The fuel shortages set off by Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian refineries have spread to the far edges of the country, reaching Siberia and the Pacific coast thousands of miles from any fighting.

By late June, more than half of Russia’s regions were limiting gasoline sales, turning a war aimed at oil refineries near the front into a nationwide problem at the pump. The shortages have now reached even the regions that produce much of Russia’s oil, where drivers wait in line for fuel, a situation their own government helped create.

HIMARS Rocket.

Vladimir Putin has spent the war insisting Russia is winning and that Ukraine’s strikes change nothing. On Sunday, he conceded, for the first time, that the country faces a fuel “deficit” and is going through what he called a difficult period, after Ukrainian drones set yet another major refinery ablaze. In the same remarks, he disclosed something else new, that Ukraine had offered to halt the deep strikes hammering Russian oil plants, and that he had turned the offer down. The admission is the story here.

This video describes the military situation in

The Russian Navy is preparing to return its most formidable surface combat ship to operational service, as following the most extensive modernisation ever undertaken on a Russian combat vessel, the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov undertakes its final sea trials. The Kirov class cruiser has spent well over a decade undergoing reconstruction at the Sevmash Shipyard, emerging with entirely new combat systems, sensors and missile armament intended to keep it operational for decades to come.

During the recent 40-day deployment of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning for 40 days of operations in the western Pacific, the Japan Air Self Defense Force and Maritime Self Defense Force not only closely monitored the carrier group, but also carried out “targeted simulated attacks,” according to Chinese state sources. Although Japanese media described warships and fighters conducting simulated attack profiles against the Chinese vessels, following significant controversies Japan’s Ministry of Defense claimed this had not occurred.

As the relationship between the United States and Canada continues to degrade, it now comes at the expense of each country’s industrial security.Last month, the Pentagon announced the unilateral suspension of the 86-year-old Canadian Permanent Joint Board on Defense in response to what the White House sees as Ottawa’s failure to present a credible plan to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035. And the opening of the gleaming new bridge between Detroit and Windsor has been long delayed in the tense run-up to the continental trade deal review.

During the Cold War, Europe kept asking whether Washington would risk an American city to save a European one. It was an impolite question, but a useful one, which is why it never quite left the room. It has now packed its bags and moved east. Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron created quite a stir with an important speech on French nuclear weapons policy.

The availability rate of the British Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine fleet has again fallen to zero, with all of the service’s Astute class submarines currently being under maintenance. The total lack of available attack submarines has caused particularly high concerns due to the Navy’s overwhelming reliance on the Astute class for combat roles, in large part due to the limited numbers and highly constrained capabilities of the Navy’s Type 45 class destroyers, which have themselves continued to suffer from poor availability rates and poor reliability.

Jack Watling, Statecraft: The New Rules of Power in a Divided World (Macmillan, 2026)The war against Iran exposed a multitude of forced errors and own goals in the conduct of statecraft. The purpose of sound statecraft is the integrated application of a state’s tools and its repertoire of governmental instruments of power to gain its desired outcomes in international relations. The yet-to-be-resolved contest against the Islamic Republic of Iran reveals a litany of shortfalls in the conduct of U.S. statecraft.It is unlikely that the present U.S.

This video describes the military situation in

The United States Air Force and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force have demonstrated a greater degree of operational integration during Valiant Shield 2026 exercises, during which both services deployed their premier air superiority fighters to simulate an air campaign. The campaign is widely assessed to be based on conditions for a joint war effort against China. The U.S. Air Force deployed F-22 fifth generation fighters, which it operationalised from 2005-2012, while the Japan Air Self-Defense Force deployed F-15J fighters that were procured from the early 1980s.

Satellite images have revealed the construction of a new ring of air defence positions around the Russian capital Moscow, with at least five of the newly prepared platforms consistent with deployment sites for the S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system. Several of the sites already appear to host launchers and other vehicles associated with the S-400, suggesting that the new defensive belt is beginning to enter operational service or may have done so already.

