cyber incident will carry a signature that all governments accept. But hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure, electoral processes, or political figures should carry consequences when evidence reaches agreed standards. The US and Europe should create a certification process that assesses such activity and links it to sanctions, diplomatic access and the pace of wider engagement. Attribution will remain contested, but the absence of perfect attribution cannot excuse permanent grey-zone coercion.
Both sets of rules—on rearmament and on hybrid activity—belong to the same emerging arms-control agenda, which could include:
The US would lead this part because of nuclear considerations, while Europe anchors the conventional posture. Russia may well test boundaries, so deterrence must remain credible. But even imperfect predictability is safer than total opacity.
Triggers for informal progression to the next stage could include routine functioning of transparency mechanisms, no large undisclosed deployments near the line or political space inside EU and US capitals for conditional economic measures.
Cooperation in limited areas can help keep the wider framework from collapsing. Even after a ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia will still be able to destabilise Europe indirectly through hybrid operations within European borders and its wider neighbourhood. A managed framework will therefore need to go beyond Ukraine without assuming that cooperation in one domain signals goodwill or leads to broader reconciliation.
The purpose of functional cooperation is twofold. First, it can give Russia limited, visible benefits from predictable behaviour. Moscow values status, access and the recognition that it is an indispensable interlocutor. Carefully chosen cooperation channels can provide these at relatively low cost, provided they remain conditional and reversible. Second, such channels can reduce Russia’s incentive to use theatres outside Europe as pressure points. If Russia gains a stake in, say, Arctic safety, it may have more to lose from turning it into a battlefield.
The US and Europe should choose these areas carefully. Cooperation should start soon after a ceasefire wherever interests overlap. It can include humanitarian and economic essentials—fertiliser and food exports, prisoner-of-war exchanges—alongside maritime and safety measures such as Black Sea commercial shipping and nuclear safety. The early purpose is to improve people’s safety and daily lives rather than to preserve the peace. If the framework holds, functional cooperation can institutionalise and spread into two further clusters: maritime and Arctic cooperation, such as search-and-rescue and maritime deconfliction; and technical safety cooperation, such as space debris monitoring, counter-proliferation and climate and environmental data exchange.
The Arctic presents a distinct challenge. Before the war, it was one of the few spaces where Russia, America and Europe cooperated despite wider tensions, but that cooperation has since collapsed. Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, Russia’s militarisation of the High North, competition over energy and shipping routes, and Chinese interest in Arctic access have turned the region into a sharper theatre of rivalry. A functional Arctic track could help prevent accidents, manage search-and-rescue obligations, preserve basic environmental data exchange, and reduce the risk that military incidents in the High North spill into wider confrontation.
Functional cooperation could also help manage the Black Sea, building on the channel already established in Stage 2. The aim should be to cut the risk that a naval incident spirals into a wider escalation.
These channels should also serve as tests of Russian behaviour. Russia cannot expect cooperation in the Arctic while sabotaging European energy infrastructure, or maritime deconfliction while strangling Ukraine’s economy in the Black Sea. Functional cooperation should therefore rest on a spoiler clause: major destabilisation in one domain should cut benefits in others, though minor incidents, such as temporary denial of port access, should not automatically break compartmentalised cooperation. The point is to preserve communication during confrontation, but without allowing these channels to become sanctuaries for Russian bad behaviour. A standing certification mechanism should assess whether Russian actions remain compatible with continued participation; major violations, such as sabotage of critical infrastructure or using mercenary forces to destabilise European interests abroad, should trigger wider consequences.
Functional silos can also discipline European divisions by allowing limited contact with Russia where it serves security, while preventing that contact from becoming a general political thaw. This distinction lets hardline states accept narrow, security-driven engagement without conceding that Russia has been forgiven, while allowing more accommodating states to engage practically without waiting for a broader reconciliation that may never come. Silos also give European publics a clear rationale: certain risks require communication even among enemies.
The task for the bilateral re-engagement is to prevent unconditional normalisation by channelling it: bilateral contacts should be registered, reported to the core group where security-relevant and subject to spoiler clauses. Left unmanaged, bilateral contacts could become the pathway through which sanctions erode and Europe fragments.
China may play a limited role in this stage in areas where its interests—Arctic access, nuclear stability, maritime trade—align with predictability. Beijing will understand that stability preserves the economic access it values; Russian defection narrows it.
After a sustained period of compliance, the framework should offer Russia visible but reversible dividends for restraint: expanded diplomatic channels, ministerial-level meetings, greater facilitation of agricultural and fertiliser exports, enhanced participation in Black Sea or nuclear-safety mechanisms, and broader bilateral contacts. The aim is to show that restraint changes the terms of engagement.
The trigger for the next stage might be two to four years of stable front lines, deterrence and transparency mechanisms working as intended, and proof that narrow cooperation holds without spilling over or being exploited.
If earlier stages mature and survive disruptions, an institutional architecture can begin to consolidate. Many elements may start earlier but will take shape over the long term. Institutionalisation marks a recognition that competition must be permanently managed. This day may never arrive, but it matters as an aspiration. Comparable cold war institutions took 25 years or more to emerge. For example, the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) was launched in the early 1970s but it only became a standing institution, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in 1995.
Potential forms for institutions include:
This stage is ambitious, uncertain and far off. It would require political durability inside Russia, Ukraine, the US and Europe. But it should remain visible as the horizon. The framework must offer a picture of a stable destination even if the road there is long.
The path to stability runs through this framework; it structures a rivalry that will continue whether we prepare for it or not. The logic is incremental: ceasefire enables monitoring, monitoring enables transparency, transparency enables limits, limits enable rules, rules enable institutions. Each step must be earned through behaviour, not granted on faith. None of this works, however, if Europe cannot act as one.
European cohesion will require a system that stops any single state from vetoing responses that the group has already agreed. The model should borrow from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015: participating states determine upfront what counts as a violation and what counts as a compliance milestone. Those criteria, once set, cannot be revised downward. The states most exposed to Russian pressure would write their red lines into the rules before the politics of the moment can erode them. A standing committee of the participating states then decides by qualified majority whether Russia has met a given criterion. If it has, the agreed reward or penalty follows automatically—unless a majority votes to block it.
This process flips the usual logic. The current system requires consensus to impose a snapback or advance a tranche of sanctions relief; the new one will require consensus to waive either. A hypothetical pro-Russian Hungarian or Slovak government seeking to delay consequences will need to openly vote to do so and bear public responsibility for that choice, rather than block it quietly through procedural abstention. Similarly, a frontline state such as Poland or a Baltic country will need to find a majority to block rewards once Russia demonstrably meets an agreed milestone. Frontline states appear to lose power here, but their red lines have already been written into the rules.
Spelling out in advance which consequences are appropriate for a breach would also help keep Europe united: cautious states will not tolerate escalation over every minor incident, and hawkish ones will not tolerate impunity for major violations. Proportionality will keep both cautious and hawkish states invested in the framework, rather than defecting to national responses. A three-tier system would make this balance work: minor procedural breaches might suspend talks or freeze a tranche of sanctions relief; material violations—such as denial of inspection access—may trigger limited snapback; major ones, such as attacks on defence production, should trigger full enforcement. This governance mechanism is only part of what will enable Europe to act cohesively within the framework; practical principles must also operate across every stage, beginning with crisis communication.
Several rules should apply throughout the framework. Managed disorder cannot rest on hopeful assumptions about Russian restraint or rationality. The framework must treat future violations as probable and place the burden on Russia to prove it is complying, not on America or Europe to show that it is not. In practice, that means adopting a presumption-of-violation approach: if, say, Russia denies inspectors access to a missile site, the refusal counts as a breach and triggers penalties. Sanctions relief, military deployments and cooperation channels continue only when Russia’s behaviour is visible and verifiable. If Moscow wants the benefits of a more predictable relationship, it must make compliance easy to see.
Crisis communication should begin from the outset. In a post-war environment, contact matters more than cooperation. Channels should allow the parties to clarify incidents and prevent local violence from escalating. These channels should be compartmentalised—for example, a line-of-contact mechanism should not depend on progress in NATO-Russia talks—so no single crisis can consume the whole framework.
Technology can help in this process, but monitoring cannot depend on it alone. Surveillance, satellite imagery, financial tracking, customs data, open-source intelligence and AI-assisted pattern detection can all improve visibility. But they cannot substitute for political judgment, agreed evidentiary standards and negotiated consequences.
In all stages, sanctions relief should be tied to periodic certification rather than ad hoc diplomacy. The certification mechanism described above—which includes the EU, the US, Ukraine and relevant European core group states—should govern the pace of sanctions relief, the triggering of snapback provisions, and the determination of whether conditions for stage progression have been met. It cannot eliminate political discretion, as that is impossible, but it can narrow it by defining operational and measurable criteria as precisely as possible. If Russia blocks inspections, moves forces without notification, conducts major hybrid attacks or violates agreed military limits, the default should be suspension or reversal of relief unless participating governments decide otherwise.
Managed disorder will make no one happy. It will not deliver justice for Ukraine, reconciliation with Russia, strategic autonomy for Europe, or a restored US-European consensus on Russia. It will leave many questions unresolved and many grievances intact. But the relevant comparison is not with an ideal peace that cannot exist. The relevant comparison is with the conceivable alternatives. All of them are worse than managed disorder.
The alternatives below are ideal types. Few policymakers advocate for any of them in pure form. But examining each in isolation reveals why none can resolve the underlying problem and why mixing them without a governing framework tends to magnify their worst features.
The first alternative is regime change in Moscow. Many Europeans and Americans have concluded that no stable order with Russia can exist while Vladimir Putin or a Putinist system remains in power—a view with real force, given how central revisionism, militarism and hostility to the West have become to the current government’s legitimacy. But as a strategy, regime change offers no credible path from the world we inhabit to the world we want. Neither the US nor Europe can engineer a liberal transition in Moscow or build a European security order on the assumption that Russia will soon become a different country. Nor can they rely on sanctions, battlefield losses or elite discontent to produce a more palatable successor. A Russia after Putin could become less aggressive, but it could also become more nationalist, more chaotic or more determined to prove that the war was not lost.
The second alternative is permanent isolation. This approach would contain Russia through sanctions, diplomatic exclusion and military pressure. It has obvious appeal. Russia should pay a lasting price for aggression. But isolation alone will not manage the next phase. Sanctions will erode without a political strategy. European governments will divide over costs and enforcement. China, Turkey, the Gulf states and others will create channels around US and European pressure. Russia will adapt and wait for fatigue in the US and Europe. Permanent isolation may punish Russia, but it will not by itself create rules for regional security or Ukraine’s defence.
The third alternative is normalisation. This approach would treat a ceasefire as the end of the problem and move quickly toward restored diplomatic channels, trade and a wider European conversation with Moscow. Some governments and firms will want this as soon as large-scale fighting stops. They will argue that Europe needs stability to recover and a way to stop Russia from becoming still more dependent on China. Some engagement with Moscow will eventually prove necessary. But normalisation without conditions would reward aggression without securing restraint. It would tell Russia that conquest brings only a temporary crisis followed by eventual reintegration. It would weaken Ukraine, divide Europe and invite Moscow to test whether another round of coercion might yield another round of concessions. Engagement has value only when it forms part of a structure of leverage. Without that structure, it becomes appeasement by exhaustion.
The fourth alternative is unmanaged confrontation. This outcome is the most likely default because it requires no decision. Europe and America would continue to arm Ukraine unevenly, maintain sanctions haphazardly, talk to Russia episodically and respond to crises as they arise. NATO would reinforce some areas, neglect others and debate deployments after Russia tests them, leaving Ukraine dependent yet insecure. Russia, meanwhile, would keep probing European defences with hybrid tactics, even as Washington cuts its own deals with Moscow. European governments might denounce such freelancing while failing to offer a coherent alternative. In this world, rivalry persists and even grows, and no one sets the rules.
Unmanaged confrontation gives Russia more ambiguity to exploit, gives the United States more room to improvise over Europe’s head, and hands European governments more opportunities to defect from common positions. It also leaves Ukraine with less clarity about what the US and Europe will support and what they will not. Every crisis becomes a test of will, credibility and domestic politics. The result would not be principled firmness. It would be recurrent improvisation under pressure.
These alternatives also share a deeper flaw. Each assumes that one element of the problem can solve the whole: Russian transformation, Russian isolation, Russian reintegration or Western toughness. None can. The post-war confrontation will require deterrence and dialogue, punishment and incentives, European unity and coalitions of the willing, Ukrainian agency, American involvement and European hedging. Any strategy that chooses only one side of these tensions will collapse when reality supplies the other.
If this trajectory does not take hold, the alternative is easy to imagine because it resembles the past decade: a ceasefire that freezes rather than manages the conflict, Russia regrouping and probing again when the balance shifts, Europe tiring under sanctions and domestic cost, the US distracted and inconsistent, and Ukraine trapped in recurrent wars. In such a world, escalation would be governed by crises rather than rules, and could arrive suddenly, triggered by accident, misunderstanding or opportunity.
America and Europe cannot choose a world without Russia, nor can they wish away their own disunity. But both Europeans and Americans can choose whether to confront Russia through chaos or through structure. Managed disorder is a strategy for containing escalation, preserving Ukrainian sovereignty, limiting Russian coercion and ensuring that rivalry remains predictable rather than world-ending.
The path forward begins in Ukraine. If policymakers treat war termination as the end of the problem, they will fail to respond to broader Russian concerns and leave Europe vulnerable to the next Russian offensive. If they instead treat war termination as the opening phase of a long process, they can shape the incentives and capacities that will govern the next decade.
A structured adversarial framework, rooted in credible deterrence and bounded by conditional cooperation, is the best available foundation. Managed disorder is not permanent peace, reconciliation or a just settlement. It is an operating system for a bad peace.
Jeremy Shapiro is the research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. His areas of focus include US foreign policy and transatlantic relations.
Samuel Charap is Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy and a senior political scientist at RAND. His research interests include the foreign policies of Russia and the former Soviet states; European and Eurasian regional security; and US-Russia deterrence, strategic stability and arms control.
Bob Deen is the General Director of the Netherlands Institute for International Relations “Clingendael” and specialises in matters of European security, with a focus on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Before joining Clingendael in 2020, he worked as Head of Section and Senior Adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
Hiski Haukkala is the director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He is also an adjunct professor of international relations at Tampere University and a senior research associate at RAND Europe. He is the author of numerous books and articles on EU foreign policy, Russia and International Relations.
Ivan Krastev is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna. He is the author of “Is It Tomorrow Yet? Paradoxes of the Pandemic”, among many other publications.
Hanna Notte is the director of the Eurasia programme at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Based in Berlin, she has written extensively about Russian foreign policy and is the author of We Shall Outlast Them: Putin’s Global Campaign to Defeat the West (W. W. Norton & Co).
Jim O’Brien is a distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in the Biden administration.
This paper is the collaborative product of a working group that met several times over the course of more than a year, comprising the authors above and Michael Kimmage of the Kennan Institute. Jeremy Shapiro took the pen on this paper, but the working group shaped, debated and contributed to it in essential ways. All of the members of the working group except Michael Kimmage fully endorse the paper.
The authors would also like to thank Kat Fytatzi for her patient and incisive editing. Kat’s editing was painful, but in exactly the right way. Nastassia Zenovich applied her usual genius for the graphical representation of extremely verbal ideas to a paper that badly needed it. She has our eternal gratitude. We’d also like to thank the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for the funding and patience that made this project possible.
For the second July running, a controversial decision from President Volodymyr Zelensky has sparked protests across Ukraine. Last year it was his attempt to weaken two anti-corruption bodies. This time it is the dismissal of his popular young defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after just six months on the job. Zelensky cited a breakdown of relations between the ministry of defence and the military leadership as a key reason for his decision.
Fedorov was blunter. In a scathing statement, he criticised the commander-in-chief of the armed forces Oleksandr Syrsky for choosing loyalty over performance, sticking to outdated ways of war fighting, and sabotaging necessary reforms. “Instead of working out how to asymmetrically defeat Russia”, Fedorov said, “[Syrsky] has worked out how to split the country.” Such internal strife is the last thing Ukraine needs. But Fedorov’s allegations also call into question whether Western military assistance for Kyiv is being used in the best possible way.
Zelensky has proposed Yevhen Khmara to replace Fedorov, subject to approval by parliament. Khmara is a respected military commander and the acting head of Ukraine’s security service, so has credentials as a military leader. But Ukraine’s parliament must also decide whether he can be a trustworthy manager in the job.
This is, of course, Ukraine’s sovereign decision to make. But it is a consequential one for the rest of Europe, too: at the end of the second quarter, defence accounted for roughly 80% of Ukraine’s annual budget, with almost a third of this coming from external partners (who also supply a lot of the country’s civilian needs). The EU and European countries are by far Kyiv’s biggest financial and miliary backers. And how these funds are spent matters for Ukraine’s success; as does whether its military strategy, supplies, recruitment and procurement are aligned. The resources also need to be used efficiently. Fedorov’s allegations thus deserve proper scrutiny.
