🌕 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 The Pentagon must prepare for battles around the moon: Joint Chiefs chair

Days after orbital weapons were revealed, Gen. Dan Caine ups the scope of the military’s desired reach.

“Our task, my friends, is to adapt right now, so the Joint Force is prepared to fight, endure, and win, in global contested environments, from the seabed to cislunar space,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told airmen, guardians, and industry figures during his keynote address at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.

Caine pointed to recent comments made about orbital weapons by the Air Force secretary and the Space Force’s chief of space operations. Top space force officials have been hesitant to provide more details on how they would operate in that domain and how they’d responsibly use space weapons in future conflicts.

While top Space Force officials have provided few details about how U.S. forces would fight between the Earth and its moon, they have been vocal about adding sensors and capabilities to watch adversary movements there. Aaron Brynildson, a space law professor at the University of Mississippi said it’s understandable why the military would want to increase awareness within that region.

“There’s a fear that recent Chinese activity on the moon and in cislunar space might outpace the United States,” Brynildson said. “China has a relay satellite in cislunar space and is performing robotic missions on the far side of the moon.”

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which the U.S. signed, outlaws certain military behaviors on the Moon and states that it shall be used “exclusively for peaceful purposes.”

“Our adversaries, our potential adversaries, such as the PRC, are actively pursuing activities in the cislunar parts of space. So that's sort of the expansion, if you will, of I would say the end zone, if you will, in the football game,” he said.

“The United States Space Force will continue to execute safe and responsible space operations in all regions of space and in all orbits,” he said.

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2026/09/pentagon-battles-moon-joint-chiefs-chairman/416021/?oref=d1-category-lander-top-story

🇸🇦🇾🇪⚡️ — Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors as its conflict with Yemen’s Houthis (Ansarallah) continues, prompting Riyadh to seek additional air defense assistance from regional and Western allies, AP reports.

Saudi Arabia has asked France, Britain, Pakistan, and Egypt to deploy air-defense support to help protect the kingdom.

The requests come as Saudi Arabia’s main military supplier, the U.S., is also facing depleted interceptor stocks after six months of war with Iran.

🇺🇦⚔️🇷🇺 Situation on the Krasny Lyman direction, Donetsk Oblast:

Over the last two weeks, Ukrainian forces continued their counteroffensive north of Lyman, and have made additional tactically important advances, crossing into LuGansk Oblast and coming close to eliminating the Russian bridgehead over the Zherebets river.

In the north, after recapturing the village of Grekovka, Ukrainian forces continued to advance deeper into Lugansk Oblast, pushing southeast down a tributary of the Zherebets River and each into the forests west of Makeevka, working to push the remaining Russian forces out of their strongpoints between Grekovka and Makeevka. Simultaneously, other assault groups were able to break through Russian lines east of Novomikhailovka, entering a number of forested areas along the Donetsk-Lugansk regional border, prompting Russia to retreat from the newly formed salient southwest of Grekovka. The loss of these forward positions has allowed Ukraine to begin supporting their push east of Grekovka by attacking in an easterly direction from the Novomikhailovka area, entering advancing towards the village of Balka Zhuravka (formerly called Nevske).

The advance on Balka Zhuravka is taking place from both the northwest and west. From the west, Ukrainian assault groups consolidated in the forests east of Katerinovka and broke through to the larger forests northwest of Novolyubovka, which they are now storming from multiple directions. This has allowed some Ukrainian DRG groups to cross the Zherebets River via Novolyubovka and begin operating in the area of Balka Zhuravka and Terny, east of the river.

To the south, Ukrainian forces continued advancing down the gulley stretching southeast from Katerynovka to Novosadovoe, reaching the Zherebets River at a new point, and beginning fighting for the forested areas north of Ivanovka. Other assault groups managed to capture a series of strongpoints in the forests west of Ivanovka and are now working to isolate the remaining Russian formations entrenched along the western bank of the Zherebets River.

Further south, the Ukrainians entrenched in the western part of Kolodezi and have almost cleared the rest of the village. Other assault groups broke through Russian defences east of Stavky, penetrating northeast for over 5 kilometres, recapturing the village of Mirnoe. Clearing operations against the remaining scattered Russian positions outside Kolodezi are ongoing in order to begin the final assault south of Ivanovka. Additionally, following weeks of attacks, Ukrainian forces managed to establish a foothold in northwestern Zarechnoe (formerly known as Kirovsk), which they are now using to try infiltrate across the Zherebets River into the Torskoe Fish Farm, and south towards the centre of Zarechnoe (Kirovsk), where they are facing fierce resistance from Russian defenders.

To the southwest, Ukrainian forces launched a new series of counterattacks closer to Krasny Lyman itself, where they managed to clear the fields south of Stavky and gain a foothold in the western part of the large Pinkov Gulley. From here, they are infiltrating east along the forests in the gulley, attempting to reach the western part of Zarechnoe (Kirovsk). This is being supported by additional attacks into the forests north of the gulley. Additionally, the Russian infiltrators in the northern part of Krasny Lyman were finally cleared, allowing Ukraine to re-establish control over the remaining fields north of the city as well, further pushing the Russians away from the city limits.