New footage of the Chinese three engine heavyweight sixth generation fighter aircraft in flight has for the first time demonstrated the type’s high manoeuvrability, with the aircraft seen performing a sharp turn-climb that analysts had long questioned the ability of tailless aircraft to perform. Developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, four flight prototypes of the new three engine aircraft are known to have been built, with the design on December 26, 2024, having become the first of its generation to have been unveiled in flight testing worldwide.

The British government has confirmed the cancellation of the planned Type 83 class destroyer program, which was intended to provide a much needed replacement for the Royal Navy’s six ageing Type 45 class destroyers. The decision marks a dramatic reversal of policy, with the Type 83 having formally entered its concept phase in 2025 as the centre of the Royal Navy’s Future Air Dominance System program.

The Air Force intends to drastically expand its premier northern outpost as Alaska’s importance for Arctic and Pacific operations continues to grow.

The U.S. military has released new details about the massive Fightertown Recapitalization (FTR) Program at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), in Anchorage, southeastern Alaska. This is a huge effort valued at approximately $7 billion that would effectively create an entirely new fighter hub to support future Air Force operations in the strategically important Arctic and Pacific regions.

The Royal Norwegian Air Force was confirmed to have scrambled two F-35A fifth generation fighters on June 22 to intercept and identify a formation of two Tu-160 strategic bombers escorted by two MiG-31BM interceptors over the Barents Sea. The Russian aircraft subsequently continued into international airspace over the Norwegian Sea, as part of a 16-hour long-range strategic patrol. The F-35s launched from Evenes Air Station as part of NATO’s Quick Reaction Alert mission.

L Todd Wood sits down with co-host former Special Unit Commander Pete Blaber to discuss the Iran war, and the Ukraine conflict converging.
!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=”https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2y1af”+(arguments[1].video?’.’+arguments[1].video:”)+”/?url=”+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+”&args=”+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.

Following Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s announcement of plans procure the Chinese HQ-9 surface-to-air missile systems, the country is projected to field the longest ranged and in many respects the most capable ground-based air defence assets in Europe. Serbia’s selection of the HQ-9 follows its cancellation of plans to procure Russian S-300 or S-400 long range air defence systems, and its operationalisation of Chinese HQ-22 medium range systems in 2022 which are highly complementary to the HQ-9.

U.S. and Iran Agree to More Talks In Doha – Is The Deal Dead?: The United States and Iran agreed to halt military strikes against each other on Sunday, June 28, following an exchange of fire that was already prohibited under the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU). Representatives of Tehran and Washington confirmed that emergency talks will take place in Qatar on Tuesday to prevent the collapse of their fragile MOU.

Russia launched an overnight ballistic missile attack against Kyiv early on June 28 – a clear response to Ukraine’s escalating campaign of long-range strikes deep inside Russian territory. The strikes forced residents into bomb shelters as air defense systems engaged incoming missiles over the Ukrainian capital city.

The strikes also came as Ukraine targeted two oil refineries in Russia as well as other major infrastructure.

In response to Iranian strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement that could be interpreted as a nuclear threat. Writing on Truth Social, Trump criticized the regime in Tehran for violating the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU), and warned that Iran may “no longer exist” if he follows through on his own military threats.

“United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump said.

President Donald J.

Autonomy and AI are making broad advances. Those cute, trade show robotic dogs are getting teeth and being trained to bite

K-9s have provided invaluable service over the years. They will continue to serve for a long time. But in the higher risk environments, robotic K-9s are rapidly approaching service.
For years, you’ve probably seen the interesting and cute Boston Dynamics Robo Dog in person or YouTube videos.
Get ready for kinetic steel, thunder, and bark on four robotic legs.

This video describes the military situation in

This video describes the military situation in

Crimea, the territory Vladimir Putin has prized above every other conquest since seizing it in 2014, is blacked out, running dry of fuel, and living under a state of emergency. Ukrainian drones have spent weeks cutting the peninsula off from the Russian mainland, and the damage is now severe enough that Moscow’s own officials have stopped pretending otherwise. The question hanging over the crisis is how far Putin will go to keep his grip on Crimea, and whether he reaches for the kind of extreme retaliation his rhetoric has long threatened.

