Lithuanian Defense company Granta Autonomy announced a new model of loitering munition called the X-Wing. They said that the drone was tested this spring and has been delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for additional testing in real-world use. They expect to produce "several hundred" drones per month, starting at the beginning of 2026. The X-Wing is capable of vertical takeoff or landing, it has a range of 50km, it is designed to strike either soft or hard targets and radar, it should only cost about €10,000, has a daytime and thermal camera produced by Granta, it can operate in GNSS denied environments, has a fragmentation warhead, and the guidance system incorporates AI. They plan to extend the operational range beyond 50km.

 

Ukraine will receive more than 150 TheMIS tracked ground drones funded by the Netherlands. The manufacturer of these drones, Milrem, will produce them at their plant in Born, which has a scalable assembly line that can be expanded to increase production to meet orders. Ukraine has at least 15 of these drones already. The drones have a max speed of 25 km/h and a max payload of 1,200 kg. They can be used to transport supplies and wounded, and weapon systems can be mounted on them.

 

The UK plans to produce 2,000 interceptor drones per month for Ukraine. This is part of a joint Ukrainian-British project called OCTOPUS. The drone was developed in Ukraine by British scientists and technicians and has been successfully tested on the battlefield. Negotiations are underway, but according to a British official, production may begin "very soon." The drones will initially be manufactured in the UK, and their design is flexible to allow for changes to meet new challenges and developments.

 

Thales Belgium plans to produce approximately 3,500 FZ275 LGR 70mm anti-drone missiles by the end of this year. The company expects to increase annual production capacity to 10,000 missiles in 2026. Ukraine is already using these missiles. Business Insider journalists visited Thales Belgium and reported the manufacturer's production plans.

The missiles are equipped with the FZ123 anti-drone warhead, which was presented at the Eurosatory defense exhibition last year. The FZ123 warhead contains thousands of small steel balls that disperse after detonating a nearly one-kilogram charge. The kill zone reaches 25 meters in diameter, which is sufficient to destroy Shahed drones. The fragments can hit targets at greater distances due to a shotgun-like operating principle. The missile has a range of approximately 3 kilometers.

 

A survey by the Ukrainian Council of Defense Industry reports that 94.4% of Ukrainian defense manufacturers are ready to begin exporting products. Ukrainian defense companies can produce far more than Ukraine can afford to purchase. International deals are necessary to avoid downtime, fund purchases for the Ukrainian military, avoid the loss of skilled employees, including engineering teams, reduce the cost of production, and allow continued growth in the defense sector.

President Zelenskyy stated that 40% of the weapons used by Ukrainian forces are produced by Ukraine. This number is expected to reach 50% by the end of the year. He added that Ukraine makes 40 Bohdana artillery systems per month. This probably counts both self-propelled and towed variants. Ukraine can actually produce the guns faster than its partners can produce the vehicles, so the surplus production is used to create towed artillery pieces. In March of 2025, Ukraine was reportedly building 20+ per month; in April, it was reported that the number produced was 36 per month. The production process is spread out, not taking place entirely in one location for safety purposes. Some of the manufacturing is done outside the country. The price of a self-propelled Bohdana is €2.3-2.8 million, depending on the chassis.

 

The Turkish drone company, Baykar, which produces the Bayraktar drone, has begun flight testing the third prototype of its Kizilelma drone. The drone was armed with a 250 kg Mk. 82 bomb equipped with a TEBER-82 guidance kit, similar to a JDAM. The drone is powered by a new, Ukrainian-made engine. The AI-322F engine has an afterburner. During the third test flight, the drone hit MACH 0.6. This new engine is reportedly more powerful and can push the drone to even higher speeds.

 

Footage was published of Ukrainian FP-1 drones attacking the Matveev Kurgan oil depot in the Rostov region on October 9. The strike was successful, with multiple videos showing thick black smoke rising from the facility. The local Russian governor announced that 3 drones were intercepted by air defenses. The Daily Hog staff reviewed numerous videos of the attack, and the only air defenses observed were men with rifles.

 

Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk stated that Ukraine launched more than 50 strikes against Russia over the past year using Neptune missiles. Recently, it was reported that Ukraine struck Russia's Electrodetal plant with 4 Neptunes on the night of September 29.