Further south, Ukrainian assault groups cleared the earlier Russian infiltrations into the area of the highway south of Krasny Lyman and initiated new counterattacks towards the Krasny Lyman-Seversk Highway, which they were able to reach from the direction of Brusovka and Dibrova. Heavy fighting continues for the Ozyornoe area and the strongpoints along the highway southwest of Yampol, without any major changes in the frontline.

🔗 AMK Mapping

🇺🇸❌🇪🇺 Trump threatened heavy tariffs on Europe if the EU grants Canada “associate member” status, calling the proposal a potential “hostile act.” He also suggested Washington could halt trade with Europe in some sectors, while calling Canada a “terrible trade partner.”

Canada is not seeking full EU membership. It wants a closer partnership as it reduces reliance on the U.S., which buys 70% of its exports. Canada has already joined the EU’s SAFE defense program.

Trump's fickle nature and habit of backstabbing his partners led Canadian PM, Mark Carney, to seek new trade partners and reduce Ottawa's exposure to the whims of the American president.

@CIG_telegram

🇨🇳❌🇺🇸 The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Beijing will not abide by the new Russia sanctions that were passed by Congress yesterday.

The spokesman of the Chinese MFA stated:

Economic and trade cooperation between China and other countries does not target any third party and shall be free from disruption or coercion from any third party. China opposes long-arm jurisdiction and unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and lack UN Security Council mandate.

🔗 China MFA Spokesman

🇪🇺🎙 President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed her priorities for the next year during the yearly State of the Union Address

Despite promising two years ago that she would find solutions and reduce the size of the EU's administrative apparatus and eliminate regulations, VDL announced the creation of a dozen new departments/agencies tasked with managing even more aspects of the daily lives of European citizens and take away more powers from national governments and hundreds of new rules and regulations to combat the effects of climate change even going as far as to promise that the 2026 European heatwave and wildfire season will not be repeated again.

The EU bureaucracy and red tape will further be expanded by plans for a EU wide security strategy, a new water management initiative, a new EU framework for crisis response & management, a new labour law, a "digital equity act" and an internet censorship body overseeing the implementation age-verification and content restrictions for certain demographics by social media companies (KIDS Act) which forbids the creation of social media accounts for children below the age of 12, limited use social media accounts for teenagers 13-15 and supervised social media access with full accessibility for teenagers 16-18.

VDL is still going ahead with the plan to mirror NATO and plans to create a European Security Council with the UK, Norway, Canada and Ukraine included as members but its duties are left vague. In addition to that, the VDL wants a EU-wide "article 4 of the NATO treaty" in which a member state can call for emergency consultations with the rest of the EU and decide on a joint-response to the threat.

In the wake of the U.S-Canada trade war, VDL wants to create the "Associate Member" title that may be given to certain friendly countries. The position carries a lot of benefits but its unclear how will it be made compatible with the EU's founding treaties.

Stuck in a trade war with China, the EU plans to create a "European Corporation on Critical Raw Materials" that will reduce dependency on China. Details on where the raw materials will be sourced from, where will they be processed, the funding for the extraction and processing of said materials and a timeline for it are not given by the president of the European Commission.

Ukraine will continue to receive billions in free money. Ursula acknowledged a problem with the U.S. monopoly on anti-missile defense systems like the MIM-104 Patriot system and promised again to break this monopoly and create a cheaper European alternative, a promise that has been made several times in the past years but which has not materialised nor is it close to becoming a reality.

📝: Ursula VDL is not following the advice of Mario Draghi and is adding more red tape and bureaucrats to its ranks. The centralisation of the EU into a superstate proceeds as planned with Brussels assuming ever more responsibilities which once belonged to the individual EU members who are tasked with the repression of nationalist movements who are named alongside Russian disinformation as a core threat to "European unity and values".

The EU is no closer to the superstate it wants to become than it was in 2007 with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty but unlike 19 years ago, it is torn apart by geopolitical instability, the consequences of unrestricted legal immigration which reinvigorated nationalist movements and natural disasters to which the EU Commission has no answers for.

🔗 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/SPEECH_26_1868

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸🇮🇱 Political advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Mohamed Baqer Zulqadr, stated that Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless U.S. president, Donald Trump and Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, are removed from power.

🔗 https://t.me/Tasnimnews/444907

🇸🇦🇨🇳🇮🇷 Saudi Arabia privately asked China to pressure Iran into restraining the Houthis after their seizure of Yemen's Red Sea coast and Bab al-Mandeb.

Three Iranian sources say Beijing passed the message to Tehran — going beyond its public calls for restraint.

Iran's response: regional stability depends on ending the US-Israeli war against us first.

China issued no threats and didn't leverage its economic power over Tehran.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-presses-iran-help-rein-houthis-after-saudi-appeal-sources-say-2026-09-17/