Warsaw, Poland – Russian nationalist hardliners are calling on President Vladimir Putin to exit negotiations with the United States and instead significantly escalate the war against Ukraine.

Reuters, quoting unnamed sources inside Russia’s elites, reported on 26 June that the advice those same hardliners are giving him also includes contingency plans for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Russian Mobile ICBM Nuclear Weapons. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Ukraine’s campaign of “long-range sanctions” continues, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming that his country’s military had conducted long-range strikes overnight on June 27 – this time targeting one of Russia’s most important military-industrial facilities in the Volgograd region. According to a statement from Zelenskyy, the domestically manufactured FP-5 cruise missile struck the Titan-Barrikady defense plant overnight. 

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) also said its drones had attacked a major oil pumping station in the Vladimir region of Russia.

Military spouses have long been masters of adaptation, flexibility, and adjustment on any given challenge brought to our attention, especially the ones that demand action. We adapt to deployments, navigate long separations, build support systems from scratch, and somehow keep moving forward through PCS after PCS.
Yet when it comes to employment, all the tools collected throughout the military spouse journey just seem unable to work.

Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign is in full swing, with another long-range strike confirmed overnight on June 27 that damaged a major Russian defense production plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the country’s own FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile struck the Titan-Barrikady defense plant in the Volgograd region, engulfing the plant in flames.

The massive military-industrial facility is one of the most important defense manufacturers in the country and has been under international sanctions since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

Warsaw, Poland – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced a 40-day operation aimed at “pressuring Russia to end its war.” And those plans involve Crimea.

The Ukrainian president’s surrogates have made it clear that the objective of the operation is to bring Russia to its knees economically.

Tu-22M Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Overall, the campaign is directed at fomenting comprehensive internal instability to the point where the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin finds it impossible to continue the war.

Warsaw, Poland – A Ukrainian defense enterprise called the Center of Innovative Technologies Program has developed an electronic warfare (EW) resistant missile called DART.

In the current age, when weapons that must be developed with jamming immunity as a prime design requirement, that in itself is not a particularly new innovation.

Tu-95 Bear Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The U.S. Air Force has begun its first deployment of unmanned long range reconnaissance aircraft in Japan, with three RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40 aircraft being stationed at Yokota Air Base. This is intended to significantly strengthen U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities near the territories of its three leading potential adversaries, namely China, North Korea and Russia.

HMS Sutherland, known as The Fighting Clan, tes

The Navy is searching for a Marine who went missing off of the USS Anchorage on Thursday, the service said late Saturday evening. 
After initially conducting search and rescue operations, the Navy is now doing search and recovery operations after nearly two days of searching, the Navy’s 3rd Fleet said. The Marine went missing earlier this week while on the amphibious transport dock the USS Anchorage during a training exercise between the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group off of the coast of Southern California.

A promotional film released to mark the tenth anniversary of the service entry of China’s first heavy lift aircraft, the Y-20, has shown the aircraft operating in a wide range of roles, including the YY-20 tanker variant providing aerial refuelling support for combat operations. The footage concluded with an officer in the cockpit of a YY-20 asking his superior which aircraft they could be refuelling next.

Footage released by Chinese state media sources has provided confirmation of the J-35 fifth generation fighter’s progress in serial production, with a carrier-based variant of the aircraft seen at the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s new plant with serial number 350030 indicating that it is the 30th aircraft built. While J-35 prototypes each had a large cover next to the right air intake to conceal the access port, the production aircraft has eliminated this design, and the access port may have been reduced in size and moved near the landing gear.

Red Arrows are set to perform for American audi

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on June 28 announced plans procure the Chinese HQ-9 long range surface-to-air missile systems, marking a major landmark in the modernisation of the country’s air defence capabilities and another major step in the strengthening of defence ties with China. The HQ-9 is China’s premier multirole long-range surface-to-air missile system, broadly comparable in role to the Russian S-400, and if procured would in many respects represent the most capable system fielded in Europe.