 

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense showed off a new variant of the Neptune missile. The new missile has unusual bulges on the side; these are believed to house additional fuel tanks for extended range. Interestingly, another variant was unveiled in August, the so-called Long Neptune, which is longer and larger diameter than the original, to enable it to house additional fuel and a larger warhead.

 

President Zelenskyy announced that Neptune and Flamingo cruise missiles were successfully used at the same time during a strike on Russia. Zelenskyy also stated that the Ukrainian Ruta drone missile was successfully used to strike an offshore oil rig for the first time. HE said that it hit the offshore rig at a range of 250+ km. Neither the date of the strike nor information regarding which rig was targeted was provided. The manufacturer of the Ruta claims that it has a cruising speed of 0.8 Mach and a maximum range of 500 km. Zelenskyy also stated that Ukraine has begun to fire Palianytsia drone missiles at Russian military depots. He said that there have been "dozens" of strikes on Russian military depots using the Palianytsia. The Palianytsia has a 100kg warhead, a range of 650 km, a maximum speed of 900 km/h, and flies at altitudes of 15-500 meters.

 

Fires were reported on the night of October 9 at a gas processing plant at the Efimovka oil pumping station in the city of Kotova in the Volgograd region. Fires were also detected at the Efimovka Linear Production Dispatch Station, which is part of the Kuybyshev-Tikhoretsk oil pipeline, which Russia uses to export oil through the port in Novorossiysk. Additionally, fires were reported at the Lukoil-Korobovsky Gas Processing Plant, which is the largest natural gas processing plant in the Southern Federal District of Russia. It is able to produce about 450 million cubic meters of gas feedstock per year. The plant produces liquefied gases and gasoline, much of which is exported. Russia claims to have shot down 19 drones on the night of the 9th, 9 of which were shot down over Volgograd Oblast.

 

Ukraine struck the Bashnafta-UNPZ refinery in Ufa in the Bashkortostan Republic on October 11. Several explosions were reported, and a fire broke out in the area of the ELOU-AVT6 crude-oil processing unit. The refinery is one of the largest suppliers of fuel and lubricants to the Russian military. The Russian government claims they downed 11 Ukrainian drones in the Bashkortostan region on the 11th. The refinery is about 1,400 km from the front lines and is the 4th strike that Ukraine has launched in the region in the past month. The previous two attacks targeted the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat petrochemical plant on September 18 and 24. These 3 attacks were launched by the SBU. Ukraine's GUR launched the other attack on September 12, which targeted the Bashneft-Novoyl refinery in Ufa. According to Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi, Russia has lost 21% of its refining capacity.

 

It has been reported that Russia has begun arming Shahed drones with airburst warheads. These new warheads weigh about 50kg and use a LiDAR sensor to allow detonation at a predetermined altitude/distance from the target. This development allows shaheds to better target things protected by anti-drone netting and may cause a wider area of blast damage; less explosive force will be directed into specific objects and instead will spread outward more readily. This puts people, property, and vehicles at potentially greater risk.

One of the airburst rounds. You can see the ball bearings used as striking elements/fragments when it explodes, turning it into something like a massive shotgun shell.

 

Russia has also begun to experiment with putting incendiary fluids in its shahed warheads. At least one shahed has been discovered with a 90 kg incendiary warhead containing a napalm-like mixture. These warheads use an OFBCH-2 as a detonator, and additional tanks filled with an incendiary are fitted into the fuselage. The mixture adheres to surfaces and burns at 1,500–2,000 °C, causing severe burns, toxic fumes, and large, hard-to-extinguish fires. Analysts believe this is likely a local field modification, as the warhead construction appears crude, the detonator is nonstandard, and the chemical mixture's composition remains unverified. It could be a Styrofoam and high-octane gasoline mixture that creates a napalm-like substance.

The only photograph Daily Hog staff could find showing the "napalm" like substance. It is an interesting, deep red color that may give some clue as to what its composition is.

 

It has been reported that Russian anti-drone units are using commercially available Chinese radars to detect and destroy Ukrainian drones. Radars with detection ranges of 5, 10, and 20km are available from Chinese websites like Aliexpress. They can cost up to a quarter million dollars. The Russian 11th Army Corps has a display of Ukrainian drones shot down with the help of the Chinese radars. These drones include the Leleka-100M2, the MiniShark-D, Vector, Heavy Shot, Darts, and Distractor.

