© Museo Regionale Accascina Messina, via Reuters
© Carabinieri Art Recovery Squad, via Associated Press
© São Paulo Police Press Office, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ukrainian drones struck Russia's Ust-Luga port overnight on 14 August, sparking a fire at the Baltic Sea terminal — the sixth attack on the facility since March, according to Russian and Ukrainian reporting.
Leningrad Oblast Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defenses shot down 51 drones over the region and that "damage was recorded" at the port, with a fire breaking out and firefighters responding. By morning he raised the regional tally to 54 drones destroyed. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin separately claimed 10 drones downed approaching the Russian capital overnight, with no casualties reported in either city. Drozdenko did not specify which facility inside the sprawling port complex was hit or the scale of the damage.
Ust-Luga is Russia's largest Baltic Sea port and, as of January 2026, handled nearly half — 47.4% — of the Baltic basin's total cargo turnover, according to industry data cited by Censor.NET. Its oil terminals ship crude and refined products, including naphtha, fuel oil, and jet fuel, and serve as the endpoint of the Baltic Pipeline System-II.
Ukrainian forces have hit Ust-Luga repeatedly through 2026. The first major strike came overnight on 24–25 March, when long-range drones hit the NOVATEK gas condensate complex; Euromaidan Press reported the SBU and Special Operations Forces both claimed the operation. Follow-up strikes hit the port again on 27 and 29 March, and a fourth wave on 31 March damaged a mazut storage tank and two NOVATEK fuel tanks, according to Euromaidan Press's own coverage. A fifth strike reached the wider St. Petersburg port area on 3–4 July.
Drone strikes on Ust-Luga forced the terminal to cut oil-export operations by roughly half in September, Reuters reported at the time, dropping throughput to about 350,000 barrels per day after Ukraine also struck the Unecha pumping station that feeds the port.
Wednesday's strike came two days after Ukrainian drones hit Russia's Sheskharis terminal at Novorossiysk on the Black Sea — the country's largest oil-export hub after Primorsk and Ust-Luga — and follows a late-July strike on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, also on the Black Sea. Combined, Ust-Luga and Primorsk normally move about 40% of Russia's seaborne oil exports, according to Reuters figures cited by The Moscow Times.
Newly analyzed airport camera footage shows a quadcopter drone loaded with Semtex explosive flew straight at a parked Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft and struck its wing at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany on the evening of 4 August, the media outlet Die Zeit reported on 10 August. The device bounced off the wing, fell to the ground, and failed to detonate. The drone attacked the aircraft at around 19:30 local time, the media outlet reports.
Russia's hybrid attacks are increasingly moving from the information domain into the physical one, including on the territory of other countries. This incident makes sabotage on NATO member states' territory potentially more dangerous if suspicion of Russian involvement is confirmed.
The drone struck the wing near the fuel tanks, then bounced off the aircraft's surface and fell to the ground. The explosive device also ended up on the ground and did not detonate. The device contained Semtex plastic explosive. Approximately four hours later, a tourist bus driver accidentally noticed it lying on the ground, put his foot on it, and reported the find to airport security.
Video analysis contradicts the earlier theory that the incident may have been intended only as a warning. The nature of the attack indicates an attempt to cause actual damage.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that a state actor may have been behind the explosive-laden drone found at the airport. On 7 August, Germany's National Security Council convened under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Earlier, the United States assessed that the drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany overnight into 5 August belonged to Russian intelligence, a US Department of Defense official in Europe told CNN.
The cargo aboard the Ukrainian aircraft targeted in the sabotage attempt consisted of military equipment and ammunition that had arrived in Germany from France and was being prepared for further transportation, Süddeutsche Zeitung stated, citing a confidential German police report. However, Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior denied this claim, according to dpa.
The An-124 Ruslan, struck by the drone, is operated by the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines. After Russian forces destroyed its main base in Hostomel in 2022, the company has been using Leipzig/Halle airport as a temporary base for its aircraft.