Ukraine’s European partners should not back any one choice of new defence minister. But they should make clear that, whether it is Khmara or somebody else, Fedorov’s replacement must be a credible, competent and trusted partner. This means he or she should be proven as a commander, but also be able to continue Ukraine’s defence reforms and address problems related to mobilisation, relations with the military, and corruption in the sector. Fedorov’s replacement should also be committed to continuing to build up the country’s defence technology base.
Before he became defence minister in January 2026, Fedorov headed Ukraine’s digital governance revolution. He transferred his tech-savviness to the ministry of defence and is widely credited with Ukraine’s recent advances in defence technology which helped turn the tide against Russia. Several military commanders have defended Fedorov’s work as defence minister and supported his claims against Syrskyi; others in the military have spoken in favour of the commander.
In his statement, Fedorov remained loyal to Zelensky but rumours about the outgoing official’s political ambitions have been circulating for weeks. Whether there is any truth in them or not, protesters see this as a motivation behind the president’s reshuffle. And the views of the public matter. Ukraine’s defence is a whole-of-society affair, partly sustained by volunteers and the private sector. So, Zelensky will need to dispel these rumours—a country at war can hardly afford to make decisions based on political preference at the expense of competence or defence logic.
The onus is now on Zelensky to convince everyone that Khmara is the man for the job. While parliament approved a new government led by Sergy Koretsky on July 15th, this did not include the names of the president’s (constitutionally required) proposals for defence and foreign ministers. Barring an extraordinary session, MPs will only reconvene in mid-August. This means they have time to reflect and engage in a dialogue. This should result in a defence minister who commands not just the president’s trust but also that of the military, society—and international partners.
By Gospa News Editorial Staff
Since today, therefore, this War Daily Summary will no longer contain news only on the war (and related geopolitical issue) in the Middle East, but also on the war in Ukraine and any other international conflicts.
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Brief analysis by Fabio G.C. Carisio on August, 17, 2026
While the Russian Army continues to advance on the battlefield in Donbas, consolidating its military positions—predicting its complete annexation within a year—the Russian Aerospace Forces are engaged in an asymmetric strategic war against Kiev’s air force.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, using drones paid for by European Union citizens and built in a covert partnership with the US Pentagon and EU countries, continues to target Russia’s energy infrastructure and civilian buildings in a vain attempt to provoke a rebellion among the Russian population, as military bases are too well-protected to be attacked.
In the last few hours, more than a thousand kamikaze drones have been launched, killing at least six Russian civilians and seriously damaging the Wildberries (Russian Amazon) online distribution centers alone.
Without having to contend with the costs borne by the European Union, the leader of the pro-Nazi Zelensky regime can waste drones at will on massacres of civilians, as recently happened in Nizhnekamsk.
It should not be forgotten that European politicians and media censored or at least severely obscured the massacre of Russian schoolgirls that occurred on May 21, 2026, when more than one drone, using the lethal double-tap tactic, struck a dormitory in Starobelsk, in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which confederated with Russia after a popular plebiscite.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin, who could level much of Kiev in a single night with undetectable hypersonic missiles, to avoid a massacre of “Ukrainian brothers,” limits himself to striking the military and energy infrastructure that is bringing Ukraine’s military apparatus to its knees, increasingly short of Patriot air defense rockets.
But the escalation triggered by Zelensky, with the applause of US President Trump, has inevitably led Russia to raise the level of retaliation and also include civilian targets, such as ships in the port of Odessa.
As long as European, American, and Zionist leaders speculate on the Weapons Lobby, the conflict in Ukraine can only continue to escalate toward a total “preventive” war, like that waged by Israel and the US against Iran, and desired by NATO and, above all, Great Britain against Russia.
Until Putin loses patience and carries out a massacre in Kiev… But from that moment on, thanks to vile Western propaganda, every day will be a good day for the start of World War III.
The evidence presented in this analysis is documented in the exclusive investigations published below and in the last week’s updates below.
Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio – founder and director of Gospa News
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ANALYSIS BY VANESSA BEELEY IN THE POST BELOW
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MI5 Intelligence Chiefs Secretly Lobbied UK government to designate IRGC as ‘Terrorist’ Organization
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DEVIL NETANYAHU’s HOLOCAUST. Explosive UN findings: “Israel DELIBERATELY TARGETED Gaza CHILDREN”
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“The UN added Israel to a blacklist of perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict. We are done with the Secretary-General’s lies. Equating the democratic State of Israel with Hamas terrorists is a new low. Israel protects its citizens while Hamas massacres, rapes, and kidnaps”.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danonm said in a post on X. In the post below all the previous dossier on this topic.
President Donald Trump threatened in an interview with Fox News to bomb Oman if it interferes in a potential deal with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the news outlet reported.
Oman has been negotiating with Tehran over the vital shipping route, where maritime traffic has nearly ground to a halt as talks on ending the U.S. war with Iran have stalled.
Below the CNN Breaking News keynotes about:
• Threat to Oman: President Donald Trump warned of an attack on Oman if it “gets in the way” of efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump previously threatened the US ally in May.
• Iran agreement expires: The 60-day deadline for the two sides to reach a deal toward ending the conflict has now passed. Trump again said he is in no rush and claimed his administration has established a direct backchannel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the IRGC denies.
• Main priority: The president reiterated that the top goal in the war is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, undercutting advisers who say keeping oil prices low is an important priority.
• Gaza ceasefire plan: Meanwhile, after Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today for over four hours, Kushner said Hamas could disarm soon but indicated the US would support further Israeli military action in Gaza if not.
«US President Donald Trump threatened today to attack Oman if it interferes with US efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, as the conflict with Iran continues and a two-month window for peace talks expires without a clear path to end the war» CNN has reported in a video.
Trump’s comments come as the 60-day window for peace talks between the US and Iran, agreed to in June, closed Monday without any concrete plans announced for the war to end. Meanwhile, Iran said Monday that its talks with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz are complex but continuing.
In the latest days POTUS said that he wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory: “I’ll Never Apologize” War Crimes
Ukraine again Failed to Shoot Down a Single Ballistic or Hypersonic Missile last Night
This follows from the summary of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Air Force Ukraine was attacked on the last night (August 16, 2026) nby Onyx, Iskander-M, S-400, KN-23 and Kh-59/69 missiles, as well as 106 drones.
3 FOOTAGES IN ONE VIDEO – legenda below
1st Footage – Kiev on fire after the heavy strikes which hit also the market of book in retaliation to the yet another attack on a distribution center of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer with two million visitors a day.
2nd footage – Russian troops are delivering precision strikes on Ukraine’s military and fuel infrastructure
In the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region, a gas station and related equipment were hit. The fact of the attack was confirmed by the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov. In the north of the Kharkiv region, the Russian Aerospace Forces are launching guided aerial bombs at enemy positions and fortifications. This is reported by local publications.
Direct hits to infrastructure facilities were recorded in Sumy, and large fires broke out in the affected areas. A massive raid by unmanned aerial vehicles continues in the Odessa region, explosions are heard in Sanzheyka. Systematic attacks on the fuel infrastructure leave the Ukrainian army without fuel at a time when the Western allies are reporting on the supply of new batches of weapons that have nothing to refuel.
3d footage – Russian FAB-500s level Ukrainian drone hub
The Russian forces сonducted a strike on the Ukrainian National Guard’s drone command post in the settlement of Dobropolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic using four FAB-500 high-explosive aerial bombs, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
Russian forces struck defense industry facilities in Kiev, the Kremenchug oil refinery and a steel plant in Krivoy Rog, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“Russian forces struck Fire Point in Kiev, a company producing components, warheads and solid-fuel boosters for Flamingo ground-launched cruise missiles. Russian troops also struck Ukrdefense Company in Kiev, which produces components for strike drones, Khrushch interceptor drones and Garpiya air defense drones,” the Defense Ministry said.
Below the previous attack on Fire Point facility launched one week ago
Russian forces struck the Kremenchug oil refinery in the Poltava Region, where the remaining storage tanks continue handling fuel and lubricants supplied from abroad. The Russian military struck steelmaking facilities in Krivoy Rog in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, producing rolled steel for weapons and military equipment.
Russian forces also struck a dry cargo ship carrying military equipment for Ukrainian forces at the port of Odessa, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russian drones struck facilities for the production and storage of components for uncrewed boats used by Ukraine to attack Russian coastal cities, ships and infrastructure facilities in the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said.
“During the day, Russian attack unmanned aerial vehicles struck in the settlement of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky (40 kilometers southwest of Odessa): a production facility and a depot holding warheads and components for uncrewed boats used to attack ships and energy infrastructure facilities in the Black Sea, and Russian cities on the Black Sea coast,” it said.
Russian forces struck three dry cargo ships and two tankers, as well as fuel tanks at the port of Odessa, the Russian defense ministry said.
“Three dry cargo ships and two sea-going tankers used to deliver military cargoes and fuels for the Ukrainian army, as well as fuel tanks and warehouses holding military products were struck at the port of Odessa,” it said.
Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 822 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over Russian regions and the Black and Azov Seas overnight (august, 16, 2026), the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“Russian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 822 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov and Tula regions, the Moscow Region, the Krasnodar Region and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the Azov and Black Seas, from 8 p.m. Moscow time (5 p.m. GMT) on August 15 to 8 a.m. Moscow time (5 a.m. GMT) on August 16,” the Defense Ministry said.
Three people were killed and one more was injured in a drone attack on southern Russia’s Rostov Region, Governor Yury Slyusar reported.
“Last night, three people were killed as a result of an aerial attack on the Rostov Region, and one more has been hospitalized with injuries,” he wrote on Max channel.
More than 150 UAVs were destroyed over three cities and nine districts in the region in the Ukrainian attack, the official added.
Below the previous UAV attacks on Russia town of Nizhenekamsk wichiu killed 11 civilians including children
Three people were injured in a drone attack near the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD), according to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
“Defense Ministry air defense capabilities have downed another nine drones targeting Moscow. Three people were injured near MKAD, they are being given all necessary assistance. Emergency specialists are working at the scene where [drone] debris fell,” Sobyanin wrote on Max channel.
Since midnight (August,16,2026), as many as 132 unmanned aerial vehicles flying toward the Russian capital have been shot down, calculations by TASS based on the mayor’s posts show.
Iranian state television is showing, for the first time, evidence that Elon Musk’s “Starlink” devices are being used in U.S. military drones.
The IRGC is now displaying wreckage from 171 downed US and Israeli aircraft and drones — including MQ-9 Reapers, Hermes 900s, an F-15 fighter jet, and Starlink modems recovered from the wreckage.
Yemen’s Mokha port has suspended commercial and maritime operations after the Yemeni armed forces targeted it with more than 25 missiles in recent days, the port’s director said on Saturday.
The attacks killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in losses, the director told a news conference.
Mokha is a Red Sea port near the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a strategic chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a key route for international shipping.
The port is controlled by Saudi-linked mercenaries. It has a smaller cargo capacity than Yemen’s main ports of Aden and Hodeidah, according to Iranian Press TV.
On Friday, spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a statement that the armed forces subjected Saudi Arabia-linked targets to fresh heavy strikes.
He added that the servicemen targeted “warships belonging to its (Riyadh’s) tools and mercenaries in the al-Mokha area, using a large number of ballistic missiles.”
Hezbollah condemned on Saturday the major Israeli enemy’s escalation in southern Lebanon, affirming the Israeli occupation army carried out brutal massacres against civilians and warning that continued attacks and violations of Lebanese sovereignty would be met with an appropriate response, Al Manar Lebanese TV has reported.
In a statement, Hezbollah said Lebanese residents woke at dawn to an aggressive escalation and a brutal massacre allegedly carried out by the criminal Zionist enemy against civilians in the south. It said Israeli strikes targeted a home on the outskirts of the southern town of Ansar and a building in Deir Al-Zahrani, killing 11 people, including women and children, and wounding 12 others.
“Those grave crimes add to Israel’s long record of “massacres, crimes, and the shedding of Lebanese blood, as well as the destruction of homes, the bulldozing of farmland, and the erasure of entire villages,” the statement read.
Hezbollah said responsibility for the Israeli enemy’s continued aggression and violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty rested with the Israeli government and the United States, which it accused of providing Israel with political and military backing and cover.
At the same time, the group called on the Lebanese authorities to explore every available means to halt the Israeli attacks rather than persist with the humiliating direct negotiations and offer “Israel” free concessions, despite the Israeli enemy’s repeated crimes and attacks, as well as its openly stated aggressive and expansionist intentions toward Lebanon.
The Lebanese Parents of Child Martyrs Association on Saturday condemned a new Israeli massacre in the southern town of Ansar that killed a family of six, including four children, and called on Lebanese authorities to document the attack and pursue accountability through regional and international legal channels.
«In a statement, the association condemned the Israeli occupation army’s pre-dawn attack on a family in Ansar on August 15, 2026, which killed Ali Al-Hajj Hassan, his wife, Zeinab Nassereddine, and their children Zahraa, Hassan, Hussein, and Abbas» Al Manar Lebanese TV has reported.
Israeli forces carried out a series of airstrikes and attacks across South Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least nine people and wounding 11 in the past 24 hours, according to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent, citing the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Our correspondent reported that an Israeli strike on Deir al-Zahrani targeted a building along the town’s main highway. Ambulances rushed to the scene amid initial reports of a massacre, while rescue teams worked to assess the casualties and search for survivors.
The Health Ministry reported that the preliminary toll from the Deir al-Zahrani attack stood at two martyrs and nine wounded, bringing the reported toll from the two attacks to at least nine martyrs and 11 wounded.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned on Saturday the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, stressing that these violations constitute a “clear message to the negotiating process and to US efforts aimed at implementing the framework agreement”.
For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the Israeli escalation since dawn as “extremely dangerous”, saying that the strikes and heavy bombardment targeting Nabatieh, Ansar, Deir al-Zahrani, and neighboring villages were undermining efforts to establish stability in the South, as he posted on his X account.
The Israeli escalation began with an Israeli airstrike on an inhabited home in Ansar, in the Nabatieh district, killing seven people, including three children and two women, while two others were wounded, according to the Health Ministry.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels used six ballistic missiles in their Friday attack on the port of al-Makha, the internationally-recognised government’s army has said in a statement.
One port security official was killed while two sailors went missing, the army’s statement said. At least 8 civilians were injured in the attack, it added.
Attacking the port, a key hub for the inflow of food and goods, as well as civilian infrastructure, shows the Houthi group’s “determination to impose a suffocating siege on the Yemeni people”, military spokesperson Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili added.
A Yemeni military source told the Saba News Agency: “The Yemeni Armed Forces targeted an Aramco refinery in the Jizan region with two drones, and the strike was precise”
“The targeting comes in response to the Saudi enemy’s violation of Yemeni airspace and the country’s sovereignty in the governorates of Saada and Hajjah,” the sources added.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says he halted negotiations following the latest Israeli attack on Beirut’s Dahiyeh and said Iran will hit the regime immediately.
Speaking at a gathering of cultural elites on Saturday, Qalibaf said, “In the latest attack on Dahiyeh, I halted the negotiations and announced: ‘Tonight, we will strike the regime, and if the regime responds, we will strike the entire region.’”
He said the outcome was that “the blockade was lifted that same night.”
The top Iranian negotiator also referred to talks over the Strait of Hormuz, saying a reopening had been scheduled for 30 days under an understanding.
He said that after US President Donald Trump said on social media that the blockade and the Strait of Hormuz would be opened together “tonight,” he warned, “If the false claim about the Strait of Hormuz is not corrected, we will carry out an attack.”
According to Qalibaf, Trump was forced to correct his post, which he described as an example of “negotiating as a form of fighting.”
Iran, however, was quick to react to the US president’s statement.
“The Strait of Hormuz was Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian. This strait will be opened and closed only on Iran’s orders,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi reiterated on X on Saturday morning.
“It cannot be conquered with a tweet or an aircraft carrier, nor with a presidential decree, nor with an election campaign speech,” he added.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is en route to the United States after completing an extended mission of more than 260 days in the Middle East, necessitated by specific operational needs in the area.
«A U.S official told NBC News that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is set to head home from the Mideast. It comes as some families report poor living conditions for the sailors and marines on board». NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez reports.
Acting Secretary of the US Navy Hung Cao says that reports of dire conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln amid the US-Israel war with Iran, including accounts of sailors trying to jump overboard, have been blown out of proportion.
“Legitimate challenges of a long combat deployment are being twisted into a false narrative, while the genuine difficulties faced by military families are being used for headlines,”Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell chimed in on X. “That is shameful.”
Earlier today, US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump rejected the assertion that the families of those on board the aircraft carrier are worried about their loved ones.