The Russian Navy’s heavily furbished Kirov class missile cruiser the Admiral Nakhimov has gained considerable attention for its outstanding firepower and for its displacement, which at 28,000 tons is larger than many aircraft carriers and approximately triple the size of a large destroyer.

The U.S. Armed Forces have been confirmed to have begun accepting F-35 fighters without their primary radars installed, following reports near the beginning of the year that radarless fighters had begun being delivered to the Air Force. This is the result of delays affecting the new AN/APG-85 active electronically scanned array radar program, and has already affected the Air Force and Marine Corps.

During the first deployment of Republic of China Army M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks for combat readiness exercises it was revealed that the vehicles had been modified withirregularly arranged camouflage netting to provide improved protection against top attack drones and loitering munitions. Unlike the improvised metal top cages pioneered by the Russian Army, and subsequently imitated by multiple armies from Israel to South Korea, this netting does not appear intended to physically intercept drones or munitions.

The Republic of China Army has deployed its newly procured M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks for their first ever combat readiness exercise, the Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise, marking an important milestone in the integration of the vehicles into frontline operations. Rather than remaining at their home base for training, the tanks were deployed onto public roads and into tactical positions around Taoyuan, simulating a rapid response to a sudden escalation in Taiwan Strait tensions.

Following confirmation on July 26 that the Russian Navy’s sole refurbished Kirov class nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimovreturned to its home port of Severomorsk after 29 years out of service for refurbishment, the role of the remote Arctic facility now hosting the country’s premier surface combat ship has gained significant attention. Severomorsk is the headquarters and principal surface fleet base of the Navy’s Northern Fleet, located on the eastern shore of Kola Bay, and is a closed military city meaning that all civilian access is tightly restricted.

A Boeing 777-200LRMF converted freighter made an extremely low pass over Horseshoe Bay Resort Jet Center Airport on 24 June, coming within just feet of runway according to video and ADS-B data. The aircraft, registered N705DN, is a former Delta Air Lines 777-200LR that was converted to freighter configuration by Mammoth Freighters. The aircraft is currently owned by Jetran LLC and is scheduled to be handed over to Qatar Airways Cargo, reported FlightRadar24.
The data behind the flight
The lowest recorded altitude during the low pass by Flightradar24 ADS-B receivers was 950 feet.

The fragile memorandum of understanding (MOU) cease-fire deal between the United States and Iran is on the verge of coming undone after Iran struck a commercial cargo ship passing near Omani waters, and the U.S. responded with strikes on Iranian military targets. The exchange began on Thursday when Singapore-flagged commercial cargo ship Ever Lovely was hit by a one-way attack drone while transiting close to the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz.

At least four one-way attack drones were reportedly launched at the ship, with one striking the upper deck of the vessel, causing damage.

Amid mounting pressure from Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign and threats issued to Belarus over its hosting of Russian military infrastructure, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on June 26. The meeting has ignited speculation that the two countries may be preparing to deepen Belarus’ involvement in the conflict. 

Putin met with Lukashenko at his Valdai residence in the Novgorod region.

The Force is strong with Sam O’Hara. The District of Columbia agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to O’Hara, a district resident who says he was illegally detained for following a group of Ohio National Guardsmen and playing the “Imperial March” from “Star Wars.”
On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, which is backing O’Hara’s lawsuit over his detention, said on Friday that the District of Columbia agreed to pay him to settle the case.

“We need to be clear about our commitment to de

When it comes to never-forget moments, being th

The price tag for rebuilding Ukraine keeps climbing, and the latest official estimate puts it close to $588 billion. That figure, daunting as it is, may be the easier half of the problem. Money can be borrowed, seized, or donated. People are far harder to replace, and after more than four years of war, Ukraine has lost millions of them, including a large share of the young, educated, and skilled workers any reconstruction will depend on.