Ukrainian milblogger Dronbomber reported on the use of Chinese-made radars, saying Russia has improved its drone interception rate because of adopting large numbers of Chinese radars, specifically compact systems from Zhejiang Fanshuang Technology. The FSTH-LD03 operates in the X-band frequency range of 8–12 GHz and can detect small targets at ranges up to 15 kilometers with positioning accuracy of approximately 10 meters. The FSTH-LD02 operates in the Ku-band frequency range of 12–18 GHz and offers accuracy down to approximately 5 meters at ranges up to 10 kilometers. These digital phased array radars enable Russia to create a dense detection network for small UAVs.

Russian interceptor drones, including Yelka, Arkhangel, and Skvorets PVO, require accurate target coordinates and azimuth data to function. The Chinese radars provide reliable targeting of small objects at 10–15 kilometers with meter-level accuracy, which reduces the interceptors' search time and guides them to where their autopilot systems execute the final attack. Without this radar coverage, the interceptor drones would be ineffective.

Reports in recent months show an increase in interceptions in border regions where these systems are deployed, specifically Rostov, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Bryansk oblasts. Reports of dozens of shot-down drones in these areas indicate most of these compact radars are located there. Countering this requires disrupting radar nodes, complicating coordinate data flow, improving the stealth characteristics of Ukrainian drones, and using tactics including decoys and radio or optical diversions.

 

Russia is building anti-drone structures at its nuclear weapons test site in Novaya Zemlya. This location is more than 2,500 km from Ukraine. Fuel storage tanks at the site have been given cages or nets to protect them from drones. These tanks are gasoline storage tanks. There are additional tanks meant for storing heating oil, which are not protected, as of August.

 

Laser rangefinders produced by the South African company LightWare Optoelectronics Ltd have been found in Russian Harpy-A1 kamikaze drones. They are apparently used to determine the distance from a target and initiate the detonation of the drone's warhead. The Harpy-A1 is very similar to a shahed and is manufactured at the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant, AKA IEMZ Kupol. The manufacturer claims that the equipment is not listed as a type of military good, so it doesn't require a special license. They claim they were not purchased directly by Russia. The South African government has announced an investigation into how they got inside Russian drones. South African law prevents companies from selling military equipment to countries involved in an active conflict without government approval.

 

The Black Mirror Hackers also published information on Russia's new 1RL257 Krasukha-4 electronic warfare system, including photographs of the system, components, and the manufacturing facility. Not much is publicly known about the system, but the Russians claim it has an effective range of up to 300 km. The system consists of 2 cargo vehicles. One of the vehicles has a telescoping antenna on a mast. The other has another set of antennas, including 3 rotating parabolic dishes. The systems are being manufactured at the Bryansk Electromechanical Plant, about 120 km from the border of Ukraine.

 

Russia has used weapons intended for export to Kazakhstan and Egypt against Ukraine. In November 2022, the Russian MoD requisitioned 50 UPAB-1500 bombs from a warehouse that had been manufactured for Kazakhstan. The next month, an additional 27 were planned to be delivered to the Russian military. These bombs weigh 1,500kg and have a range of up to 50km. They are often dropped by Su-34s. In March 2024, it was reported by a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman that a Su-34 was shot down, and it was "likely" trying to drop one of these bombs.

In addition to these bombs, the Russian military requisitioned 4 L-265M10-02 Khibiny-M electronic countermeasure systems. These were already purchased and "accepted" by Egypt; Egypt was waiting for them to be delivered. The L-265M10-02 Khibiny-Ms were mounted on Russian aircraft to help protect them from Ukrainian air defense systems. Reportedly, the L-265M10-02 Khibiny-M can be used to jam radars and protect aircraft from AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. The deal Russia made with Iran, where it would exchange Su-35s for Shaheds and Shahed production capacity, included 24 L-265M10-02 Khibiny-M countermeasure systems.

Apparently, there is additionally a memo that was acquired, which showed the L-420-02 Khibiny- U electronic countermeasure system failed its tests because the planes meant to be used in their testing were redeployed to participate in the war against Ukraine.