“The Sailors aboard the Lincoln are doing what American warriors have always done: remaining resilient, focused on the mission, and proud of their service on this historic deployment,” Parnell added. “We stand with them”.
Trump wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory
Donald Trump said that after the completion of the military operation against Iran, he intends to declare the Strait of Hormuz the territory of the United States.
“After we finish defeating Iran … pretty soon I will declare the Strait of Hormuz the territory of the United States,” the American president said, adding that the United States allegedly already controls the passage of ships through the strait.
Meanwhile, a large-scale oil spill was reported in the Strait of Hormuz after a missile strike on the Minoan Pioneer bulk carrier. The oil slick spread over more than 300 km, an area comparable to about 40,000 football fields.
“I’ll never apologize. I did the right thing” — Trump on his war-crime spree in Iran
Don told Americans to show some patience and PAY MORE for gas while he bombs more girls in Iran as part of his ego play.
“What we’re doing is a great service for — not only for ourselves, for the world,” the failed emperor declared.
Cities across Ukraine are facing near-daily Russian attacks, with 11 locations hit overnight on Thursday, including Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Kramatorsk.
Several people were killed and more than two dozen wounded, including children. Ukraine says more than 100 drones were launched, but it is no longer releasing figures for missiles used, citing security concerns and shortages of interceptor missiles.
Ukraine’s grain industry is also suffering from repeated Russian attacks on ports. Hundreds of vessels have been targeted by both sides in the Black Sea over the past month, prompting Ukraine to propose a ceasefire covering civilian vessels.
Kyiv says this would allow ports to reopen and farmers to export their harvest during a crucial period. Russia has not yet responded to the proposal.
These attacks came in retaliation for the ongoing lethal attacks on civilian buildings launched by the Ukrainian military.
The Russian Armed Forces liberated Rybalskyoe in the Zaporozhye Region within 24 hours, the Defense Ministry reported.
“As a result of decisive actions by units of the Battlegroup East, the village of Rybalskoye in the Zaporozhye Region has been liberated,” the statement reads.
The liberation of Rybalskoye in the Zaporozhye region allowed the Battlegroup East to expand its zone of control northwest of Novoye Pole and continue its advance, the ministry added.
“During the fighting, units of the Battlegroup East broke through the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defenses. The enemy suffered losses of up to a company of personnel. Seven armored combat vehicles, 10 vehicles, 13 ground robotic systems, and more than 20 R-18 heavy hexacopters were destroyed. The liberation of Rybalskyoe allowed units of the Battlegroup East to expand their zone of control northwest of Novoye Pole and continue their advance in the special military operation zone in the Zaporpzhye region,” the ministry said.
“The actions of those who carried out this horrific act of terrorism, aimed at intimidating and harassing this family, are abhorrent,” the US ambassador to Israel wrote on X, referring to Israeli settlers besieging the home of two Palestinian families in Qusra, in the West Bank.
“There is no excuse for such violent behavior,” Mike Huckabee wrote on X. Among the homes targeted is one owned by a US citizen.
The Israeli army (IDF) has reversed its decision to evacuate Palestinian families whose homes are under siege by settlers in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus, for several days.
The public broadcaster Kan reported, specifying that the commander of the IDF Central Command, General Avi Blot, ordered that soldiers enter only unoccupied homes.
The decision, Kan emphasizes, follows criticism of Israel for its handling of the situation in Qusra. The IDF had initially asked residents of the besieged homes, as well as other residences, to leave their homes for a few days in anticipation of a military operation in the area.
Armed Israeli settlers and Israeli occupation forces have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend in an effort to usurp their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through intimidation.
On Sunday afternoon, armed settlers and Israeli soldiers surrounded Yousef Hassan’s home, erecting a tent just outside and effectively trapping him inside with his wife and their two young daughters, leaving the family confined as the intimidation campaign unfolded around them.
The Israeli men gathered only meters from the location where 28-year-old Amir Moatasem Odeh was killed by a settler in March. Another attacker stabbed Odeh’s father. No arrests have been made in connection with the killing and assault.
“Every night, the settlers throw stones, use obscene language, and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror,” Hassan said.
Israeli War Minister Katz openly declared that Israeli forces intend to maintain a long-term occupation of areas in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, ruling out withdrawal from what “Israel” has designated as so-called “security zones” and ordering the military to prepare for a prolonged presence.
Katz made the remarks on Wednesday during a visit to Israeli occupation forces deployed inside southern Lebanon, according to Israeli media platform Divuhim Online, as senior commanders discussed military preparations for a possible future confrontation with the Lebanese Resistance.
“The Israeli army is here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza and to protect the entire State of Israel,” Katz said. “We are up above and they are down below. I have instructed the Israeli army to take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term presence in the area.”
The declaration comes almost two months after Lebanon and “Israel” agreed to a US-sponsored framework involving the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, the disarmament of Hezbollah, and the deployment of the Lebanese Army, beginning in designated test areas known as “pilot zones.”
«His remarks provide an unusually explicit articulation of an Israeli policy increasingly centered on maintaining military control beyond occupied Palestine’s internationally recognized borders, under the pretext of creating buffer or “security” zones.» Al Mayadeen Lebanese TV freported.
https://gospanews.net/en/2023/12/08/the-greater-israel-scheme-and-its-global-power-play-a-delusional-recipe-for-armageddon/
Such declarations reinforce longstanding warnings that Israeli military expansion is not intended as a temporary security measure, but as an effort to entrench occupation and impose new realities by force.
Spokesperson for the Central Headquarters of Khatam al-Anbiya (PBUH) affirmed that no ship can pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian permission and supervision.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters is the highest operational military command center of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, located in Tehran.
Washington’s baseless claims about the normal movement of ships through Hormuz are nothing but lies, he added.
Meanwhile, hte head of the Basij Mobilization Group, Hojjatoleslam Hussein Taeb, said, “The Americans ignited a war in the Strait of Hormuz to change the balance of power, but they were defeated once again.”
He added, “The Strait of Hormuz is under the administration and control of the Islamic Republic, and Iran continues its path in complete security and stability.
HUNTER BIDEN: ‘If it’s antisemitic to point out that Bibi Netanyahu evil incarnate… don’t know what to say to people anymore… just open your eyes’
TUCKER: ‘It’s such an obvious lie’
HUNTER: ‘How is it possible that they’re dividing us on things like that?’
TUCKER: ‘I agree’
The Russian armed forces launched a coordinated attack on defense industry facilities and transportation and logistics hubs in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense.
The video shows the aftermath of one of the attacks in Kyiv.
Defense Ministry’s statement quoting by TASS:
“The Russian Armed Forces carried out a coordinated overnight strike using ground-based precision-guided weapons, resulting in the destruction of military-industrial facilities and transport and logistics centers in the cities of Kiev and Zaporozhye” the military said in a statement
The ministry later revealed in another statement that the targets of the overnight strike were successfully hit.
The Russian Armed Forces struck a Nova Post logistics terminal in Kiev, an automated compound storing and distributing dual-use goods, including components for long- and medium-range UAV production, robotic vehicles and electronic warfare systems.
Russian servicemen also hit the Kiev-3 transport and logistics center, also known as San-park, a large warehouse facility of approximately 50,000 square meters that stored up to 15,000 attack FPV drones, including those equipped with thermal imaging cameras, such as Beshket, Spuk, Komik-A, and Gorobets, as well as ground control stations and related components.
The Russian Armed Forces struck the Zaporozhstal steel mill (PJSC Zaporizhstal), a part of the Metinvest Group.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei has made new appointments to six top military posts, including the head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
In six separate decrees issued on Monday, Major General Ali Abdollahi was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, with Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari as his deputy. Major General Ahmad Vahidi, promoted to the rank of Major General, was appointed commander-in-chief of the IRGC, with Major General Mostafa Izadi as his deputy.
Rear Admiral Ali Ozamaei was appointed IRGC Navy commander, and Hojjatoleslam Hossein Taeb was named head of the Basij Organization.
Gen. Abdollahi appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces
In another decree, the Leader appointed Major General Ali Abdollahi as Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, following the martyrdom of his predecessor, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, in a US-Israeli airstrike.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the appointment was made in view of Mousavi’s “glorious and honorable martyrdom” at the hands of the Zionist-American enemy and in appreciation of Abdollahi’s worthy services and valuable experience.
Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baghaei said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen as long as the US maintains its naval blockade against Iran, stressing that Washington must end and make amends for its “destructive actions” before further steps can be discussed.
Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Baghaei said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was a result of the US and Israeli military aggression against Iran.
He noted that negotiations between Iran and Oman over a shipping route are naturally a bilateral matter involving the two coastal states.
The spokesman stressed that reopening the Strait of Hormuz depends on the conditions imposed on Iran and the waterway by the US and the Zionist regime, saying that the necessary conditions for reopening do not exist while the US naval blockade remains in place.
“As long as the US naval blockade continues, the necessary conditions for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz do not exist,” Baghaei stated. He added that it is up to the US to stop and make amends for its destructive actions so that the sides could then discuss the next steps.
Asked about the possibility of Iran imposing transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei said discussions on such details are still underway and that Iran is not currently discussing the issue.
he number of people killed as a result of the drone attack on facilities in Nizhnekamsk has increased to 13, the press service of the head of Tatarstan told journalists.
Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, told TASS that a child was among those killed. Industrial and civilian facilities in Nizhnekamsk came under a large-scale drone strike, causing fatalities.
According to the investigation, Ukraine used drones to strike residential areas and industrial facilities in Nizhnekamsk.
The Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia officially called the past days one of the most difficult and destructive weeks in its history. In five years, the country’s transport infrastructure has been attacked 41 times.
11 locomotives were damaged and disabled, tracks and station facilities used for military transportation were destroyed.
Passengers from trains had to be evacuated 350 times due to threats and arrivals. The loss of a key locomotive fleet and the constant destruction of tracks cause critical damage to the entire transport system of the country.
The strikes by the Yemeni Armed Forces (aka Houtis) on Al-Mukha and Marib decimated Saudi officers and their troop concentrations, targeting a heavy and medium weapons depot alongside a secret storage facility, a senior Yemeni source told Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent in Sanaa.
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the operation, carried out using a large number of ballistic missiles and drones, came in response to Saudi Arabia’s continued mobilization of its proxies, its supply of weapons and equipment to them, and its ongoing attacks along the western coast and in Taiz governorate aimed at deterring the Yemeni people from confronting the blockade and aggression imposed on them for the past 12 years.
“The strikes were precise and caused extensive damage to the equipment and weapons, killing and wounding dozens, including Saudi nationals”,Saree said on Telegram.
The Yemeni Armed Forces reaffirmed their commitment to the declared equation of “blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation,” vowing to continue targeting any military buildup directed against the Yemeni people and the free governorates.
The strike on Mokha is the second operation carried out by the YAF on Sunday. Earlier in the day, the YAF announced that they targeted a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan with a drone, stating that the operation comes as a response to Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace.
Saree announced that the forces successfully targeted the Aramco refinery in Jizan with a drone, achieving a precise hit. He said the operation came in response to Saudi drone incursions into the airspace of Yemen’s Saada and Hajjah provinces.
The announcement came after Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry reported earlier that a fire had broken out at a facility belonging to Saudi Aramco’s refinery in Jizan, southwestern Saudi Arabia. The ministry said Aramco’s industrial security firefighting teams extinguished the fire and that there were no injuries.
“During the last two years, we have lost so many of your colleagues in Iran, Lebanon and Palestine. They have lost their lives for the sake of doing their jobs. We have lost so many of our loved ones,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said in a news conference on Monday.
“We send a big salute to all of our martyrs who have lost their lives for the sake of our country and for the sake of the mission of journalism,” he added.
Israel rejects the 15-point document on Gaza and will not withdraw its forces until Hamas is genuinely disarmed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the government’s weekly meeting.
“Israel does not accept the 15-point document. The Israel Defense Forces will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed. And when I say the disarming of Hamas, it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. We are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament,”Netanyahu said, according to his office.
“Right now, we are talking with the Americans about this issue. They have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some of which are unacceptable, and we know how to stand firm against these things,” he added.
Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons regardless of whether Washington and Tehran reach an agreement, Netanyahu said. “I greatly appreciate the historical partnership with the US against Iran’s attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. And I wish to emphasize once again: with or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Footage appears to show a drone, aircraft parts, and other machinery.
This week, US media reports said that Washington faces depleted missile stockpiles—including long-range and air-defense systems—following the conflict with Iran, a claim the White House denied. The developments follow a war of words after Donald Trump said the two sides were talking again, which Tehran rejected.
The Russian military struck the Fire Point industrial plant in Kiev, which produces components and warheads for FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
According to the Russian ministry, Russian forces launched a strike overnight with ground-based precision weapons against a military industry enterprise and a fuel and lubricants depot in Kiev.
According to preliminary data, the asphalt-concrete plant in Kiev, used for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was damaged.
In the Obolonsky district, fuel tanks caught fire, and armament depots were hit in Goloseevsky. In addition, the Fire Point enterprise, which produce kamikaze-drones, components and warheads for missiles, was hit in Kiev.
The Russian army also attacked the Grandterminal fuel depot, which supplies petroleum products to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The British TV channel Sky News published a report from a secret underground enterprise in Ukraine, which acts as the main hub for the production of long-range attack drones. Technicians, welders and engineers work around the clock at the plant, assembling over 200 drones per day.
The chief designer of Fire Point, Stilerman, also appeared in the frame, telling the journalist that the purpose of his work was to “dismantle the Russian Empire” with the support of Europe 02:01.
The FP-1 and FP-2 long-range drones are being produced on an underground conveyor. The cost of one such device is about $ 60 thousand, and the claimed flight range is up to 3,000 kilometers with an accuracy of 2-3 meters. The project is funded by Western donors through the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Kiev began the construction of factories underground involuntarily, after the destruction of the traditional defense industry in the early days of its independence. Some of the enterprises have completely gone underground, while others are disguised with fake decorations.
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense repeatedly delivered effective strikes against such centers. At the end of July, the assembly plant of the American corporation Terminal Autonomy, which produced noise-resistant drones for strikes deep into the territory of Russia, came under attack.
On July 19, the UKRTAC factory, which produced tactical equipment and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was completely destroyed. Despite the underground execution, Russian intelligence and precision weapons continue to methodically open and destroy military installations of the Kiev regime.
The refusal by the US and Europe to provide Ukraine with more Patriot missiles points to depleted stockpiles and sluggish interceptor production, military expert and Arsenal of the Fatherland columnist Alexander Sinyugin tells Sputnik.
The earlier plan for European countries to buy Patriot missiles from the US and pass them on to Ukraine is no longer viable, the pundit explains. The US lacks sufficient missile stocks, while Europe has already depleted much of its arsenal by supplying Ukraine.
“Only three countries currently manufacture these missiles: the US, Japan, and Germany, which secured a production license in 2024,” Sinyugin says. With production capacity well below Lockheed Martin’s, Germany is expected to use all of its missile output to meet Europe’s own needs, he projects.
Meanwhile, Russian hypersonic missiles, including Kinzhals and Zircons, easily overcome Patriot air defenses.
Hundreds of US troops have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in Iranian missile and drone strikes since Washington launched its war on Iran, highlighting the mounting physical cost of the US aggression and the potentially lasting consequences for American forces, according to Iranian Press TV.
Nearly 700 US troops have been wounded in Iranian missile and drone attacks on US bases since Washington’s aggression against Iran escalated, according to US military officials. Most were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries and returned to duty after treatment, the Associated Press reported.
The Pentagon has described most of the injuries sustained over a two-week period as “minor concussions.” But medical experts warn that an apparently mild concussion can develop into persistent neurological problems, including headaches, dizziness, memory loss, difficulty concentrating and chronic fatigue.
Doctors say there is currently no reliable way to determine immediately which blast injuries will result in lasting complications. They are also continuing to study how powerful explosions can damage the brain even without a direct blow to the head.
The widespread use of Iranian missiles and drones has heightened concern within the US military, as explosions can occur in close proximity to American troops, increasing the risk of blast-related brain injuries.
The scale of the injuries has revived concerns that traumatic brain injury could once again become a major legacy of a US war, as it did during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 500,000 US soldiers were diagnosed with TBIs between 2000 and 2025, according to US military data.
Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have committed to closer military cooperation in a joint defence agreement modelled on NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
The deal comes as regional countries increasingly look to each other for security following Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, its strikes on several countries in the region and the renewed conflict with Iran.
For Turkiye, which already fields NATO’s second-largest army and one of the world’s fastest-growing defence industries, the pact is a major strategic gain, expanding its reach into the Gulf and South Asia and opening access to new financial resources through a joint weapons programme.
But the real test, as Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas reports from Ankara, will come if a member is actually attacked — determining whether the agreement becomes a genuine regional security architecture or remains just a political declaration.
The Yemeni Armed Forces (aka Houtis army) carried out a large-scale military operation against Saudi military reinforcements, reporting hundreds of casualties and significant material damage, the YAF spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced.
