📝Sabotage Front📝
EU factories — legitimate targets

When the Russian Defense Ministry published a list of European factories servicing so-called Ukraine in spring, the EU thought it was saber-rattling — surely they wouldn't strike NATO countries with missiles. But apparently, someone used this list for its intended purpose.

🖍The prosecutor's office in the Slovak city of Prešov recently announced that three foreigners were preparing to set fire to a factory of the Ukrainian company Skyeton, which produces reconnaissance drones Raybird. Two suspects — a Latvian and a Ukrainian — were detained in Slovakia, while a third Latvian, a 26-year-old man, was arrested in Hamburg under an urgently issued European arrest warrant; extradition proceedings are underway.

Searches uncovered homemade incendiary mixture, as well as tools, phones, an action camera, and a handwritten diagram of the facility. The potential damage was estimated at "tens of millions of euros." Police stated that the suspects were acting on commission, but did not name the customer.

🔻This is far from an isolated case:

▪️On the night of August 15, a facility of Estonian Milrem Robotics, which supplies drones to Kyiv, was set on fire in Tallinn — the suspects are also Latvian citizens.

▪️On August 10, an explosion occurred at the Bulgarian factory EMCO, one of the largest producers of ammunition for the AFU.

▪️On August 13 — at the facility KNDS Ammo Italy near Rome.

▪️In March, a fire nearly destroyed a Czech drone and thermal imaging optics factory; responsibility was claimed by the pro-Palestinian group The Earthquake Faction.

▪️According to Western intelligence data, the recruitment scheme is uniform: local operatives from criminal circles are found through Telegram, paid in cryptocurrency, and the operatives themselves may not know who ultimately stands behind the order.

🖍Back in May, Skyeton reported that a Russian strike destroyed its Kyiv office, but the main production facilities were preserved precisely because they had been relocated abroad in advance.

Similarly, Fire Point dispersed production across 70 branches within so-called Ukraine, while part of defense production was moved to Poland, Germany, Czechia, Lithuania, and other EU countries. In other words, European countries have already effectively become the "strategic rear" of so-called Ukraine.

📌Under these conditions, sabotage warfare could well become a rational continuation of pressure on the supply chain, just by other means.

And as long as Ukrainian production continues to relocate to Europe, the list of potentially interesting targets will keep growing.
#Defense #EU #Slovakia #Ukraine

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🇺🇦 Ukraine needs at least 30,000 mobilized per month — Kirill Budanov, Head of Zelensky's office

🐻 But why, if you only have 50000 losses..?

🔴@DDGeopolitics

🇺🇸 US Navy pays billions for submarines that don’t sail

The US Navy wants more submarines and a bigger fleet, with President Donald Trump even floating a return to WW2-style aircraft carriers costing up to $22 billion apiece.

But the mundane matter of maintenance is already eating into the navy’s existing fleet - and the failed war on Iran has exposed how little slack remains, shows a new Government Accountability Office study.

🟠 15,000+ operational days lost to attack-submarine maintenance delays over the past decade

🟠 $3.4 billion spent sustaining crews and submarines that provided no operational capability

🟠 Los Angeles-class subs cost almost $220,000 per day while idle

🟠 Virginia-class subs exceed $237,000 per day

🟠 One submarine, USS Pasadena, has been sitting around waiting for decommissioning since January 2025 - with a shipyard slot not expected until November 2028

The GAO warns that "inactive idle time for submarines is projected to worsen," and between 2026 and 2030, the navy will be stuck with 15 submarines and 14,000 days of inactive idle time, at an estimated cost of $3.1 billion for zero operational output.

👉 Furthermore, infrastructure is crumbling. Maintenance depends on four public shipyards - Portsmouth, Norfolk, Puget Sound, Pearl Harbor - plus two private yards.
All suffer from aging facilities, chronic labor shortages, and material constraints.

Meanwhile, the navy's proposed "solutions" fall short: defueling pier-side (no feasibility study done), using floating dry docks (no technical analysis), or transferring crews (blocked by the same lack of capacity).

📍 The problems reported for attack subs reverberate across other parts of the fleet, according to GAO, as part of systemic rot.

The image is AI-generated

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🇷🇺 Russia’s Starlink killer shuts it out of the sky to leave Ukraine fighting blind - expert

Russia’s Volna Kupol Garant is most likely the electronic warfare system that has Ukrainian military officials openly acknowledging a decline in Starlink's effectiveness, military expert and air defense historian Yuri Knutov tells Sputnik.