 

Black Mirror hackers have also published documents showing that the Zhuk-ME radars that Russia has provided to India, which are installed on India's MiG-29Ks and MiG-20KUB fighter jets, have consistently been unreliable and that Russia has failed to meet its contractual obligations. Contractually, the radars are required to last 150 flight hours without failing and 120 hours before defects. In 2016, India recorded that failures occurred after only 20 flight hours, and defects were detected after only 97 hours. By 2017, defects were popping up after 60 hours. The radars continued to be unreliable for years. In the March-July 2018 timeframe, India noted multiple breakdowns and delays in getting them repaired. India demanded that the radars be redesigned at Russia's expense, which they apparently did, but India's Navy reportedly continued to remain skeptical of the radars.

 

Ukraine's I Want To Live project obtained Russian documents and published data showing that Russia's military has lost 281,550 people since the start of the year. This includes killed, wounded, and missing. They reported that Russia's Center group, which is fighting on the Lyman and Pokrovsk front, is facing the worst of the casualties. The Center group has lost 96,500 casualties, of these, 27,500 were killed. The Northern military group suffered the second-most losses. They operate in the Kharkiv and Sumy area and have taken 53,500 losses. The Dnipro group has "only" lost 13,5000 so far this year; they are the most fortunate of Russia's army groups.

 

Reuters reported that many of Russia's largest industrial employers have been putting their workers on furlough or firing them as the economy cools down, domestic demand dwindles, and exports are decreasing. Reuters discovered 6 major companies that are undergoing this downsizing to reduce wages without increasing Russia's unemployment rate. Russia's biggest cement maker, Cemros, will have 4-day work weeks until the end of the year as Russia's construction industry contracts, and cement imports from China, Belarus, and Iran have begun to rise. Cemros wants to try to keep all 13,000 employees in its 18 plants. A spokesman for the company said that Russia's cement usage is expected to drop down to the levels it dropped to during the COVID pandemic.

Russian Railways employs 700,000 people, and has asked employees to take 3 extra unpaid days off each month, on top of normal holidays and non-working days. The successes and failures of Russian Railways is seen by some as an indicator of the Russian economy as a whole, and this year, the company's profits are shrinking as shipments of coal, metals, and oil decline.

The Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) employs 20,000 people. Kamaz, another automobile manufacturer, employs 30,000 people. Both of these companies moved to a 4-day work week back in August. Avtovaz, Russia's biggest automobile company, moved to a 4-day work week on September 29; a company spokeswoman said the company returned to a 5-day work week in October.

Alrosa, the biggest producer of uncut diamonds in the whole world, cut the pay of all employees except for the miners by 10%, partially by shortening the work week. The company halted work at the least profitable diamond deposits back in the spring and summer. Alrosa told Reuters they want to minimize layoffs, but some employees have been fired.

Reuters reports staff, work days, and production have been reduced in the metals, mining, timber, and coal industries. These industries are often the largest employers in many regions, meaning their struggles ripple outwards to all corners of Russian society in the eastern regions.

Sveza, one of Russia's bigger paper and timber companies, shut down a plywood mill in Tyumen in September due to a decline in demand for furniture. More than 300 people were laid off.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Putin in April that 30 coal companies, which employ about 15,000 workers and produce 30 million metric tons of coal annually, were at risk of bankruptcy. The Kuznetsk Basin in Siberia has some of the largest coal deposits in the world. In September, 18 out of 151 coal companies working in this area failed. 19,000 coal workers lost their jobs in the first half of 2025. Mechel, one of Russia's biggest coal mining companies, reported that things continued to deteriorate in August, and they shut down mines and operations that were not profitable and laid off employees over the summer. Some coal miners have reported having their salaries cut. One coal miner said, "Wages have been cut everywhere, absolutely everywhere in the Kuznetsk Basin. They say it is the crisis: coal isn't in demand."

The Financial Times says that 23 coal companies have gone bankrupt, and 53 more are teetering on the edge. Overall, Russia's coal industry lost $2.8 billion in the first 7 months of the year. Coal is used more heavily in the eastern parts of Russia than gas is, and a collapsing industry may make it difficult for people to heat their homes. The coal industry employs more than 140,000 people. In some Oblasts, the coal industry is the source of 40% of the tax revenue.

Uralvagonzavod, a manufacturer of Russian tanks and railcars, is moving its staff who work on civilian-sector projects to a 4-day work week. The company described the decrease in demand for its products as a "temporary fluctuation in the railcar market." The volume of freight shipped by rail in Russia has decreased by about 6.7% in the January-September timeframe as compared to the previous year.