The Yemeni military spokesperson said the operation was a response to continued Saudi actions, stating that “in light of the criminal Saudi enemy’s persistence in continuing the siege and aggression against our dear Yemeni people for nearly 12 years, our Armed Forces monitored large Saudi military concentrations that were in their final stages, aimed at escalating against the free provinces and the Yemeni people to deter them from their position on ending the unjust siege.”
The operation, according to the YAF, resulted in:
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have confirmed targeting multiple Yemeni Emergency Forces camps in the Marib and Hadramout governorates, including in the Ruwaik, Al-Abr and Al Thaniyah areas.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree says the group used “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones” to destroy and burn campgrounds, troop concentrations, depots, weapons and military vehicles.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have killed at least 30 government soldiers and injured 15 in missile attacks on Yemeni military camps in Hadramout and Marib governorates, government sources told Al Jazeera.
The fees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz will vary based on the services rendered by Iran and Oman, according to a report by Fars News Agency, citing a source within the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
The source dismissed recent reports of disagreements between Iran and Oman over the percentage of cargo value – specifically, a tariff of 7% versus 3% – to be used as transit fees, stating these claims are false.
“Payments by vessels will depend on multiple factors, including the scope of services we can provide,” the official emphasized.
Previously, Reuters reported that Iran and Oman are engaged in negotiations to introduce transit fees ranging from 3% to 7% of the declared cargo value, as part of efforts to restore shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Russian forces struck infrastructure sites and logistics centers used by the Ukrainian army and its deployment areas over the past 24 hours in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.
“Operational/tactical aircraft, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces struck fuel and energy and transport infrastructure, logistics centers used by the Ukrainian army, sites for the storage of attack unmanned aerial vehicles, and also temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 155 locations,” the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army lost roughly 1,395 troops in battles with Russian forces in all the frontline areas over the past 24 hours, according to the latest data on the special military operation in Ukraine released by Russia’s Defense Ministry.
At least 300 children have been killed in Gaza in the roughly 300 days since a so-called “ceasefire” was announced on October 10, 2025 – an average of one child a day, the United Nations children’s agency says.
Hundreds more have been wounded, many severely, UNICEF said in a statement on Thursday as it pressed parties to a proposed US-led peace plan to translate pledges into action.
“A ceasefire that leaves an average of one child dead each and every day is failing children,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Children in Gaza are still waiting for the end to the violence they were promised.”
Families are now confined to about a third of the enclave, sheltering among destroyed buildings, rubble and uncleared waste, the agency said.
Children continue to face acute malnutrition, disease, unsafe water and damaged sanitation, while a shortage of incubators has left some premature newborns sharing machines.
On the night of August 5, the Russian Armed Forces hit seven large logistics centers in Ukraine. The Russian ballistic missile attack on the region surrounding Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has killed at least 14 people and injured 27 others, the city’s military administration said.
The strikes early on Wednesday morning come after at least 27 people were killed in separate attacks in both Ukraine and Russia earlier this week, with the five-year-long conflict showing no signs of slowing down.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has revealed details of a massive overnight strike on Kiev and the Kiev region. High-precision ground-based weapons and long-range attack drones have hit transport, logistics and distribution centers involved in the storage, production and supply of equipment and components in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the capital of Ukraine, the goals were:
In the territory of the Kiev region, the following targets were hit:
In addition, three dry cargo ships delivering weapons and military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine were hit in the sea south of Odessa.
The death toll among minors from Ukraine’s attack near Gelendzhik has risen to four, Russian childerns’ rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said.
“An awful tragedy. Ukraine’s aggression. By now, we have reports about four killed children, three more children are in hospitals. One child has been operated on, two others are being examined, they have shrapnel wounds,” she told reporters.
According to earlier reports, the attack on Gelendzhik killed seven people, including three children, and left 58 people injured.
Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 475 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, as well as over the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov overnight, the Defense Ministry reported.
In the Tula Region, one person was injured as a result of a drone attack, and a fire broke out at the Wildberries sorting center.
According to its statement, the drones were shot down over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Saratov, Smolensk, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Krasnodar, Tatarstan and Moscow Regions, Crimea, as well as over the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Six Palestinians were martyred and eight others were injured over 24 hours as Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave continue despite the declared ceasefire, the Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Monday.
According to the Ministry, the victims included five people martyred in new Israeli attacks and one who succumbed to previous injuries.
The Ministry added that a number of victims remain trapped under rubble or stranded on roads and in inaccessible areas, as ambulance and civil defence crews continue to face difficulties reaching them.
The Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed since the announcement of the ceasefire on October 11 has risen to 904, while 2,713 others have been injured. Authorities also reported that the bodies of 777 Palestinians have been recovered during the same period.
According to the latest figures released by the Ministry, the cumulative death toll since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, has reached 72,797, in addition to 172,821 injuries.
Israeli forces continue their relentless attacks across the Gaza Strip despite the announcement of a ceasefire agreement, amid ongoing destruction and humanitarian deterioration throughout the enclave.
On August, 2, Israeli forces have killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, despite United States President Donald Trump announcing a plan he described as a “monumental step” towards peace and security in the shattered enclave.
Medical sources said that 14 Palestinians, including four children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday.
The deaths on Sunday included three people killed in an air raid on a residential apartment in Al-Sousi Tower in western Gaza City – Abdullah Abu Taif, 33, his pregnant wife, Abeer Anan, 29, and their five-year-old son, Azzam – according to medical sources at Al-Shifa Hospital.
An attack on an apartment in al-Qarara, northwest of the city of Khan Younis, killed three members of the Al-Hams family – father Mahmoud, 38, his wife, Fatima, 37, and their young daughter. Three others were wounded, medical sources at Nasser Hospital said.
Kamu Abu Muailiq, 68, and his wife, Huda, 59, were killed in an attack on their home near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, medics said. In the same area, two brothers were killed as they rode a motorbike.
In northern Gaza, a Palestinian was killed after being directly targeted in the Jabalia refugee camp. In al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, one Palestinian was killed, and five others were wounded in an Israeli attack on a tent.
Two Palestinians, including one, were killed in an Israeli drone attack on a tent for displaced people in the Remal neighbourhood, west of Gaza City. Four others were killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza City.
The Israeli attacks since dawn caused the largest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.
Palestinians on Tuesday buried 112 members of a single clan killed in Israeli air strikes in November 2023, after their remains were recovered from beneath the rubble last month. Relatives of the Abu Shari’a and al-Hasayna family gathered in Gaza City to bid a final farewell to their loved ones, whose bodies lay in rows draped in Palestinian flags.
For many, it was a moment of both relief and renewed grief after nearly 1,000 days of waiting to recover the bodies of their relatives.
“There is a feeling of both pain and joy,” Amer Abu Shari’a, who lost relatives in the attack, told Middle East Eye. “Joy because we will bury and honour these martyrs after three years. But the sorrow has returned, as if the massacre happened today.”
On August, 4, Gaza and Palestine bid farewell to the largest funeral procession of martyrs in all of Palestinian history. Around 112 martyrs have been recovered from beneath their homes after nearly three years of war.
Today, the Al-Hassaneh and Abu Sharia families are burying 112 martyrs out of 308 family members who were killed and later recovered. Does the world see 44 children in a single funeral? Does it see 43 women?
Does it witness these scenes and still remain silent These are scenes from Gaza scenes that will forever remain in the history of Palestine.
The ongoing negotiations between Iran and Oman regarding the future operational arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz represent a pivotal moment in the region’s strategic landscape amid the US destabilising activities, Iranian Press Tv has reported.
These discussions, which began in the very first days following the Iran-US ceasefire on April 8 and entered a more serious phase after the June 18 agreement to end the imposed war, are a testament to Iran’s commitment to diplomatic engagement and its determination to safeguard its legitimate sovereign rights.
However, what should have been a straightforward bilateral process between two littoral states has been systematically disrupted and derailed by the United States and certain regional actors acting in concert with Washington (below the videos of latest US attack on July, 30).
Their obstructionism has not only delayed a mutually beneficial outcome but has also exposed the hollow nature of American influence in a region where Iran’s strategic interests are paramount and non-negotiable, a senior Iranian official aware of the details of ongoing negotiations told Press TV.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have struck a strategic installation inside Najran Regional Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, in response to the Riyadh regime’s ongoing aggression and blockade against their homeland.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for Yemen’s Armed Forces, said on Tuesday afternoon that Yemeni military units targeted the vital target with a domestically-developed kamikaze drone. Saree noted that the retaliatory strike attained its desired objectives successfully.
He emphasized that the attack was a retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s violation of Yemeni airspace over the northern provinces of Sa’ada and Hajjah with unmanned aerial vehicles.
“We warn the Saudi enemy that any violation of our airspace will not go unanswered and unpunished,” Saree emphasized.
On July 20, the Sana’a government declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, stating that its authorities have enforced “an unjust and oppressive siege” on Yemen for almost 12 years, “looting our resources and enforcing a total blockade.”
Since then, the Yemeni Armed Forces said they have launched attacks on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis from the Yemeni Ansar Allah rebel movement have used ballistic missiles to hit a Saudi oil tanker Wafa in the northern part of the Red Sea, Houthi Military Spokesman Yahya Saria stated.
According to him, rebels “struck a Saudi oil tanker Wafa in the northern part of the Red Sea near [the port city of] Yanbu using several ballistic missiles.” Saria said the strike was accurate.
An Indian cargo ship sank near Yemeni territorial waters after an attack in the Red Sea, but all 14 crew members were rescued by the Yemeni Coast Guard, India’s Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday.
The vessel, identified as the Faize Noore Oliya, was struck by a projectile near Yemeni waters, causing it to capsize and sink, according to Sonowal.
“Indian MSV Faize Noore Oliya has been hit by a projectile near Yemeni waters, causing the vessel to capsize and sink. India strongly condemns this unprovoked attack on the defenseless mechanised sailing vessel. The safety of our people is our supreme priority & I am relieved to inform that ALL 14 seafarers (including 13 Indians) have been safely rescued by the Yemeni Coast Guard,” Sonowal wrote on X.
Earlier on Tuesday, Yemeni news portal HYemen24 reported that the Yemeni Coast Guard of the Saudi-affiliated Yemeni government had rescued the crew of an Indian cargo ship after it came under attack by a booby-trapped boat in the Red Sea.
While Western-backed forces continue to strike at shopping malls in Russia, such as Wildberries and now Ozon the Russian military space forces are intensifying their bombing, not propaganda, but military, against targets in the enemy’s military-industrial complex.
Last night, Russian troops attacked several Ukrainian areas, with virtually no effective air defense from Western-backed forces.
More than 25 Russian precision-guided missiles were fired at Kiev alone, including Iskander-M ballistic missiles and Zircon hypersonic missiles, which hit targets in the capital of Ukraine and its suburbs (Vasilkov, Boyarka) without encountering effective air defenses, as has been the case for several days. Only one anti-aircraft missile was launched that night, but it failed to intercept the target. Even Zelensky was forced to admit this (probably in order to better request new military assistance in this area):
“Ukraine’s air defense system was able to intercept only one ballistic missile during the massive Russian attack on Kiev last night.”
Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retail platform, has been targeted again by Ukrainian forces: a logistics facility in the Samara region was hit, according to TASS. A fire broke out following the attack. According to initial reports, there were no injuries.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it destroyed 635 Ukrainian drones on the night of Saturday to Sunday in several regions of its territory and in annexed Crimea. In a statement published on the Russian state-run messaging app Max, the ministry stated that “overnight, air defense assets in action intercepted and destroyed 635 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.”
A private party organized in the center of the Russian capital to celebrate a high-ranking officer has turned into carnage. At least three people were killed and 21 injured in the explosion that occurred this evening outside the Balzi Rossi restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow.
According to News-Pravda the death toll from the explosion at the entrance to the Balzi Rossi restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square has risen to five that include the woman who tried to bring in the explosive device, the security guard, and a cafe customer.
Among the guests at the event was General Alexander Chaiko, appointed to command the Russian Air Force just a month and a half ago.
According to the Interior Ministry, the explosion occurred at about 08:10 p.m. (05:10 p.m. GMT) near a summer cafe near house No. 1 on Kudrinskaya Square. According to the NAC, an unknown woman tried to bring an improvised explosive device there, but a guard stopped her.
An explosive device, a 1 kg TNT bomb filled with metal balls, detonated at the entrance to the Balzi Rossi restaurant. The device was in the possession of a “suicide bomber” who was probably used “in the dark.” As a result of the explosion, she died on the spot, her fragments were captured on video.
Investigators and criminologists of the Investigative Committee are working at the site of the explosion, the Investigative Committee said.
The police and Russia’s National Guard Rosgvardiya restricted access near the residential high-rise on Kudrinskaya Square, where the blast took place, a TASS correspondent reported.
The attack is part of a long series of targeted actions that, since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, have targeted senior officials, military leaders, and prominent public figures close to the Kremlin.
Over the past four years, several generals and Russian administration officials based in the occupied territories have been victims of bombings and ambushes claimed or attributed to Kiev’s intelligence services with the help of NATO’s 007 and in particular of the British military counterspionage MI6 vvery active in the conflict as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is an agent of London, as also confirmed by high-profile arrests.
«The US military used one of its most powerful non-nuclear bombs to strike a residential building on the Iranian island of Qeshm, killing three people on Thursday night, The New York Times reported, quoting satellite imagery and an expert opinion»
TASS Russian news agency has reported confirming the first report by Gospa News International on July, 30 (read below update “Two children rescued from the rubble of the Trump’s Evil Bombs – VIDEO”) which specified that bunker-busting explosives had been used to destroy two family homes.
It said that the diameter of the crater and fragments of ammunition indicate the use of a heavy MK-84 aerial bomb weighing 2,000 pounds (about 907 kg). The newspaper said that it was not possible to find any evidence of military installations nearby. The strike was carried out in a densely populated area, the newspaper adds.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the US Central Command (CENTCOM), told The New York Times that the US military leadership is aware of the strike and is looking into it. He also said the United States never targets civilians.
Russian forces destroyed a large Ukrainian ammunition depot in Ukrainian-occupied Kramatorsk. The depot, carefully concealed by Ukrainian militants, was struck by two loitering munitions. The detonation of the munitions lasted for several hours. Several Ukrainian air defense systems were also hit in Kramatorsk.
In the Sumy region, at least ten FAB strikes with UMPK-based missiles and at least 45 Geran/Lancet/Molniya/FPV strikes were carried out over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, in the Kharkiv region, at least 11 guided bomb strikes, two MLRS/OTRK strikes, and at least 56 Geran/Lancet/Molniya/FPV strikes were carried out over the same period. Additionally, morning Geran and FAB strikes “visited” the outskirts of Illichivsk (Chornomorsk) in the Odessa region and Vasylkivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
It is also reported that new modifications of the Geranium family of attack UAVs are recently equipped with a laser rangefinder. The laser rangefinder is designed to partially implement the air-to-air detonation function of the warhead.
During the final stages of flight (during a dive or approach to a target), the rangefinder measures the exact distance to the ground or object in real time, after which, upon reaching the optimal altitude, the electronics initiate the detonation of the munition in mid-air. Air-to-air detonation of a high-explosive fragmentation charge significantly increases the area of destruction caused by the fragmentation. Thus, unlike the contact detonation of a kamikaze UAV’s warhead, air-to-air detonation covers a larger area.
A Russian missile attack has killed at least three people in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and injured 15 others, the city’s mayor said.
The strikes hit early on Saturday, triggering more than a dozen explosions that reverberated across the city, witnesses told the Reuters news agency. Kiev was battered by “Iskander-M” and “Zircon” missiles.
Residents were trapped in damaged buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi and Solomyanskyi districts, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. All 15 injured people, including two boys aged 13 and 17, were hospitalised, with one in serious condition.
Fires and damage were also reported in several other districts of the capital, including burning warehouses in Darnytskyi and debris falling on buildings in Holosiivskyi. Emergency services remain on the scene as rescue efforts continue.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Kyiv in recent months, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defences capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
Russian forces struck more than 80 seagoing vessels in Ukrainian ports and at sea that were involved in delivering cargo for the Ukrainian military, according to TASS estimates based on Russian Defense Ministry data.
Among them were two dry cargo ships, a sea ferry transporting military cargo and a screening boat hit in overnight group strikes on July 12, according to the ministry. On the same day, the ministry released footage that showed Geran-4 Seeker drones destroying a seiner converted to launch unmanned boats, a patrol boat, a ferry and a dry cargo ship.
According to the ministry, Russian forces struck 24 seagoing vessels used by the Ukrainian military during the week of July 11-17, including 14 dry cargo ships and one tanker.
A fighter jet crashed and erupted into flames at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California on Friday, sending smoke billowing into the sky that could be seen from miles away.
The single-seat F-35B Lightning II aircraft went down short of the runway just before 10 a.m. PT.