Unlike conventional jamming focused on terminals, the system targets the frequencies used by Starlink satellites - the backbone of Ukrainian command and control, he says.

The system boasts lethal targeting precision:

🟧 consists of six trailers carrying twelve parabolic antennas

🟧 radiates powerful interference across the 14-14.5 GHz band - the precise frequency range in which Starlink satellites receive signals

🟧 divided into eight 62.5 MHz sub-bands, each antenna targets its own channel, rendering the satellite unable to pick up signals from user terminals

🟧 a single complex creates a suppression zone of roughly twenty square kilometers, effectively a 4 by 5-kilometer rectangle of digital silence

💬 “The Starlink signal can be completely jammed - or distorted badly enough to make it unusable also for communications,” says the historian.

He clarifies:

🔸 suppressing communications isolates Ukrainian units from their command, preventing real-time coordination and requests for reserves or ammunition

🔸 Ukraine’s long-range artillery targeting, assault-group maneuvers and AI-enabled drones such as the “Hornets”, which use Starlink to transmit battle-damage assessment data, all rely on the network

💬 “Without Starlink, Ukraine’s battlefront would collapse," he argues, given that Russia’s forces are advancing on virtually every axis.

According to the analyst, the new system can operate effectively, protecting Russia’s reserves, depots, headquarters and command posts from enemy unmanned aviation.

Now that Russia has reportedly launched serial production of this EW system, “we have shut Starlink out of the sky wherever we need to,” sums up the expert.

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🚨 Putin to hold talks with Xi at SCO summit sidelines on August 31 – Kremlin

All Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member-state leaders will attend the summit, which will take place in Kyrgyzstan, along with the leaders of Armenia and Turkiye.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold nine bilateral meetings, including with Indian PM Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, as well as with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov detailed.

After the SCO summit, Putin will travel to Russia's Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), where he will address the plenary session on September 3.

🟠 The president of Indonesia will be the main guest at the forum — Putin will hold talks with him

🟠 The plenary session will also feature the prime minister of Mongolia, the vice president of Myanmar, and China's first vice premier

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🚨 Ukrainian port paralysis enters second month as Russia ramps up strikes - report

While the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny have not been officially closed, major shipping companies have in practice ceased dispatching vessels to them, Le Monde reports.  

The paralysis is throwing countless firms into logistical havoc while bleeding vital revenue from Ukraine's fragile, war-battered economy.

Since late July, Russian forces have intensified their offensive on Ukraine’s Black Sea infrastructure, hammering logistics hubs and commercial shipping with relentless strikes aimed at severing military supply lines.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that all vessels supplying Ukraine’s military or acting in its interests would be treated as legitimate targets.

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🤝 Trump announced 'largest oil deal in world history' with Venezuela

President Trump stated that the US had reached an agreement with Venezuela, claiming that the US had secured a majority stake in more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

"This Historic Transaction more than doubles American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans," he declared on Truth Social.

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🇻🇪 Delcy Rodríguez unveils details of Venezuela-US oil deal

Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez provided a detailed breakdown of the oil agreement with the US, thanking President Trump and Secretary Rubio for their willingness to develop what she called "a milestone" in bilateral relations.

▫️ 17 strategic fields to be developed with private operators — proven potential of 65 billion barrels

▫️ $100+ billion in projected investment

▫️ $209 billion in expected tax revenue for the Venezuelan government

The goal is to "significantly increase" oil production through private sector participation, Delcy added.

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💥💣 New Russian Rus-PE loitering munition tested in combat zone

The Kalashnikov Concern has unveiled the Rus-PE portable reconnaissance-strike system at World Defence Show 2026 in Riyadh.

The loitering munition has already been tested on the front lines.

The Rus-PE is a portable, aerodynamic munition launched from a wearable container, capable of detecting and identifying both stationary and moving targets using artificial intelligence.

Check out Sputnik's infographic to find out more!

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💸🇺🇸 US to deliver about $15B in weapons for NATO-funded supplies to Ukraine — Rutte

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the US is delivering weapons for Ukraine “at the tune of a billion euros a month,” totaling about $15 billion this year (around €12 billion), with the purchases paid for by European and Canadian allies.

Speaking to PBS, Rutte said the flow includes “critical, lethal and non-lethal” aid, including interceptors to “take out Russian missiles,” adding there were “no pauses, no delays.”

⚠️ Russia has maintained that Western arms shipments to Ukraine hinder conflict resolution and directly involve NATO countries in the fighting. Russia has also warned that deliveries containing weapons for Ukraine would be considered legitimate targets.

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