Russia is considering a moratorium on bankruptcies in the metal industries. The metals industries have not begun to adopt 4-day work weeks yet, but they have begun laying off staff seen as non-essential. One Reuters source said the industry is overstaffed, but they are worried about mass firings, and that a 4-day work week would be preferable.

By the end of August, salary arrears, or unpaid wages/compensation that an employee is owed for work that has already been completed, increased to 3.3 times what they were in the previous year, rising to 1.64 billion rubles. In essence, Russian employers owe 1.64 billion rubles in unpaid wages to employees.

Russia's Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting said that non-defense industry sectors of the Russian economy shrank by 5.4% since the start of the year. They predict a 1% growth in Russia's GDP, at best. Russia's GDP is currently $2.2 trillion, the same size it was in 2013. Russia's GDP growth in 2023 was 4.1% and it was 4.3% in 2024. Russia's unemployment rate has dropped to 2.1%. Putin claims the economy is not struggling; it is intentionally being slowed down to limit inflation, which is expected to be 6.8% for this year.

 

For the first time since the start of the full-scale invasion, the European Commission has permitted Ukraine to use EU financial aid to fund its defense directly. This comes as Ukraine is increasing its defense budget by $8.1 billion. $5.2 billion will go to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and $2.5 billion will be earmarked for the production and procurement of arms. The rest will go to funding other Ukrainian security agencies, including its National Guard, the DUI, the State Border Guard Service, and the Foreign Intelligence Service. $6.5 billion of this additional funding will be paid for with financial assistance from the EU. $4.3 billion has already been transferred to the National Bank, and by the end of the year, another $2.2 billion will be transferred. Troop salaries, drones, ammunition, and weapons will be funded directly with EU money.

 

The Greek government is providing Ukraine with a new military aid package. The package includes 60 M110A2 203mm self-propelled howitzers and 150,000 shells for them. More specifically, it includes 50,000 M106 shells, 40,000 M650 HERA shells, 30,000 M404 ICM shells, and 30,000 M509A1 DPICM shells. These last 2 varieties are cluster munition shells, with the M509A1 containing about 180 submunitions capable of damaging armor and personnel. The aid package will also include thousands of 70mm and 127mm Zuni rockets. Greece has officially classified this equipment as "non-operationally necessary," and is "outdated" and does not "meet the current requirements" of the Greek military. The aid package is worth about €200 million. The M110A2 has a range of up to 30km, using the HERA rocket-assisted shells. 203Mm shells weigh over 100kg and were designed to destroy fortifications, bunkers, command posts, and other hardened targets.

 

Slovakia will provide Ukraine with its 14th package of aid. This is the first package since October 2023. The package includes engineering, demining, and medical equipment. Ukraine will receive 5 Bozena remotely operated demining vehicles, as well as additional equipment. All of the equipment in this package is non-lethal and can be considered humanitarian aid. The Bozena is already in use in Ukraine and functions similarly to a tiller, tearing up the ground in front of it, shredding, and detonating explosives. Ukraine and Slovakia will discuss broadening their military cooperation as well.

 

Poland's Ministry of National Defense has published information on the military equipment Poland has supplied to Ukraine. In the 2022-2024 timeframe, Poland donated 318 tanks to Ukraine, which include T-72Ms, T-72M1Rs, PT-91s, and Leopard 2s. These tank donations make Poland the number 1 donor of tanks to Ukraine. Alongside the tanks, Poland has donated 586 armored vehicles, 137 artillery pieces, 10 Mi-24 helicopters, 10 MiG-29 fighter jets, 287 MANPADS, 44 air-to-air missiles, more than 100 small arms, 89 mortars, 4 BM-21 Grad MLRS, and more than 100 million rounds of ammunition. By March of 2025, the total value of the military aid, including equipment, training, logistics, repairs, and medical support, was worth about $4.2 billion. On top of that, Poland has provided at least 19,500 Starlink terminals, which is roughly half of all the Starlink terminals that Ukraine owned by the end of 2023. 