“We can confirm a mishap involving a Marine Corps F-35B in the vicinity of MCAS Miramar,” base spokesperson 1st Lt. Blake Starbuck said in a statement. “The pilot ejected, was recovered, and is enroute to a medical facility.”
Airport fire crews sprayed the wreckage with firefighting foam and worked to extinguish a grass fire surrounding the crash site.
“F-35 short final crash,” the Miramar air traffic control tower told firefighters in audio recorded by LiveATC.net. “It appeared that the parachute did deploy … and a pilot ejected.”
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Military plane crashes are typically investigated by the military as opposed to civilian crashes which are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The United States is reportedly reassessing the scale of its military footprint in Kuwait, with officials weighing a potential drawdown of forces amid shifting dynamics in the ongoing conflict with Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing sources familiar with the deliberations, the newspaper reported that the Pentagon’s strategic review comes as Kuwaiti officials have underscored the need for an unambiguous security commitment from Washington, stressing that any reduction in U.S. personnel must not undermine the Gulf state’s defensive capabilities.
The reported deliberations highlight a delicate balancing act for Washington as it seeks to adjust its regional posture while reassuring key Gulf allies of its continued commitment to their defense.
Below a video of previous Iranian attack on US Base in Kuwait
At least 10 Palestinians, including four children, have been injured during a raid by Israeli settlers and military forces in the Junaid neighbourhood west of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Dozens of Israeli settlers are storming the western part of Nablus city under the protection of the Israeli army, sources have told Al Jazeera.
The Israeli army has arrested seven Palestinians from the Nablus governorate, amid raids in several neighbourhoods in Nablus city as well as in the towns of Tal and Salem, the Wafa news agency has reported.
At least three of the arrested were from Tal, where Israeli settlers were conducting attacks again after two Israelis were killed there last Friday, the Palestinian news agency said.
Israeli forces began raiding the town of Tal on Thursday, seizing four homes and converting them into military barracks.
There were 3,033 Israeli settler attacks between January 1, 2025 and the end of last month, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
A series of massive midnight explosions rang out across the southern regions of Yohmor al-Chqif, Arnoun, and Kfar Tebnit after Israeli attacks, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports.
The blasts resonated throughout the south, with shockwaves felt as far as el-Kharroub and Khalde. In the Marjayoun district, violent explosions near Beaufort Castle shattered windows and damaged homes in the nearby town of Qlayaa.
Residents described intense shockwaves that shook the area, accompanied by a heavy smell of gunpowder, according to the NNA.
It added that Israeli forces combed the outskirts of al-Mansouri and Biyout al-Sayyad in the Tyre District using heavy machinegun fire, while launching artillery shells at al-Mansouri.
Tank movements were also reported on the Baraachit hill towards Aainata in the Bint Jbeil District, alongside heavy explosions and vibrations across both the Eastern and Western sectors, NNA reported.
Israeli occupation forces set off a massive underground explosion beneath the UNESCO-listed Shaqif Fortress (Beaufort Castle) in the Arnoun area of southern Lebanon overnight Thursday into Friday, using an estimated 700 tons of explosives, according to a joint statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office and the Ministry of War.
The blast was powerful enough to be heard across much of southern Lebanon, with reports of the explosion being heard as far as Saida and Iqlim al-Kharroub in Mount Lebanon’s Chouf region. In Nabatieh, residents reported dust raining down over the area in the aftermath of the explosions in Arnoun.
Shaqif Fortress is one of South Lebanon’s most significant archaeological landmarks, a nearly 900-year-old Crusader-era fortress. “Israel” has bombed the fortress more than once, first in 1982, during the Battle of Beaufort, when the castle was heavily shelled and captured, and second during 1982 through 2000, when Israeli occupation forces used it as a base and later carried out significant demolition before withdrawing in 2000.
Three US F-35 fighter jets were destroyed and three others sustained heavy damage in a missile attack on Azraq Air Base in Jordan, the IRGC’s Public Relations Department announced, framing the operation as retaliation for US aggression on residential homes on Iran’s Qeshm Island.
“We will punish the aggressor today,” the IRGC said in a statement, explaining that the operation was carried out in response to American aggression in the early hours of the day.
The statement added that US forces used bases in Jordan to launch bunker-buster bombs at two residential homes on Qeshm Island, killing a father, a mother, and one of their children and injuring two other children.
The IRGC said Thursday it destroyed two drone hangars and a fuel storage facility at the US Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in its latest retaliatory strikes, according to Al Manar TV.
According to the statement, the operation was carried out as part of what the IRGC described as the “punishment of the aggressor.” It added that the IRGC Aerospace Force and Ground Force continue military operations against US forces while nationwide public gatherings in Iran persist.
The statement also said that public rallies have continued for 150 consecutive nights, describing their purpose as demanding “revenge for the blood of the martyred Imam” and “the expulsion of American aggressors from the region.”
The suicide drones of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran targeted the electricity generators, navigation system, and the administrative and support buildings “belonging to the terrorist U.S. Army at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain”.
During his cabinet meeting, Trump tells reporters that Washington will be hitting Iran “very hard” when asked what he expects over the next four weeks.
“At some point, they’re going to say we just can’t take it anymore,” he said.
Asked about reviving the ceasefire following back-and-forth attacks with Iran at a cabinet meeting in Camp David, Trump says, “We just want to win.”
“We’re doing very well. We’re trying to be nice, as nice as you can be in a situation like that, but you know, they’re being decimated. They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft. Doesn’t mean they don’t have any capabilities — they have some, but very little,” he said.
“It’s very simple, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they can’t have a nuclear weapon. If they did, the Middle East would’ve been wiped out,” Trump added
Russia unleashed a sweeping wave of strikes on Ukrainian military airfields, defense-industry facilities, and critical supply and command hubs, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.
Ukraine’s largest logistics operator has been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to transport military goods, has become a legitimate military target, and is taking full advantage.
Below the footage of the warehouses of Novaya Poshta in Poltava that are all in fire
The barrage involved long-range, precision-guided munitions fired from land, sea, and air, backed by strike drones. Hit zones spanned 7 regions — Kiev, Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk, Zhytomir, Rovno, Vinnitsa, and Dnepropetrovsk — with targets including air bases, arms factories, telecom relays, and logistics centers.
Missiles launched:
~8 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles launched from OTRK installations near Klintsy, Bryansk Oblast.
~6 Kn-23 ballistic missiles launched from 3 Hwasong-11A launchers near Liski, Voronezh Oblast.
~4 modified S-300 ballistic missiles launched from Kursk Oblast.
~2 Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles launched from ground-based installations near Belgorod City, Belgorod Oblast.
~1 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile launched from ground-based installations near Manturovo, Kursk Oblast.
~30 Kh-101 cruise missiles launched from 6 Tu-95MS strategic bombers at their launch lines near the city of Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast.
~18 Kh-101 cruise missiles launched from 3 Tu-160M strategic bombers at their launch lines near the city of Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast.
~8 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Buyan-M corvette at Novorossiysk Naval Base, Krasnodar Krai.
~1 Kalibr cruise missile launched from a vessel of an unknown type at Novorossiysk Naval Base, Krasnodar Krai.
Total missiles launched:
~48 Kh-101 cruise missiles.
~9 Kalibr cruise missiles.
~8 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles.
~6 Kn-23 ballistic missiles
~4 modified S-300 ballistic missiles
~3 Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles.
~78 missiles in total.
Ukrainian drones attacked a Wildberries warehouse in the Penza Region, leaving preliminarily one person injured, the Region’s Governor Oleg Melnichenko said.
“Enemy drones carried out a terrorist attack on a Wildberries warehouse. According to preliminary reports, one person was injured. Around 200 employees were evacuated,” he wrote on messaging app Max.
According to the governor, the attack caused a fire, which is being extinguished.
Two children were rescued and taken to hospital after a US strike hit a family home on Qeshm Island, while efforts continue to reach three relatives trapped beneath the rubble.
This attack confirms once again that US President Donald Trump’s War Department makes no distinction between military and civilian targets.
Beyond their relevance as a war crime, these attacks aimed at terrorizing the Iranian population in the hope of a revolution have no strategic military utility whatsoever and confirm the failure of the Trump administration’s wars, costly in terms of money and human lives of American soldiers.
After approximately 7,000 deaths since the start of the war in Iran, Trump can finally be accused of war crimes and genocide like his ally Netanyahu…
The Minab school massacre in Iran has not even slightly touched the evil pig heart of the American president.
A new round of fighting emerging in Iran this week brought a new player that could change the game entirely.
U.S. forces launched new airstrikes against Iran on Wednesday, U.S. Central Command announced, while earlier, and for the first time, the Saudi Arabian military joined with the U.S. in striking Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, The Associated Press reported.
And, according to Fox News, a former deputy CENTCOM commander said those developments and others could signify Iran being pushed to a “tipping point.”
US forces have hit several locations in Ahvaz in southwestern Khuzestan province, with power outages reported in some parts of the city, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
At least seven locations in the city were hit, the IRIB state broadcaster added. It also said explosions were heard in the cities of Shadegan, Arvandkenar, and Abadan in Khuzestan province.
US completes new wave of strikes on Iran — CENTCOM Footage
Iraqi President Nizar Amedi has categorically denounced joint Saudi-US strikes on positions of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, across the country, which have killed at least 20 resistance fighters and wounded 32 others (details below in the yesterday updates).
Amedi, in a strongly worded statement released on Tuesday, condemned the aerial assaults “as an unacceptable act, a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and entirely contrary to international law and the United Nations Charter.”
“We reiterate our vehement opposition to the use of Iraqi soil or a military field to launch attacks against neighboring countries. We call on all parties to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and refrain from any action that undermines its security and stability,” the Iraqi presidency said.
Islamic Resistance in Iraq issued on Monday a statement which categorically denied any involvement in attacks against the Saudi entity or its facilities, affirming that the response to the US aggression is inevitable, Al Manar Tv has reported.
«After the Islamic Resistance categorically denied any involvement in attacks against the Saudi entity or its facilities, the American enemy committed a new crime by targeting members of the Popular Mobilization Forces and a convoy serving the visitors of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) in the holy city of Karbala, resulting in dozens of martyrs and wounded» the statement read.
«We affirm without doubt that the Saudi regime has never been, and never will be, anything other than a treacherous dagger and a corrupt tool directed by the White House and its suspicious intelligence agencies. Just as it once mobilized its capabilities to dispatch suicide bombers to shed Iraqi blood, today it has once again renewed its contract of subservience to carry out the crimes and directives of its masters in an attempt to undermine the will of our proud people».
So these are the decisions:
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has issued a fierce condemnation of joint airstrikes by the United States and Saudi Arabia on Iraq (details below in the yesterday updates), Iranian Press TV has reported.
Tehran says the attacks were a blatant violation of Baghdad’s sovereignty and a deliberate attempt by Washington and the Zionist regime to widen the regional war.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry specifically highlighted the “criminal and anti-human” targeting of official state facilities and service stations dedicated to the millions of pilgrims participating in the sacred Arbaeen procession.
“The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns in the strongest terms the aggressive attacks by the United States and Saudi Arabia on several areas in Iraq, including against facilities and sites belonging to official Iraqi institutions, as well as the mawakib and stations of Arbaeen pilgrims.”
About 800,000 units of weapons and ammunition have gone missing in Ukraine, ending up on the European black market, the Il Fatto quotidiano newspaper reported, citing that most of this arsenal comes from European military supplies.
The newspaper noted that since 2022, as many as 780,465 pieces of weapons have disappeared or have been stolen, with 149,000 of them in the first five months of this year alone.
Palermo Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia told the anti-mafia commission that most of these weapons end up on the European market, catching the attention of the Italian mafia group Cosa Nostra.
The newspaper also emphasized that European countries providing military aid to Ukraine prefer to hide the details of their supplies to Kiev, making it harder for police officers to track the flow of weapons.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) says US-Saudi attacks have killed at least 20 of its fighters and wounded 32 others in strikes across seven provinces.
So far, there’s only been a statement of what has occurred today at 3:20am: “A strike on the 30th brigade of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). The group is legally part of Iraq’s state forces. So this is a significant infringement of Iraqi sovereignty”.
There’s been no statement from Baghdad so far. Right now we know Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has had an emergency meeting with his cabinet to establish what they’re going to do and what statement they’re going to put out later today.
The attacks hit PMF positions in the provinces of Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala and Diyala, the state-sanctioned umbrella group of mostly Shia militias said in a statement.
The strikes also caused varying degrees of damage to buildings, vehicles and military equipment.
This attack could have very serious international geopolitical consequences, as the ranks of the PMF paramilitary forces — the valiant fighters who liberated Iraq from ISIS and thus earned official recognition from the national army — also include numerous Christians.
Therefore, this would be the first attack that President Donald Trump’s War Department has conducted against Christian militias, excluding, of course, the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Video footage captures an Israeli airstrike hitting Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Gaza City, next to Yarmouk Stadium, where dozens of displaced people are sheltering in tents.
The strike triggered a powerful explosion that destroyed the mosque and serious injured several Palestinians.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has staged a retaliatory ballistic missile strike against an American airbase in Jordan, besides halting three trespassing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
“In response to the aggressive actions of the child-killing US military, the brave fighters of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force launched several ballistic missiles at a US airbase and the US military’s Central Command’s headquarters in Jordan,” the Corps said in a statement in early Wednesday.
“As long as threats against the Islamic Republic continue and the unlawful and hostile actions of US forces against our interests persist, resistance will also continue,”it added.
The Jordanian Armed Forces says its air defences “dealt with five missiles coming from Iran that targeted the kingdom’s territory” at dawn today. It said the missiles were intercepted and shot down.
The United States has perpetrated numerous violations against Iranian territory since April 7, when US President Donald Trump announced a unilateral ceasefire in the latest bout of wholesale American-Israeli aggression targeting the Islamic Republic.
The violations continued even after Washington and Tehran signed a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding last month, whose first clause had clearly mandated cessation of aggression on all fronts.
The video below shows US soldiers running to shelter in one of the recent strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan
Iran has rejected a proposal from Oman for their joint oversight of the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, Iran made a proposal of its own as both sides continue to pore over the terms of what a final agreement could look like.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in a state broadcast that Oman’s proposal had not sufficiently addressed Tehran’s concerns about control of the strait. Iran’s counterproposal would give Tehran more control over the waterway, he added.
The narrow strait has been at the centre of the conflict between the United States and Iran since late February when US-Israeli attacks began.
Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports were shipped from Gulf producers. Iran closed the strait shortly after the war began, triggering global supply challenges.
The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting the Saudi oil tanker (NCC GHAZAL) for violating the maritime navigation ban imposed on the Saudi enemy and for ignoring warning calls, the spokesman General Yahya Saree said according to Al-Manar English Website.
The operation was conducted with a number of ballistic missiles and forced it to retreat and turn back, by the grace of God, he added.
The Armed Forces affirmed their continued implementation of the maritime blockade decision against the Saudi enemy, under the equation of “siege for siege” and “comprehensive escalation for comprehensive escalation”.
Thirty-seven commodity vessels passed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait yesterday, marking the highest daily count since July 19, when the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, Reuters reports, citing shipping data.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed launching retaliatory attacks against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, saying those strikes were coordinated with the US Central Command.
It says they were in response to drone attacks on its territory, in the oil-producing regions, in particular. Now, those regions have been targeted pretty relentlessly throughout the course of this war since it started in February. And that’s all part of Iran’s strategy to try and push up the oil price and disrupt energy supplies.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the timing of the drone attacks was really unfortunate, because GCC countries and Jordan had been trying to work collectively to try and de-escalate tensions during this five-day pause in hostilities. But they said “Iran-affiliated terrorist militias” chose the “irresponsible escalatory” approach.
The Russian armed forces continued attacks on the port, marine, fuel and storage infrastructure of Ukraine, used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the border areas, calculations of the Geran drones destroyed gas stations in Mena, Chernihiv region, and Petropavlovsk, Kharkiv region. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the facilities were used to supply Ukrainian units with fuel.
On the outskirts of the village of Nikitovka, Sumy region, a Geran-4 Seeker drone struck an enemy attack UAV storage and launch site.
Strikes were also carried out on Ukrainian ports and naval vessels involved in the transportation of military goods.
More details in the description of the video in the Rumble Channel of Gospa News
Gas station hit with a glide bomb in Zaporozhye. Since may the Russian Aerospace Force has struck more than 200 gas and oil station (see update on July, 11) in retaliation of the previous attacks on civilian infrastructures unleashed by Kiev Army.
The Senate voted along party lines to approve President Donald Trump’s choice for the next director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton.
Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US intelligence community who was confirmed in a 51-47 vote on Tuesday night, steps into his new job inheriting a diminished office whose authority and relevance are at a historic low point.
The new Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) succeeds Bill Pulte, a combative and controversial housing executive with no national security experience whom Trump installed as acting director for a 40-day tenure.
