MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine lost over 285 soldiers in combat against Russia's Vostok battlegroup over the past 24 hours, in addition to losses in manpower and equipment on other fronts, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Navy plans to procure at least three nuclear submarines annually, effectively doubling the current construction pace, according to the service’s annual shipbuilding plan reviewed by Sputnik.
The report comes amid mounting American war costs, depleted missile stockpiles and a reluctance among allies to get involved
Some US officials are encouraging the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to seize one of Iran’s islands in the Persian Gulf, The Telegraph has reported, citing sources.
The island in question is Lavan, one of Iran’s key offshore oil export centers, which hosts refinery, storage and tanker-loading infrastructure connected to several major crude fields. It also sits atop a large natural gas reserve.
Some in the circle of US President Donald Trump have suggested the UAE should take the island, the outlet wrote on Saturday.
“Go take ‘em! It would be UAE boots on the ground instead of US,” it cited a former senior Trump security official as saying.
The reported proposal reflects broader pressure in Washington to reduce direct American military exposure as the war with Iran stretches into its third month.
Pentagon officials told Congress this month that the war has already cost the US roughly $29 billion, much of it linked to missile expenditures and air-defense operations.
US defense analysts and military publications have, meanwhile, warned that weeks of intensive strikes and operations involving THAAD interceptors, Patriot systems and Tomahawk cruise missiles have significantly depleted American stockpiles.
The Pentagon has since accelerated efforts to replenish inventories with lower-cost mass-produced weapons developed by newer defense firms rather than by relying exclusively on traditional military contractors.
The reported push for greater Emirati involvement also comes amid a broader reluctance among US allies to deepen their direct participation in the conflict. While Washington has pressed partners for greater military involvement against Iran, including naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz, several European NATO members, such as Germany, Spain, and the UK, have publicly distanced themselves from the war.
The UAE has emerged as one of the regional states that moved closest to Washington and Israel during the war. Tehran has accused Abu Dhabi of serving as a “hostile base” for US and Israeli operations, retaliating at targets in the Emirates.
Emirati forces have reportedly carried out covert strikes on Iranian targets, including attacks on Lavan Island in April.
Saudi Arabia has also reportedly conducted limited strikes against Iran, but resisted Emirati efforts to organize a coordinated Gulf military campaign against the Islamic republic.
The aerial attack on the Russian capital appears to have been the largest in more than a year
Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Russian capital, local authorities have said.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanian said on social media on Sunday morning that a total of 127 UAVs had been destroyed by air defenses during the previous 24 hours. He described the raid as “massive.”
The attack appeared to be one of the largest Ukrainian drone raids targeting Moscow in more than a year.
There have been several major UAV attacks on the capital in recent months, but the number of drones deployed by Kiev during them never exceeded 65.
Fatalities in Moscow Region
Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev confirmed that three people were killed during the attack.
Two men died when the debris of a downed drone fell on a home construction site in the village of Pogorelki near the city of Mytishchi, adjacent to Moscow in the north-east, he said.
Another UAV struck an apartment block, killing a female resident in the city of Khimki, north-west of the capital, while another person remained trapped under the rubble, according to Vorobyev.
In Istra, some 50 km north-west of Moscow, four people were wounded when an apartment block and six private homes were hit, he said.
Telegram / Andrey Vorobyev
Residential areas and infrastructure facilities have also been targeted in other parts of the region, the governor added.
In the town of Lobnya, north of Moscow, a woman was injured in a drone attack that left five apartment blocks and 20 cars damaged, the local authorities said.
A total of 12 people were wounded in Moscow as a result of the raid, according to Sobyanin.
Most of those injured were construction workers affected by an explosion near the entrance to the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya District in the north-east of the city, he said. The refinery’s operations weren’t affected by the incident, he added.
Air traffic disruptions
More than 200 flights were delayed or canceled at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo international airports as the authorities introduced air traffic restrictions during the drone raid. Some of the incoming passenger jets had to be redirected to other airfields.
Sheremetyevo’s press service said that the debris of a Ukrainian drone hit the ground inside the airport’s premises, but didn’t cause any injuries or destruction.
Incursions across Russia
The capital and Moscow Region weren’t the only targets of Kiev’s UAVs on Sunday night, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting the destruction of a total of 586 drones across the country.
The additional interceptions took place not only parts of Russia bordering Ukraine (Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk region) but also deep inside the country, including in Kaluga, Tula, Smolensk, Pskov, Tver, Rostov and Krasnodar Regions, as well as over Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.
Escalation of raids in recent months
Ukrainian drone raids deep inside Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev launching hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on an almost daily basis against residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and industrial facilities far from the front.
The Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks Kiev’s military has been suffering on the battlefield. Moscow has responded with long-range missile and drone strikes targeting Ukraine’s military, energy and other dual-use infrastructure. Russian officials insist the operations are aimed solely at assets supporting Kiev’s war effort and not at civilian targets.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian media and Telegram channels reported more explosions near the country’s capital Kiev as well as in the cities of Kharkov and Dnepr, and parts of Zaporozhye Region which remain under Ukraine’s control.
The spacecraft delivered approximately 2.9 tons of payload to the station, including equipment for experiments studying the effects of microgravity on bacteria
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