🪂 🇺🇦 🤖 New Tactics in the War: Parachuting Robots Behind the Front Lines

During the recent Ukrainian offensive actions, drones, robots, and unmanned systems have been used on a massive scale. One of the revolutions: the use of large Ukrainian carrier drones called "Vampire" to parachute small ground kamikaze drones behind the lines, sometimes up to 10 km from them.

The goal? To set up ambushes, with cameras allowing for monitoring of logistical routes, particularly at night, but also to blow up the positions of drone operators and to track movements on busy paths.

These small ground drones (UGVs) are very inexpensive and can be produced in large numbers. On the Lyman front, if you look a bit at the videos from a few local Russian Telegram channels, 80% of the strikes are carried out against ground drones or "Vampire" systems, and very few against infantry. It's quite likely that slightly larger platforms, equipped with machine guns, have also been deployed to set up ambushes.

It's very clear that these platforms are the future of combat; I have a particular preference for large drones of the "Vampire" or "Baba Yaga" type, which can carry out numerous heavy missions, including resupply or precision strikes.

📎 Clément Molin

🌱 Iran War Inadvertently Cuts Global 2026 Fossil Emissions, Analysis Finds — WaPo

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🇬🇧 Men held in major incident near RAF base as homes evacuated

A major incident has been declared and homes have been evacuated in a village near an RAF base which hosts the United States Air Force.

Several men have been arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, Gloucestershire police said. An army explosive ordnance disposal team is currently examining a number of vehicles.

Residents in Whelford, near RAF Fairford, have been taken to a leisure centre while investigations continue, police said. A cordon is currently in place in the area and officers say they believe the incident is contained.

The base has been recently used to deploy American bombers since the country's conflict in Iran began on 28 February.

In March this year, after then prime minister Sir Keir Starmer granted permission for "defensive" US action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases, four American bombers landed at RAF Fairford and the US started using British bases for "specific defensive operations".

A large emergency services presence has been seen in the area, including a Hazardous Area Response Team.

Gloucestershire Police said: "A number of properties are currently being evacuated in the Whelford area following the declaration of a major incident.

"It follows the arrest of several men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act.

"We are working closely with our partners and are enacting the well-rehearsed plans we have in place."

Police said the men were arrested early on Sunday morning.

A spokesperson for the US Air Force said its personnel based at RAF Fairford "remain vigilant".

🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqrm99mm9l84o

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — BREAKING: Iran’s IRGC Navy announced that they captured a second U.S. military underwater drone in the Strait of Hormuz following a coordinated operation involving intelligence surveillance and electronic warfare.

The IRGC identified the seized vessel as an advanced REMUS 600 unmanned underwater vehicle that was conducting espionage operations. The drone is now in Iranian custody, with specialists working to recover its data.

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 — WATCH: Iran's IRGC Navy released footage of the REMUS 600 unmanned underwater vehicle that they seized in the Strait of Hormuz.

🇺🇦🇪🇺 Ukraine used up all of the EU funds it received this year far ahead of schedule. The EU Commission is struggling to understand how

The EU state news outlet, EURACTIV, reported earlier this week that EU officials are still scratching their heads as to how did the Ukrainian government manage to spend the 90 billion EURs it received from Brussels and declare a 23.5 billion EUR ($27 billion) shortfall for the remaining months of 2026.

Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, claims that the $27 billion shortfall will be used to cover the salaries of soldiers and other military-related expenses and will not go towards repairing damaged infrastructure needed by civilians or subsidise Ukrainian farmers.

These explanations have stoked suspicions in some EU capitals about the size – and urgency – of Kiev’s funding needs, especially given that the demand comes just weeks after Zelensky’s government was accused of widespread corruption by its recently ousted defence minister.

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the repeated resignations and dismissals of government officials over corruption allegations paint a rather unsavoury picture coming out of Kiev,” said one senior EU diplomat.

Ukraine's seemingly careless spending might come back to haunt it as the same EU diplomat told EURACTIV that European governments are unlikely to hurry and approve a new round of funding as most of the EU's governments are cash-strapped and there is an ongoing struggle between fiscal-conservative governments in the EU led by Germany and those in favor of massive public spending led by France over the size of the EU's budget for 2028-2034.

The European Commissioner for the Economy, the Lithuanian Valdis Dombrovskis, is sympathetic to Kiev and is ready to provide the money requested by Kiev citing Russia's sustained missile campaign against Ukrainian logistics units, gas stations, locomotives and port facilities, however the source of the funding is unclear as Belgium resists the idea of using Russia's frozen assets to fund the war while other EU capitals are weary of using the EU's budget again to lend money to Kiev, sacrificing other projects in the process.

🔗 https://www.euractiv.com/news/europe-struggles-to-pin-down-ukraine-funding-shortfall/

🇩🇪🗳 New election poll for the next federal election, AfD is the leading party across the entirety of Germany

📝 Eugyppius: Everyone talks about CxU/AfD numbers when these new polls drop, but the real thing to notice is the steady drop in right-bloc (CDU-CSU-AfD) share, now down from 51%+ to 48%; and the growing left bloc (SPD + Greens + Linke), now approaching 40% from a previously steady 37%.

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