Clayton, whose legal career centered on corporate law before serving as a US attorney under Trump, must now chart a course for an organization that struggled with its mandate even before Donald Trump and his allies made it their top “Deep State” target.
The ODNI position became available following the well-known resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, who, before leaving the scene, declassified important documents on the laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2, covered up by Anthony Fauci, and on the Pentagon’s investments in biolaboratories in Ukraine and around the world.
If you can’t see the video preview, click on the title and you can watch it directly on Rumble
Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen say they have targeted a number of “sensitive” crude oil supplies and transport sites linking eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea city of Yanbu.
Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced a drone attack on oil infrastructure in eastern Saudi Arabia and Yanbu.
“By the grace of God, a number of sensitive targets and positions related to the supply and transport of crude oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu were targeted with a number of drones. This came in response to the penetration of Yemeni airspace by drones belonging to the Saudi enemy.”
Infact, Yemen Houthi forces have before claimed they shot down a Saudi reconnaissance drone over northwestern Yemen (footage below or here).
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has condemned attacks on the kingdom saying it reserves the right to respond to the source of “the aggression” and deter those responsible.
Saudi forces attacked Yemen’s Houthi-held city of Hodeidah on Friday in the latest escalation of their conflict during the regional war between the United States and Iran.
The port of Hodeidah is a crucial lifeline for the parts of Yemen under Houthi control, handling the bulk of commercial and humanitarian imports into Houthi-controlled northern Yemen.
Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, blamed the Houthis for the escalation, calling their attacks on Red Sea shipping “cowardly and reckless”.
Footage of the crews of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Su-34 multirole fighter-bombers.
– Five FAB-250 aerial bombs struck the temporary deployment point of the 117th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the village of Raigorodok (DPR).
– Four FAB-500s destroyed the UAV control center of the 15th Separate Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine near Dobropillya (DPR).
– Another airstrike using FAB-500s destroyed the temporary deployment point of the 71st Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kyianytsia in Sumy Oblast.
– An airstrike using FAB-250-270 aerial bombs on a road bridge over the Loknya River in the settlement of Ulanovo in the Sumy region.
A young couple was covered with a slab after the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a recreation center in Zaporizhia Kirillovka, but they miraculously escaped.
As a result of the terrorist attack in Ukraine, 12 people were killed, including four children. 19 civilians were injured.
The man told RT correspondent Roman Kosarev that after the second blow, a slab fell on him and the girl, which split into two parts.:
“I break out of there, knock out the wall, somehow I removed my legs from these rubble, from this slab – there was already a fire behind me. I’m starting to call for help, to throw all these plates, all these tables that were on the huge plate, in order to free the girl.”
Member of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, MP Hasan Fadlallah, said that the Israeli enemy is carrying out acts of destruction and bulldozing in the border villages and towns, and seeks to erase every aspect of life in these villages.
“This is happening in full view of the authority, which signed an agreement with it that gives it legitimacy for its occupation and practices. The authority has not even demanded a halt to this crime against the villages of the South. We have not heard a single word from it, nor seen any action demanding and working to stop the destruction and bulldozing. Nor did those who went to Washington, whether through negotiations or otherwise, raise the demand to stop the destruction in the border villages as one of Lebanon’s conditions. Instead, this vital demand was left aside, allowing the enemy to continue committing this crime against humanity.”
MP Fadlallah’s remarks came during a commemorative ceremony held by Hezbollah for the two martyrs, Mohammad Hussein Ali Shahrur and Mohammad Ishaq Qashaqesh, at the Hounin Complex in Ghobeiry, in the presence of a number of clerics, dignitaries, figures, the families of martyrs, and a gathering of locals.
MP Fadlallah added: “Until now, this authority has not brought us any option that can achieve even the minimum of national objectives.” He asked: Did this authority present us with a reasonable option open to discussion and solution that we then rejected? Even from the perspective of those who went to direct negotiations, what did they gain from them?
“Rather, the dangerous step this authority took was to allow the occupation to remain as long as there are resistance weapons. That is, the authority signed a deed that legislates the presence of the occupation and its practices. Meanwhile, some in Lebanon tell us: We are in the authority,” but “we are not in the negotiating authority, we are in the government.”
In the face of the Zionist danger, MP Fadlallah said, we have no other options to defend our country and protect our presence in Lebanon except the option of the Resistance: that it be capable, strong, ready, and present. That we offer sacrifices, and that our young men go to fight in defense of this existence.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Ukraine’s military attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea was carried out at the Israeli regime’s behest in a bid to drag Europe into its war in the West Asia region.
In a strongly worded post on X on Sunday, Araghchi said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy orchestrated the attack on the Iranian commercial vessel that left one sailor dead. He added that the attack constituted a “blatant” violation of the United Nations Charter.
The top Iranian diplomat noted that he raised the issue in separate phone calls with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
He said he made clear during the conversations that the attack “cannot go unanswered.” “I made clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did CANNOT GO UNANSWERED,” he wrote.
U.S., Iran pause strikes: The U.S. ceased its two-week-long campaign of strikes on Iran on Friday evening, with no strikes announced or confirmed by the U.S. on Saturday or Sunday.
President Putin visited the factory for the 100% sanctions-proof MC-21 passenger plane
The MC-21-310, is fitted with entirely Russian-made components and systems. There are no western parts in it.
If you can’t see the video preview, click on the title and you can watch it directly on Rumble
Ukrainian journalist Elena Kiriyenko published an emotional post on her Telegram channel about the aftermath of the strike on the unmanned systems exhibition in Kapitanovka. Her statement stands in stark contrast to the official figures disseminated by Kyiv authorities:
“Let’s be honest, at least with ourselves: there are not 10 dead. 10 are the bodies that were collected. Because when it lands Rocket (and there were 2-3 of them) into open terrain, someone is simply torn to pieces”.
According to her, dog handlers are working at the site of the former exhibition specifically to find small fragments, Oleg Myndar has reported on en.topwar.ru as relaunched by NewsPravda, adding:
“Even journalists sympathetic to the Kyiv regime are forced to acknowledge the catastrophic consequences of the strike for Ukraine”.
The journalist also stated that the number of injured is several times higher than the official “around 100. ” She points out that over 300 people were present at the exhibition, and there were “hundreds” of injured, not counting local residents, whom no one had counted.
More details and video in the previous update below…
The Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has voted to remove prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations, his legal team has confirmed, suggesting that the move was “political”.
The vote on Friday came as the ICC faces backlash from the United States and Israel after Khan issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024.
Tayab Ali, head of Khan’s legal team, noted that a judicial panel had “unanimously” determined that findings by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services “did not establish misconduct or breach of duty by Mr Khan under the relevant legal framework”.
The administration of President Donald Trump had imposed sanctions on Khan and several other ICC officials and judges over the Netanyahu warrant. “The decision has grave implications beyond Mr Khan’s individual case,” said Ali.
“The independence of the International Criminal Court depends upon its elected officials being protected from removal through processes that are political, procedurally unfair or inconsistent with the findings of independent judicial bodies.”
The lawyer added that Khan was removed “by an executive vote while under sanctions and while the Court is under immense political pressure”.
Ali added that the decision by the Assembly of States Parties “does not follow the evidence or the findings of the only judicial determination in this matter”.
Ukrainian attacks have targeted 54 Russian regions since 2022, killing nearly 1,500 people, including 45 children, Russian Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin said.
“Since 2022, investigators have opened 5,347 criminal cases involving attacks on 54 Russian regions outside the special military operation zone. The cases document artillery and missile strikes, drone attacks, and cross-border incursions carried out by Ukrainian nationalists,” he told TASS in an interview ahead of Russia’s Investigative Officers’ Day.
He said the attacks have killed 1,472 civilians, including 45 children, and injured 6,754 people, including 405 minors.
A total of 256 children have been killed in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) as a result of Ukrainian aggression that began in 2014, the republic’s human rights commissioner Darya Morozova has told TASS.
“Since 2014, a total of 256 children have been killed on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of aggression on the part of Ukrainian armed groups,” she said in the run-up to the Remembrance Day of child victims of the conflict in Donbass. “Every such loss is an irreparable tragedy for families and all our people.”
The ombudsperson added that a total of 1,076 children have been wounded in the reported period.
The Remembrance Day of child victims of the conflict in Donbass is marked annually on July 27. The date was established by the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin. The date commemorates a massive Ukrainian shelling attack on Gorlovka, which left 22 civilians dead, including 23-year-old Kristina Zhuk, who died holding her ten-months-old daughter.
A Russian missile strike targeted the CSA Open Air testing ground in Kapitonovka, Buchansky district, outside Kiev, where a UAV technology demonstration was underway.
Present were leading drone developers, manufacturers, and representatives of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces and special services planning strikes on Russian territory.
The Russian Armed Forces carried out a strike using high-precision long-range weapons on a facility in a suburb of Kiev where Ukrainian-and foreign-made unmanned aerial vehicles, including advanced models, that are used in strikes on civilian facilities in Russia were demonstrated, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
At the time of the strike, drone developers, officials of Ukraine’s unmanned systems command, as well as the special services that plan attacks on Russia were present at the facility, the ministry said.
According to the Ukrainian Council of Gunsmiths (a defense industry association), the strike targeted an area “where representatives of the Ukrainian defense industry were present.” Several people were killer and wounded, it said.
The council also said that information about the participants’ whereabouts had not been disclosed publicly. Valery Borovik, founder of the defense manufacturer First Contact, reported a “very serious strike” on the training ground where weapons were located.
Six people have been killed and 26 more injured in a Ukrainian missile attack on an enterprise in Kirov, the region’s Governor Alexander Sokolov reported on messaging app Max.
On the morning of July 24, a plant in Kirov came under a missile attack, Sokolov reported. Emergency response services are working at the site.
According to the latest information, six people were killed and 26 injured in the attack. All the injured are receiving medical assistance – from outpatient treatment to hospitalization, the region’s governor noted.
Twelve of those injured in the Ukrainian attack on Kirov were taken to hospitals, fourteen others received outpatient assistance, aide to the Russian health minister Alexey Kuznetsov said.
Vladimir Zelensky said he has appointed Mikhail Drapaty as the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army to replace Alexander Syrsky, whose resignation many Ukrainian politicians and protesters have been demanding for a week.
“It was decided that Mikhail Drapaty will be the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed force,” he said in a video address posted on his Telegram channel.
Along with Syrsky, Zelensky dismissed Chief of the General Staff Andrey Gnatov. “Today, we discussed with Alexander Syrsky and Andrey Gnatov future service arrangements and the proper handover of responsibilities,” he said.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the escalating terrorism by Israeli colonists and the crimes committed against the Palestinian people under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, including the latest attacks in the towns of Tell in Nablus Governorate and Deir Jarir in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, as well as the ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip that have resulted in dozens of Palestinians killed and injured.
In a statement issued on Friday, the organization denounced the continued attacks by colonists against unarmed Palestinian civilians, including the destruction of property, the burning of agricultural lands and homes, and the theft of livestock, amid the escalating pace of colonial expansion.
The OIC warned of the dangers of this serious escalation, describing it as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, relevant international legitimacy resolutions, and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice.
The OIC General Secretariat affirmed that the continuation and escalation of such terrorism constitutes a practical implementation of Israeli colonial plans aimed at forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, including occupied Jerusalem.
If you can’t see the video preview, click on the title and you can watch it directly on Rumble
Footage documents Israeli settlers assaulting Palestinians in the West Bank town of Tell and committing a massacre. As shown in the video, armed Israeli settlers, protected by the IOF, are seen pointing their guns at unarmed Palestinians as they stormed their land before one managed to snatch a rifle to defend himself as he was being assaulted.
The Israelis opened fire, killing at least four Palestinians and injuring four others, including three critically, amid the raid on the town. In the ensuing confrontation, one Israeli officer was killed and three other Israelis were injured.
Israeli occupation forces closed the entrances to several towns and villages across the Salfit governorate in the central West Bank on Friday, tightening military measures that disrupted the movement of Palestinians and vehicles, WAFA has reported.
Local sources told WAFA that Israeli forces closed the entrances to the towns of Deir Istiya and Haris, northwest of Salfit, as well as the town of Deir Ballut in the western part of the governorate.
The closures impeded the movement of residents and vehicles throughout the area.
As oil prices hit $100 a barrel on Thursday, experts say they are watching to see which vessels Yemen’s Houthis allow to pass through in the Red Sea as that will indicate how the crude market trends.
Brent futures rose $6.58 or 6.96 percent, to $100.65 a barrel, exceeding $100 for the first time since late May.
That was on the back of the Iran-aligned Houthis saying they were cutting off the passage Riyadh had been using to ship parts of its crude oil once Iran closed theStrait of Hormuz to retaliate against United States and Israel attacks.
On Monday, the Yemeni group declared a naval blockade on shipments from Saudi Arabia and said they would target Saudi, Israeli, and United States-linked tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb, which links the Red sea to the Indian Ocean.
On Thursday, the Houthis attacked two Saudi Arabian oil tankers, the group said, with a Saudi news agency later confirming that one of the two vessels was set ablaze.
It is not clear if the second one was also hit, according to marine analysis firm, Windward.
“The Houthis are quite mercurial and there is no complete clarity on what the blockade means,” said Michelle Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward.
More details on the Houtis attack to two Saudi oil tankers in the yesterday updates
In response to the ongoing US aggression against Iran, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had carried out drone attacks targeting US military facilities in Kuwait and Jordan.
These strikes resulted in the destruction of strategic fuel reserves, major ammunition and supply depots, helicopter maintenance facilities, and critical air defense assets, including Patriot missile systems, a THAAD radar unit, C-RAM systems, and MQ-9 drone hangars. Additionally, troop quarters and communications infrastructure supporting these foreign forces were directly targeted.
In detail, the IRGC said its forces targeted Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, destroying a large military equipment depot, a Patriot air defense system, and a hangar housing US MQ-9 drones. It also said attacks on Al-Udairi Camp, where US forces are stationed, killed and wounded several personnel and caused severe damage to several helicopters and drones.
US military assets at Camp Doha and Camp Arifjan were also targeted.
A video has emerged online showing the impact of a cassette warhead from an Iranian ballistic missile on a U.S. air base. The video is reportedly filmed at a U.S. air base in Kuwait. The authenticity of the video has not yet been confirmed. Source: Telegram “CyberspecNews” via News-Pravda
The United States military has said it bombed Iran for the 13th consecutive night after President Donald Trump threatened more intense attacks on the country amid risk of further escalation.
The Middle East-based Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military said early on Friday that it targeted “Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities”.
Four people were killed and five others injured as a result of the US strike on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, Press TV reports.
The Central Command of the US Armed Forces said that the strikes were carried out on Iranian military command centers, drone depots, communications centers, coastal surveillance points and marine facilities. According to the American side, the purpose of the operation was to reduce the threat to civilian sailors and commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The footage of the Central Command of the US Armed Forces shows the moments of strikes against targets in Iran.
The Yemeni Armed Forces announced a military operation targeting two Saudi oil tankers (link video), identified as “ENCELIA” and “LAYLA”, noting that the vessels had violated a ban imposed by the Yemeni side.
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the operation was carried out using a number of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, adding that the strikes accurately hit their targets.
Saree said the operation came as part of ongoing maritime operations, adding that the Yemeni Armed Forces had also forced approximately 10 ships to retreat and return.
He said the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue their maritime operations against the Saudi enemy and maintain a “blockade for blockade” response.
The Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson warned Saudi Arabia against carrying out any blunders or aggression against Yemen, saying any such action would be met with major operations deep inside Saudi territory.
Khatam Al-Anbiya (PBUH) Headquarters issued on Wednesday a statement, affirming that the rogue, criminal, child-killing American president has once again threatened to target Iran’s infrastructure, according to Al Manar Lebanese TV.
“In accordance with last night’s warning, it is announced that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Should any vessel be permitted to transit the Strait, it must do so only through the designated route and in accordance with the arrangements previously announced.”
“Should the United States carry out its threats, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow a single drop of oil to be exported. The oil, gas, electricity, and economic infrastructure throughout the region will also be targeted (Link video)”, the statement affirmed.
“The repeated threats of criminal America and its terrorist military will result in nothing but the expansion of the war throughout the region and even beyond.”
US President Donald Trump salutes as the 4 US soldiers killed by Iranian strikes are brought back home.
The Iranian Army announced on Wednesday that it had carried out an intensive drone attack targeting ammunition depots and logistical equipment belonging to the US Army’s Ground Forces Command at Doha Camp in western Kuwait, as part of the 21st phase of Operation Saeqeh.
The Iranian military said the operation came in response to repeated attacks by the United States against areas in Iran.
According to the Iranian Army statement, Doha Camp is one of the largest and most important US military bases in western Kuwait and serves as a logistical hub supporting US forces deployed across West Asia.
A statement from Iran’s military says Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq and Bahrain’s Isa Air Base have been targeted with drones.