In addition to this aid, Ukraine bought 2.216 billion worth of military equipment from Poland. This includes 54 Krab self-propelled guns, of which 36 have been delivered, with the rest still in production. Ukraine also purchased 60 MTLBS, 92 2C1 Gvodzika self-propelled guns, 89 82mm mortars, 22 M74 120mm mortars, 19 AMZ DZIK armored vehicles, 2 BRDM-2, and tens of thousands of small arms.

 

German defense company Rheinmetall announced that Ukraine will receive Skyranger 35 air defense systems. The purchase will be funded using frozen Russian assets. The deal reportedly costs "hundreds of millions of euros." The Skyranger 35 is basically the modern version of the Gepard. It is a GDM-008 35mm auto cannon mounted on the Leopard 1 tank chassis. The gun is capable of firing about 1,000 rounds per minute, but the system is usually armed with only 252 rounds. However, it is capable of firing modern projectiles, including programmable airburst rounds that explode in proximity to the target, showering it in a spray of fragments. The gun has an effective range of about 4,000 meters and can also be used against ground targets, so even low-flying drones may be targeted. The Skyranger also has its own radar, an AMMR multi-role S-band radar which provides 360-degree coverage. Additionally, it has a FIRST target-acquisition system that can passively detect small, low-observable objects.

 

It has been reported that Ukraine's F-16s carry out 80% of all of the combat sorties the Ukrainian Air Force flies, including missions to intercept Russian missiles and drones.

 

The US plans to produce 400 Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) annually. These are ballistic missiles that are intended to replace the ATACMS missile, which is being decommissioned. The US Army expects to receive 1,296 PrSM missiles from 2025-2029. The PrSM has a range of up to 650 km and is mostly intended for hitting stationary targets; however, there is a version called "Increment 2" which has a homing warhead that can hit moving targets.

 

During a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Dushanbe, Putin somewhat admitted that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that was shot down in December 2024 was, in fact, shot down by Russia. He claimed that the air defenses were tracking Ukrainian drones, fired upon them, and what brought the plane down was debris, and not combat elements." He also stated that maybe the air defense system was malfunctioning and accidentally fired the missiles that brought down the Embraer 190. The plane was downed by a Russian Pantsir crew as the plane was flying from Grozny to Baku. After the plane was hit, it was forbidden from landing at any nearby Russian airports, so it diverted to Kazakhstan, crashing before reaching its destination. Putin claimed that the crew was offered the opportunity to land at Makhachkala, but the crew decided to fly to Kazakhstan on their own. 38 people were killed and 29 survived.

 

Ukraine's Security Service reported that an assassination attempt on President Zelenskyy at Rzeszów Airport in April of 2024 was foiled with the help of Polish intelligence. Polish citizen Pavel K. was recruited decades ago and planned to kill Zelensky with a sniper rifle or FPV drone. The Security Service of Ukraine and Poland's Internal Security Agency prevented the attack. In a separate incident in May 2024, two Ukrainian State Security Administration colonels working for Russia's FSB planned to assassinate Zelensky while on the way to the President's Office. The plan included tracking his movements and helping coordinate missile strikes, followed by drone attacks to finish off any survivors. One of the would-be assassins brought FPV drones, RPG-7 grenades, and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv.

 

Reuters published a document from the US State Department that claims that up to 5,000 Cubans are fighting in Ukraine as part of the Russian armed forces. Other media outlets have managed to identify dozens of Cubans fighting on Russia's behalf. Not all of them end up in the military intentionally, however. Some have reported going to Russia for tourism and end up in the military. They are reportedly offered a salary of $2,000 per month for a year.

The Cuban government has denied that Cuban citizens are fighting on behalf of Russia with the government's approval, and Cuba claims that they are working to criminally charge Cubans engaging in mercenarism. They say that between 2023-2025, 40 defendants have been charged with being mercenaries. So far, 26 have been convicted, with prison sentences ranging from 5-14 years. The Cuban government said it did not know how many of its people were fighting for Russia, but it has a "zero tolerance [policy] for mercenarism, trafficking in persons and the participation of its nationals in any armed confrontation in another country."

 

According to General Paul Tedman, the head of the UK's Space Command, Russia tries to interfere with British military satellites every week. According to Tedman, they use ground-based jamming and sometimes bring their own spacecraft close to the UK's satellites. He said Russian satellites "fly very close" and gather data. He said this activity has increased since the start of the full-scale invasion.