“The army targeted the ‘housing and welfare buildings’ and ‘equipment warehouses’ of the terrorist US army at the Azraq base in Jordan with drones in the morning,” the statement, cited by the Mehr News Agency, said.
“[Drones] also targeted the ‘large equipment warehouses and sheds’ and the ‘heavy aircraft maintenance and repair sheds’ of the child-killing and criminal US army at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.”
The IRGC Aerospace Force has launched a barrage of cruise missiles against Amazon’s central data infrastructure in Bahrain, leaving the facility destroyed.
The AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region, opened in 2019, is a major cloud infrastructure hub that underpins digital services across the Gulf, providing large-scale computing capacity, data storage, and cloud resources for governments, financial institutions, and enterprises.
It’s not the first time that Iran has targeted the Amazon infrastructure:
In March, drone strikes on Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE caused outages for apps and digital services, with a Bahrain facility also sustaining damage
️ In April, the IRGC warned of potential attacks against Microsoft, Google, Apple, Meta, Oracle, Intel, HP, IBM, Cisco, Dell, Palantir and Nvidia assets in the Middle East
On April 1 an Iranian drone hit an Amazon data center in Bahrain, according to the Financial Times. On April 2, Iranian forces attacked an Oracle facility in Dubai.
Almost 100 U.S. service members have been injured, with most returning to duty, in Iranian strikes in the Middle East this month, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told CBS News.
The war on Iran has cost the US $37.5bn so far, the defence secretary says, an increase of nearly $8bn since the last public estimate.
Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the figure also included anticipated costs through to September 30.
This is the first time that Hegseth, who appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, has publicly faced questions from lawmakers since the US military started attacking Iran again earlier this month.
British interests in the Middle East region may become a legitimate military target for Iran if London joins the US war against the Islamic Republic, a high-ranking Iranian source has told TASS.
“If media reports about the decision of the new British Prime Minister [Andy Burnham] to participate in the US war against Iran are confirmed, then, in addition to political and legal consequences, all British interests in the region will be added to the list of targets of Iran’s powerful armed forces,” the agency’s source said.
The source also recalled that “Britain has already once experienced the implementation of Iran’s threats during the 40-day war.”
According to Bloomberg, quoted by Fox TV, New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has just APPROVED the US military launching strikes against Iran from UK bases.
Oil prices are continuing their upward trajectory, with Brent crude futures gaining $1, or 1.1 percent, to $92.01 per barrel as of 03:30 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up 82 cents, or 1.0 percent, to trade at $85.16.
The gains came after oil settled at a five-week high on Tuesday, according to Reuters, in the wake of US forces attacking targets in southern and western Iran, and Iran striking US facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Brent futures closed at $91.01 per barrel on Tuesday, while WTI settled at $84.91.
The Pentagon says it targeted military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage, and logistics infrastructure.
It was yet another night of escalation and exchange of fire between Iran and the US, as we witnessed the continuation of air strikes targeting cities across Iran.
First and foremost, we know that sounds related to the activation of the air defence system here in the capital were heard. In Tabriz, located in the northwest of the country, attacks were reported targeting a military base. We also know that, in Khuzestan province, in the three cities of Omidiyeh, Mahshahr and Behbahan, explosions were reported.
Moving on, explosions were heard in the city of Sirik, which is very important as it oversees the Strait of Hormuz. Further strikes were also reported in Chabahar and Konarak in the southeastern Sistan province.
Similarly, air strikes were reported in the cities of Bushehr, Kangavar, Kabudarahang and in areas in the vicinity of the city of Baneh in Kurdistan province for the very first time.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has destroyed multiple US military radar and communications facilities in the region, while the Army reports drone strikes on three US bases in Kuwait in ongoing retaliation for American violations.
The announcements were made in a series of statements issued early Tuesday, describing the latest phases of the IRGC’s Operation Nasr- (Victory) 2 and the Army’s Operation Sa’eqeh (Lightning) in response to the United States’ renewed aggression against the Islamic Republic.
In its first statement, the IRGC said the second phase of wave 24 of Operation Nasr-2 targeted infrastructure supporting US military air defense operations in Kuwait. The Corps said the latest phase was staged “to clear the way by eliminating obstacles to large-scale air and missile operations” against American targets in the region.
According to the statement, missiles and drones struck and destroyed a long-range radar site, a communications center, satellite reception systems, and a missile defense radar belonging to the “child-killing US military” stationed in Kuwait. The IRGC also said an MQ-9 drone hangar at Ali al-Salem Airbase was hit in the country, adding that several drones were either destroyed or severely damaged as a result.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Tuesday that its Aerospace Force had launched a missile strike against a US military base in Jordan, confirming that the attack “destroyed a missile defense radar system and an F-15 aircraft”.
New satellite imagery confirms at least two Iranian strikes hit the base, with two more suspected elsewhere. Two aircraft hangars were damaged and a hit occurred near personnel quarters.
Casualties: 3 US servicemen killed (2 confirmed dead, 1 initially MIA, remains later found). At least 4 wounded and evacuated to hospitals.
Equipment losses: A critical AN/TPY-2 X-band radar (THAAD component) was destroyed by a Shahed kamikaze drone early in Operation Epic Fury (Feb 28, 2026). The base hosts US F-16s, F-15Es, and reconnaissance systems.
IRGC-linked sources claim local agents aided the strikes, possibly to provoke a witch hunt within Jordanian intelligence, seen by Tehran as Tel Aviv allies.
Iran continues retaliatory attacks across the region after a 10th consecutive night of US bombing, with the Revolutionary Guard saying it targeted US assets in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
“Massive fires” broke out on two tankers that “took an unsafe route” in the Strait of Hormuz, says the IRGC. The IRGC said rescue teams are evacuating the crews of the vessels.
It again warned shipping companies to safeguard the health of their sailors, not to trust “false information from the US military” and avoid routes it described as “dangerous”. It wants ships to use a route closer to its shores.
The White House says strikes on Iran will continue until Trump decides otherwise but diplomatic talks between the two nations are ongoing.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) concluded a new series of strikes against Iran at 9:00 PM Eastern time on July 20th.
U.S. forces targeted Iranian military command and control facilities, naval capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems, with the aim of disrupting Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military says it has completed its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting command centres, air defence sites, maritime assets, missile facilities, and communications networks.
A US service member has died in northern Iraq after a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, according to CENTCOM. Another body was found in Jordan, but not yet identified.
Military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance facilities, marine facilities, missile and drone launch positions, as well as communications networks were hit, the Central Command of the US Armed Forces said.
Before the strike, Trump said that this attack was dedicated to the memory of three American servicemen who died in the Middle East.
According to WP sources, Washington is on the verge of returning to a full-scale war with Iran.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced carrying out high-fatality and widely destructive retaliatory strikes against strategic American targets in the region in response to the ongoing violations by the United States.
The IRGC made the announcements in successive statements on Monday, during which it detailed strikes targeting American assets in Jordan and Kuwait as part of the 21st and 22nd waves of its Operation Nasr-2 (Victory-2).
The 21st wave saw the IRGC carry out precision strikes leading to “the destruction of 20 hangars used to station troops of the child-killing US military in the al-Azraq area” in Jordan, which also resulted in “the deaths of dozens of American terrorist forces.”
The Corps thanked the Jordanian public and members of the country’s armed forces for providing it with intelligence that facilitated the reprisal.
Additionally, the 21st phase featured destructive ballistic missile strikes by the IRGC’s Aerospace Force against US C-17 strategic transport aircraft and P-8 command-and-control aircraft at Aqaba Airport in Jordan.
In a separate statement, the IRGC announced conducting the 22nd wave of Operation Nasr-2, saying it had struck multiple US military facilities at Ali al-Salem Airbase in Kuwait.
According to the second statement, an American early warning radar system was “completely destroyed” in a drone strike, while aviation equipment, a spare-parts hangar, and an MQ-9 drone shelter were also hit, causing several drones to catch fire.
Vladimir Zelensky stated that the strike on Kiev on the night of July 19 was one of the most massive and again requested ammunition for air defense systems.
“One of the most massive ballistic attacks on Kiev,” he wrote on his Telegram channel, adding that “interceptors are needed every day.” According to him, the cleanup of the consequences of the explosions that rocked Kiev tonight continues. “More than 600 rescuers have been deployed,” Zelensky wrote.
“Overnight, Russia conducted one of its largest ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv. The enemy launched more than 40 missiles of various types – most of them against the capital – and 120 attack drones.” President Volodymyr Zelensky took stock of the attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight in a post on
Ukrainian authorities regularly complain about a shortage of ammunition for the air defense systems in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and ask Western countries to increase supplies of the relevant weapons.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the strike on several Kiev-based enterprises producing military equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Russia launched an overnight ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, triggering powerful explosions and fires across multiple parts of the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian officials said at least one person was killed and several others were injured as residential buildings, a dormitory, warehouses, and a supermarket were damaged. Emergency crews responded as the attack left widespread destruction.
On July, 18 large-scale, combined attacks by the Russian Armed Forces on Ukrainian Black Sea port infrastructure, which have been ongoing for several weeks, are gradually leading to a blockade of maritime traffic. After the Kyiv regime began massively attacking Ukrainian civilian vessels in the Black and Azov Seas, the Russian military is mirroring this.
The Russian Ministry of Defense regularly reports attacks on vessels that still risk sailing to Ukrainian ports. All of them are sailing under the flags of third countries, and the sailors are mostly citizens of other countries. However, the cargo carried in their holds is military-grade. Therefore, the ships are a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces.
As a result of our army’s actions, maritime traffic at the ports of Odesa Oblast and Mykolaiv has already fallen by more than a third. This has been noted by both Western analytical resources and Ukrainian media. Insurance costs for ships and cargo exported from Ukrainian ports have risen sharply.
This represents almost the entire export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products. As a result, foreign shipowners and chartering companies have begun to cancel existing contracts en masse.
Excerpt by Alexander Grigoryev from https://en.topwar.ru
According to the head of the press service of the Iranian Ministry of Health Hossein Kermanpour, the number of victims continues to grow. One of the most devastating was the strike on the seawater desalination plant in the Bongji district of the Hormozgan province. Tasnim news agency reported that the attack completely destroyed a pumping station and a transformer substation, shutting down the company.
The plant’s capacity was 3,150 cubic meters of water per day. As a result, 20 villages with a population of about 10,000 people were left without drinking water. Local authorities report that restoration work is underway at the facility. The representative of the Ministry of Health stressed that attacks on civilian infrastructure worsen the humanitarian situation in the region.
«Two U.S. service members were killed while defending against an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack in Jordan, and another service member is missing, U.S. Central Command said Saturday»NBC has reported.
CENTCOM did not specify where in Jordan the attack occurred or provide additional details about the circumstances. Four other American service members were medically evacuated to hospitals in Jordan but have since been discharged.
Another soldier was missing in action at the base. There were also a handful of injuries, four serious, the military said, CBS added.
The U.S. military said Friday it completed a seventh night of strikes against Iran, marking one week of nightly attacks on Iranian targets, as hostilities between the two countries ramp up again.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed a new series of strikes targeting U.S. military facilities across the Middle East on Friday, alleging attacks on sites in Syria, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Jordan. The U.S. military denied those claims Friday.
The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) conducted a simultaneous missile and drone strike against a US base in Azraq, Jordan, targeting fighter shelters and a large parking ramp, according to the IRGC’s Public Relations Office.
In a statement, the IRGC reported that the operation was carried out in the early morning hours as part of the 20th wave of Operation Nasr 2. The strike was launched in response to the US aggression the previous night, the statement said.
“With a crushing and simultaneous missile and drone attack on the fighter shelters and a large parking ramp at the American base in Azraq, Jordan,” the IRGC said, “at least two American fighter jets and three American aircraft were completely destroyed while inflicting major damage on a number of others.”
Earlier on Saturday, the IRGC announced that its naval forces carried out drone and missile strikes on US targets in Kuwait and Bahrain.
In a statement, the IRGC said that its naval forces, in the 19th wave of Operation Nasr 2, carried out drone and missile strikes on “a fuel support pier for the US fleet at Kuwait’s Al Ahmadi port” and “a gathering point for enemy combat aircraft at Sheikh Isa in Bahrain.”
The statement added that its forces destroyed “a US data intelligence center in Bahrain known as Batelco” and also destroyed “a US signals and telecommunications center in Kuwait.”
Another power and desalination plant, the second, has been hit by an Iranian attack in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity announced the attack in a statement.
The Kuwait Fire Service said several of its men and a worker were injured while fighting fires at two sites following Iranian attacks this morning.
Iran has launched a ballistic missile at a US base in Saudi Arabia, marking Tehran’s first direct attack on the Gulf country in nearly four months, according to Axios, citing a US official.
The last time Iran struck a target in Saudi Arabia was in early April, during an attack on the Jubail petrochemical complex. No further details were provided about the attack or its target.
The IRGC Navy has released drone footage showing the attack on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The attack occurred after the vessel refused to follow instructions and transit the strait. This is the first time Iran has released footage of its attacks on ships.
CENTCOM has released new footage showing US military personnel intercepting and inspecting a ship under the blockade of Iran imposed by the Trump administration.
The statement said that the operation was carried out in order to ensure that the ship “complies” with the restrictions set by the United States.
Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations has condemned the United States’ continued military attacks on Iranian territory, stating that the systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure constitutes “serious violations of international humanitarian law” and amounts to “war crimes” for which Washington bears full international responsibility, Iranian Press TV has reported.
In a letter addressed to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani detailed a wave of US attacks carried out between July 8 and July 16, targeting southern provinces, coastal cities, and ports along the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the letter, US strikes have hit Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Ahvaz, Chabahar, Konarak, Jask, Sirik, Iranshahr, Abu Musa Island, Greater Tunb Island, and in the early hours of July 16, the cities of Shiraz, Khorramabad, Semnan, Urmia, and Hamedan.
The United States carried out a fresh wave of military strikes on Iran’s southern regions late Thursday and into Friday, hitting civilian infrastructure including bridges, a railway station, and residential neighborhoods.
In Hormozgan province, American airstrikes targeted three bridges in Khmer county, including the crucial Khmer Bridge connecting Bandar Abbas to Lar in Fars province.
The Iranian army says it targeted US military deployment sites and logistical support centres in Kuwait with drones.
According to a statement carried by the Fars news agency, the military said, “Relying on history, popular support, experience, and combat readiness, we stand with vigilance and authority against any pressure or threat.”
The Iranian Army has carried out the 11th phase of Operation Thunder, “striking a US military base in Bahrain that housed helicopters and P-8 reconnaissance aircraft of the American terrorist army”, in response to the enemy’s hostile acts targeting civilian infrastructure and innocent people.
Qatar’s Defence Ministry says the country’s armed forces are intercepting several air attacks. Earlier, we reported that a child was injured by falling shrapnel following an Iranian attack that targeted Qatar.
The US military says it has “successfully” completed its latest major wave of strikes against Iran, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).
“US forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” CENTCOM said.
Here are the reported targets according to Al Jazeera:
More than 200 patients from the Baghaei Specialised Hospital have been evacuated following deadly US strikes on southern Iran.
Hospital Director Reza Bazar said American attacks on Ahvaz city put the hospital out of service, Fars news agency quoted him as saying. There were no reports of casualties.
Dr Majid Bou’azar, manager of the hospital, told Al Jazeera that 211 patients “were forced to relocate” because of the strikes (further details in the previous update below).
The Russian Armed Forces have destroyed almost half of Ukraine’s port infrastructure in the past two weeks. The ports of Odessa and Yuzhny were under attack — the country’s export and import capabilities have already dropped by 40%.
13 dry cargo ships connected to Ukrainian ports were hit. The strikes also hit the infrastructure of the ports of Odessa and Yuzhny, where military cargo and fuel were stored. When crossing by sea to the ports of the Odessa region, a naval vessel and a high-speed boat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit.
Currently, four official vessels remain under the flag of Ukraine: one of the last active ones is the Mekhanik Cherevko, which is located in Burgas, Bulgaria. The rest have either not been in touch for a long time, or are working on the Danube. (read more here in the video description inside Rumble Channel)
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday it targeted US military infrastructure in Kuwait and Jordan while also announcing the downing of an American MQ-9 drone over southwestern Iran, as fighting between Tehran and Washington continued to escalate.
According to the IRGC, Iranian forces struck the early warning radar of the C-RAM air defense system at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, in addition to a gathering of US troops.
The IRGC also announced that it had shot down an American MQ-9 drone over the city of Andimeshk in Khuzestan Province, describing the operation as a response to overnight US attacks on parts of Iran’s southern coastline.
The Iranian army said it had targeted the fixed radar site, communications system, and fuel storage facilities at the US-operated Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan using suicide drones. The strike was described as part of Iran’s response to the US attack on an army barracks in Iranshahr.
Earlier, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebi said Iranian military operations are currently focused on destroying US offensive infrastructure throughout the region.
“The enemy should not think that it is capable of continuing the current equation of the fighting and turning the war into a war of attrition.”
Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has threatened to respond to any US attacks on Iranian infrastructure with strikes on regional infrastructure.
In a statement carried by Iranian state media, he said if Trump follows through on his threats, “all the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so that no trace of them will remain, as if they had never existed in the first place.”
He also said Iran will not allow US interference in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz. This is Iran’s invincible red line,” he said.
The US military has completed another series of strikes on Iran, according to the US Central Command. The strikes included the city of Bandar Abbas.
The IRIB state broadcaster is reporting an “enemy attack” in Kabudarahang county, in the western Hamadan province. Earlier, Iranian media reported attacks on the northern city of Semnan and said air defences were also activated in Tehran.
It was last week that we saw the US attack northern Iran for the first time since the memorandum of understanding was signed, or indeed, after the ceasefire was reached on April 8.
The first strike was in Aqqala, where a railway bridge was attacked.
The US military has launched a second wave of strikes against Iran, with CENTCOM saying they “are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz”.
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna joins live from Washington, DC. He says US forces have launched strikes against Iran for a fifth consecutive day, targeting sites linked to Iran’s military control of the Strait of Hormuz and efforts to disrupt shipping through the strategic waterway.
Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf says the country has “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, adding that “we must always be prepared for battle and stand firm to protect our national security and interests”.
Here’s what happened yesterday, July, 15, 2026 according to Al jazeera
Residents of Ahvaz have reported hearing multiple explosions after US strikes on several parts of the southwestern Iranian city, including the vicinity of a hospital treating cancer patients, particularly children undergoing chemotherapy.
According to Fars News Agency, several projectiles struck the area near Baqaei Hospital during the attacks on Wednesday.
Medical personnel, assisted by patients’ families, were evacuating the facility and relocating patients who had been frightened by the explosions. Initial assessments indicated that patients from the medical center would be transferred to another healthcare facility.
Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, meanwhile, announced that, following enemy attacks on the city and explosions in areas adjacent to the hospital, the facility “has been temporarily taken out of service to ensure the safety of patients and staff.”
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“NATO’s LIES ON MEDITERRANEAN WARS FOR GAS”. Exclusive Interview to Former Interpol EU Officer
by Carlo Domenico Cristofori
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov claimed that Ukraine has become a “testing ground” for advanced Western and NATO weapons systems, artificial intelligence warfare, and new military tactics during a security summit in Irkutsk soem weeks ago.
Speaking at the meeting of the CIS Security and Special Services Heads Council, Bortnikov accused Western countries of using Ukraine as a platform for developing modern warfare technologies and conducting operations against Russia.
The FSB chief also discussed tensions in the Middle East, Afghanistan, cyber threats, terrorism, NATO activities, and alleged foreign intelligence operations across the CIS region.
The remarks come amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia, NATO countries, and Ukraine as the conflict continues to reshape global security dynamics.
If you don’t see the video preview, click here to watch it directly on the Gospa News Rumble Channel.
We have published multiple investigations in the Weapons Lobby series confirming the statements of the head of Russian counterintelligence, highlighting the colossal conflicts of interest of the world’s most notorious arms dealer, US President Donald Trump, who has been elected thanks to the votes of the Zionist financiers who control most of the US, European Union, and other NATO countries’ war industries.
But following the statements of the FSB director, we feel it appropriate to republish some excerpts from an old article from Defense One, the American specialistic magazine closely linked to the US Pentagon, in which it was none other than a US Army and NATO general who encouraged the warlords’ Weapons Lobby to use Ukraine as testbeds for new weapons, despite the high risks for its troops and population of facing the inevitable consequent Russian retaliation.
But in this investigation, we will also analyze Trump’s latest statements in favor of escalating the conflict in Ukraine, which would obviously bring enormous profits to his former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, former director of the CIA, who has become a consultant to the most important Ukrainian drone manufacturer, Fire Point, implicated in a corruption scandal as well as in an international intrigue that reaches as far as a Pentagon contractor.
If you don’t see the video preview, click here to watch it directly on the Gospa News Rumble Channel.
Finally, an excellent article published by British journalist Vanessa Beeley, a world expert on Islamic terrorism, confirmed the FSB alert on the role of terrorists in the plot that aims to transform NATO into the New World Order as theorized by George Soros in 1993, thanks to the military investments of the countries of the European Union and the West, and therefore the taxes of Italian, European and American taxpayers.
“Those few that have tried it have either learned a lot, or they’ve decided to go home because they can’t compete in that environment. But that is going to be the environment that we face,” said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who leads U.S. European Command and serves as NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe since 2025.
Grynkewich, who was speaking virtually to an industry group in Washington, D.C., urged any companies seeking to sell new products to NATO allies to attend September’s Defense Tech Valley conference in Ukraine, as reported by Defense One almost an year ago.
Paradoxically, despite this appeal to the Warlords of the Weapons Lobby, he participated in negotiations in Abu Dhabi involving American, Russian, and Ukrainian officials, during which it was agreed to restore military-to-military communication between the U.S. and Russia, which had been suspended since late 2021.
Before that, in his role as commander of NATO forces, Grynkewich also had the authority to be in contact with the Russian Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, for deescalation purposes, exactly the opposite of what he suggested to the war corporations in his interview for the specialized magazine close to the Pentagon…
“They’re bringing in dozens and dozens of companies from across Europe who have co-production or co-licensing agreements and partnerships with the Ukrainians. It’s an incredible opportunity to see what the modern battlefield looks like today, what it might look like tomorrow, and what we might need in the future,” he said.
NATO allies across Europe are raising defense budgets to meet a new, higher spending pledge. Much of what they buy will go to Ukraine, and much of what they spend will flow to the United States through a recent initiative dubbed the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. The month-old effort has already attracted more than $2 billion in pledges, with more expected.
Grynkewich described how European Command plays a central role in coordinating Ukraine’s requests for future capabilities with European and U.S. inventories.
“The Ukrainians will let us know what their requirements are. We then bring that into a combined U.S. European Command-and-NATO working group that elevates those requirements. And then I, as [Supreme Allied Commander], will elevate the requirement and send it back to them at the working group,” he said. “Some things are only going to come from the U.S. factory,” such as PAC-3 missiles.
If you don’t see the video preview, click here to watch it directly on the Gospa News Rumble Channel.
Confirmation of the use of the war in Ukraine as a testing ground for new, increasingly sophisticated weapons also comes from a terrorist attack foiled in recent days by Russia.
The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was preparing a large-scale terrorist attack on a military airfield in Rostov-on-Don using FPV drones with artificial intelligence. But the alleged perpetrator reported an impending terrorist attack and the attack was thwarted at the stage of preparation, which was already under the control of FSB officers.
The Ukrainians planned to use 13 FPV drones equipped with AI systems. The combat load of each drone was more than 1 kg of TNT explosive.
If you don’t see the video preview, click here to watch it directly on the Gospa News Rumble Channel.
Having received this proposal from the representative of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the citizen, having shown consciousness, voluntarily contacted the territorial security authority and reported a planned sabotage and terrorist act (DTA) by the Ukrainian special service.
The further development of the situation was carried out under the supervision of the FSB of Russia. The coordinates of the location of the cache with FPV drones and instructions on how to commit DTA were received from an employee of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
After the detection of the UAVs and their deactivation, as well as receiving an advance of 20% of the promised monetary reward, communication with foreign intelligence was interrupted.
«As I had predicted in my first article related to Trump’s apparent decision to use the quisling, unelected Syrian “President” Abu Mohammed Al Jolani (Ahmed Al Sharaa rebrand) as a battering ram against the resistance in Lebanon» British journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote in her Substack titled “What did Jolani and Trump agree at the Ankara NATO summit and was Erdogan sweet-talked into alliance?”.
She pointed out two crucial topics:
«The irony is almost beyond satire: Julani and Shibani proudly pose with a signed decree from Donald Trump declaring Syria removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, despite Julani having led Jabhat al-Nusra, an organization long designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. itself and many other governments. If there were ever a definition of geopolitical hypocrisy, this would be it: yesterday’s “terrorist” becomes today’s photo opportunity, not because history changed, but because political interests did» she added confirming our previous investigation about.
«Removing the designation is expected to unlock international trade, allow Syria to reconnect with the global financial system, and attract significant foreign investment, particularly from Gulf states» Beeley added.
Donald Trump, when asked whether he still wants Syria to help address Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon: They could help. We’ll find out. I think we’re making a lot of progress. They could help. They would do a very good job.
When Trump was later asked whether Jolani had made any commitments regarding the Lebanese Resistance during their meeting. Trump responded:
“He did. I am not going to say what he said, but yeah, he was great today”.
In light of all this, the meeting between the American president and the Lebanese president Joseph Aoun becomes very suspicious.
Trump said that the Israeli army is “in the process” of withdrawing troops from Lebanon: “They are in the process of redeploying to other areas.”
Meanwhile, on the battleground, the Lebanese army said Israeli soldiers fired in the vicinity of its troops, who were beginning their deployment to a southern village under an agreement with Israel, whose army said it had fired “warning shots.”
The framework agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon at the end of June provides for the deployment of the Lebanese army in “pilot zones” evacuated by Israel—which occupies a portion of the south of the country it calls a “safe zone”—on the condition that Hezbollah disarms.
The pro-Iranian group opposes the agreement with Israel and refuses to be disarmed due to the hundreds Israeli violations of the numerous truces…
This is why Trump has even asked for help from the Syrian army of the former Al Qaeda terrorist… This prediction by the British journalist was confirmed by a recent article on the Al jazeera TV (link among the sources)….
«Sitting alongside his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun, at the White House on Tuesday, United States President Donald Trump repeated a suggestion that Syria could intervene in Lebanon to “do something with Hezbollah”» the media has reported.
«Despite widespread opposition, Trump has multiple times floated the idea that Syria, under new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, could militarily interfere in the neighbouring country, whose government has come under US and Israeli pressure to disarm the Iran-backed group» Al Jazeera added in a detailed geopolitical analysis.
by Carlo Domenico Cristofori
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On May 3, an unusual procession moved through Washington DC. Several hundred people walked beneath the monuments of the American capital carrying portraits of Red Army soldiers. Children waved Soviet flags. A live orchestra played wartime songs at the World War II memorial. The Russian embassy had filed the permit; the DC Metropolitan Police provided an escort. Russian state media celebrated the event as proof that, with the return of Donald Trump, historical truth too had returned to America.
One organizer told Russian state television: “We love, respect Russia, honor the memory of our heroes.”
Similar marches took place in Paris, Amsterdam and Busan. In Berlin, authorities announced that Soviet flags, Russian symbols and military songs would once again be banned near Soviet war memorials during May 8 and 9 commemorations.
But in Moscow, Victory Day itself appeared haunted by fear.
For decades, May 9 has been Russia’s most sacred annual political ritual, binding victory, patriotism and state power into a single language. But this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was reduced to announcing that the Immortal Regiment march in Moscow would continue only “in electronic format.”
The run up to this year’s Victory Day became the most anxious Moscow has experienced in recent memory. The Kremlin canceled the traditional procession in the Russian capital, moving it online. Military equipment was removed from the parade. Mobile internet access across Moscow was intermittently shut down in the days leading up to May 9. Spectator numbers in St. Petersburg were reportedly slashed from thousands to just a few hundred. The Victory Parade in Kaliningrad was canceled entirely. Russian media outlets published extraordinary reports about Vladimir Putin retreating deeper into protected bunkers amid fears of Ukrainian drone strikes and assassination attempts.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry even warned foreign governments to evacuate diplomats from Kyiv before May 9, threatening massive retaliation if Ukraine targeted the celebrations with drones.
And then came another extraordinary twist. Volodymyr Zelensky publicly “allowed” the parade to proceed. In a deliberately tongue-in-cheek decree issued after negotiations around a temporary ceasefire, the Ukrainian president formally excluded Red Square from Ukraine’s operational strike plans for the duration of the celebrations, even listing the exact geographic coordinates of the square itself.
Watching it all unfold, I kept wondering whether empires collapse more easily than the systems of feeling they create. The Soviet Union fell apart more than 30 years ago, but the architecture built around victory, sacrifice and historical grievance survived it, stretching across borders, diasporas and rival political projects. What began as Soviet myth-making about liberation has evolved into a transnational political language through which governments, activists, diasporas and rival ideological movements compete over legitimacy, victimhood and belonging.
Over the years, at Coda, in our Rewriting History current, we have tracked how the remembrance of World War II became central to Putin’s machinery of legitimacy and repression. Soon after he came to power, Russian public culture became saturated with stories of the Great Patriotic War. Watching Russian state television often felt as if the war had ended yesterday. New films, schoolbooks, drama series, speeches, parades and television specials turned victory into the emotional foundation of Putin’s Russia. Scholars of Russian memory politics have described how, under Putin, collective memory of the war became a tool for claiming legitimacy, discrediting opposition and presenting the Russian state as the eternal defender against fascism.
It resonated because it tapped into genuine emotion passed on for generations. It was never just propaganda. It rested on something real: the scale of Soviet loss and the private grief carried by millions of families.
The Immortal Regiment began in 2012 in the Siberian city of Tomsk as a local act of remembrance. Ordinary people walked through the streets carrying photographs of relatives who died in the war. By 2015, Putin was leading the Moscow procession himself, while state-backed organizations coordinated chapters in dozens of countries. But in Putin’s Russia, where victory had already become the central organizing myth of the state, the boundary between private mourning and political mythology dissolved.
The speed of that transformation still feels important to me. It says something about the way modern political systems absorb private emotion and fold it back into the language of the state.
The Kremlin framed these Victory Day rituals as a defense against what it called Western attempts to “rewrite history” by minimizing the Soviet role in defeating fascism or equating Stalinism with Nazism. Ukraine and many Eastern Europeans came to see the marches instead as vehicles for imperial nostalgia and wartime propaganda.
But the argument, it seems, is no longer only about what happened in the past. It is about who gets to turn memory and grief into political legitimacy in the present.
This year Germany found itself in the extraordinary position of having to ban Soviet flags and military songs near Soviet memorials, effectively regulating the symbolic language of antifascism itself. Historian Timothy Snyder once warned that “if fascists take over the mantle of antifascism, the memory of the Holocaust will itself be altered.” That is precisely the moral and historical dilemma Berlin has now forced into the open. What happens when the symbols of genuine antifascist sacrifice become inseparable from the imagery of an ongoing war? When the flags carried by the soldiers who liberated Auschwitz are also flown at embassy-organized rallies while Russian bombs fall on Kharkiv?
At Coda, we explored some of these tensions years ago, in our documentary “What To Do With Stalin,” which examined the strange afterlife of Stalin’s image across the former Soviet world. While filming in Georgia, we encountered arguments that now feel strikingly familiar: whether remembering Stalin represented patriotism or denial, historical pride or historical amnesia.
Even then, it was obvious these battles were never really about the past.
Putin himself acknowledged as much during this year’s Victory Day speech, describing the war in Ukraine as a “just” continuation of the struggle against fascism and accusing the West of fueling confrontation with Russia “to this day.” Hours later, he suggested the war might finally be over. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” he told reporters.
Victory Day 2026 may ultimately be remembered not for the military parade itself, but for revealing how unstable that memory system has become. Moscow performed triumph while fearing attack. Berlin restricted Soviet symbols in the name of democratic security. Washington hosted embassy-linked Soviet commemorations beneath American monuments.
I was ten years old when the Soviet Union collapsed. For those of us who grew up inside it, the end of the empire felt at once chaotic and exhilarating. Borders opened, old certainties disappeared and ideology lost its grip almost overnight. I still feel fortunate that, as a child, I witnessed an empire built on terror and repression collapse into history.
In the decades that followed, we watched Russia slowly turn the symbols and emotional reflexes of the Soviet system into instruments of political power once again. Victory Day became one of the most potent of these instruments: a ritual that fused together grief, patriotism, historical trauma and state legitimacy into a single, powerful sentiment.
Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, praised what he described as the Trump administration’s dramatically changed attitude toward Victory Day commemorations. The holiday, he said, now played “an unequivocally positive role” in Russia-US relations. He pointed specifically to the marches held in the center of Washington, DC.
But the more I think about this year’s Victory Day, the less it feels like a story about Russia alone. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many of us assumed its emotional architecture would disappear with it. Instead, parts of it were patiently cultivated and repurposed for a new era by the men in charge of Putin’s Russia.
The emotional logic that once underpinned the Soviet system no longer belongs only to Russia and the shattered geography of its former empire. Grievances, historical trauma and rituals of belonging now shape political life all around the world. Digital networks and algorithmic systems did not create these emotional impulses, but they amplified them at a scale the Soviet state could only dream of. Perhaps that is the true afterlife of an empire: not the survival of its borders or ideology, but of the emotional systems it builds to organize fear, belonging and historical destiny.
Additional research by Masho Lomashvili and Irina Matchavariani
Sophiko Vasadze
Masho Lomashvili
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