 

The European Union is beginning an investigation into Hungarian espionage operations. In the 2012-2018 timeframe, the Hungarians attempted to recruit Hungarians working for the EU, but the security of this operation was so lax that the plot was uncovered and the entire network was dismantled. Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claimed he was unaware of any such espionage and that there was no reason to believe that Hungary is increasingly seen as a country with mixed loyalty to various geopolitical factions.

 

Serbia was working with a Russian company called Russian Helicopters to modernize its fleet of 11 Mi-35P helicopters it had just gotten from Cyprus. This was revealed in documents that were leaked by a hacking group known as Black Mirror. The Serbs wanted to install the President-S missile defense systems on their helicopters. The first stage of this modernization would involve 4 helicopters and cost an estimated €12.6 million. The modernization process would last from 2024-2026 and would take place in Serbia. In September 2024, it was reported that the first 6 of the Cypriot helicopters were repaired and were ready for military service, but none of these seem to have had the President-S system installed. The project may have been canceled entirely, as the head of the Serbian General Staff announced that several defense-related contracts with Russia were being canceled, some of which were canceled, in his words, due to it being impossible for Russia to deliver what was promised in the contract.

 

It was reported that Taiwan and India were the primary importers of Russian-produced Naphtha in August. Naphtha is a solvent which has its own uses, but is also used as a feedstock for other petro products which can be used to produce many things, including plastics, synthetic esinss, synthetic fibers, and other chemicals, including olefins and aromatics. Imports to Taiwan doubled, month-over-month, but the government said that its refineries are willing to stop importing Russian naphtha if the EU asks them to stop. State-owned companies stopped importing Russian petro products back in 2023, but privately owned ones continue their imports. Aside from Taiwan and India, the other top importers were China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Turkey.

 

The Commander in Chief of the Romanian Army, Gheorghe Vlad, stated that Romania is ready to assist Moldova against Russian aggression. Many Moldovans hold dual citizenship with Romania, the countries are closely linked, and there has long been a movement to unite the countries into one state. Romania's military does not believe a direct attack on Romania is likely, but Russia does engage in hybrid warfare with the country. Russia has had 1,000-1,500 troops stationed in Transnistria, a pseudo-breakaway region on the border of Moldova and Ukraine, since the early 1990s. The only way for Russia to currently commit aggression against Moldova is with these troops stationed in Transnistria. Romania's military, while small, is substantially larger and more powerful than Transnistria's forces. Romania has, among other equipment, M270s, ATACMS missiles, JDAMS, and F-16s. Transnistria has some helicopters that may fly, modified civilian vehicles, ancient, poorly maintained light armored vehicles, a small number of tanks, and one radar.

 

The US and Finland have come to an agreement in regards to building icebreaking ships for the US Coast Guard. These ships will help regular Navy ships navigate the icy waters near the North Pole and deter Russian aggression in the region. The deal reportedly involves Finland building 4 medium-sized icebreakers at shipyards in Finland, and the US building 7 additional similar ships in the US. The deal is expected to cost around $6.1 billion.

 

Sweden will invest $367 million in counter-drone capabilities in the 2026-2028 timeframe. This includes systems to shoot down drones, drone protection systems for air bases, and man-portable and vehicle-mounted electronic warfare systems. Additionally, Sweden will invest about $158 million to improve its aviation capabilities. This includes the purchase of spare parts, equipment, and materials.

 

Ukraine's Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has adopted the draft law No. 12349, which creates a Cyber Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a special branch of the military with a focus on handling cyber threats to Ukraine and carrying out cyber attacks against Ukraine's enemies. It will operate under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Cyber Forces will also work with NATO and other allies to help counter common threats. The Cyber Forces will be able to form contracts with civilians who have specialized skills the Cyber Forces need.

 

On October 9, a part of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline was damaged by Russian artillery fire. This is a pipeline that transports liquid ammonia. The pipeline has been shut down since 2014, but a quantity remained in the pipes. Ammonia fumes were released, and troops in the area took precautions. Air quality is being monitored by drones. It is not expected that this pipeline damage will negatively impact the Ukrainian military's operations. Ukrainian officials state that no lives are in danger, and at worst, people will detect an odor, and it is enough to just shut your windows and limit your time outside.

Quote of the Day: 
“Hedgehogs is more.” 
— Ludwig Mies van der Rohe