Ukraine has built an interceptor that catches Russian drones instead of ramming them. The company WINFLY has unveiled the WINFLY Spider, an interceptor equipped with a net-launcher to neutralize targets with a net and return to its launch point, the defense outlet Militarnyi reported.
The Spider is the newest entry in Ukraine's fast-growing interceptor-drone industry. Ukraine has fielded a widening range of cheap interceptors to counter Russia's massed drone attacks, and the Spider's distinction is reusability.
Most interceptors are one-shot weapons that ram or explode against their target. The Spider instead carries the Karakurt net-launcher, made of high-strength aluminum and rated to work from −20°C to +50°C, which snares an enemy drone in a net while the interceptor itself stays intact and ready for repeat flights.
The economics are the point. The developers say each net shot about $27, while the drone remains undamaged. That turns the cost equation of drone defense, where an interceptor is often spent to down a single target, into one where the same aircraft can make many intercepts, paying only for a cheap net each time.
The Spider is built on an existing WINFLY interceptor. It uses the WINFLY 10 Hunter as its base platform, which operates at up to 5,000 meters, reaches 160 kilometers per hour, and has a range of over 18 kilometers.
It is designed for a range of Russian drones. The system targets fixed-wing UAVs, Mavic quadcopters, FPV drones, and fiber-optic drones, with flight times up to 25 minutes, deployment times of up to 3 minutes, and target detection ranges of up to 500 meters. The maker offers day and night versions.
Ukraine is downing tens of thousands of Russian drones a month, per the Defense Ministry, and fielding interceptors from at least 29 licensed makers, with new designs like the high-altitude Tsyklop climbing above enemy drones and others ramming them.
The US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) forecasts that Ukraine's grain exports will fall steeply in the 2026-27 season, with corn shipments dropping 39% to 14 million tonnes and wheat 26% to 10.8 million, World Grain reported. The agency tied the decline to Russia's summer campaign against the Odesa ports, which handle roughly 90% of the country's grain.
The forecast puts Washington's own numbers behind what Kyiv has warned for weeks. Ukraine's agriculture ministry projects farm exports could fall by almost half this season, and the FAS estimate — from a body with no stake in Ukraine's budget — points the same way. The difference is where the FAS looks: not at the ships that cannot sail, but at the grain that cannot follow them out.
The clearest sign of the blockage is in ending stocks — grain left sitting in the country when the season closes. The FAS expects Ukraine's corn stocks to jump more than tenfold, to 13.5 million tonnes from 1.3 million, and wheat stocks to more than double to 8.2 million. That is grain the harvest produced and the ports could not move.
Ukraine has more than 74 million tonnes of storage for grain and oilseeds, the FAS noted, including about 23 million tonnes of certified warehouse space. Even so, the agriculture ministry has said the country may need another 10 to 12 million tonnes of temporary storage to get through the corn harvest if the Black Sea disruptions continue — most acutely in regions near the front line.
Almost everything moves through Odesa. Three deepwater ports in Odesa Oblast carry more than 90% of Ukraine's farm exports, and Russia spent the summer hitting them and the ships that call there. Missiles struck the Turkish-owned bulk carrier Golden Leo as it left Odesa loaded with grain on 19 July, killing 10. Days earlier, a Russian drone hit a Palau-flagged corn ship twice as it sailed for Greece.
The land routes that remain — rail, road, and the Danube — cannot take up the slack, and traders have pulled back from buying grain they have no way to ship.
Farming is Ukraine's biggest export earner, bringing in more than half of what the country made selling goods abroad last year. Ukraine is also among the world's largest corn suppliers, which is why a cut of this size registers well beyond its own budget. For the farmers holding this year's crop, the FAS forecast describes a harvest they may not be able to sell.
Nine members of the Russian team and staff were initially denied visas for the championships in Croatia
© Getty
© Reuters
Russian athletes have been banned from international events since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022
© Getty
A Russian overnight strike heavily damaged a German-owned car-parts plant in Zhytomyr Oblast, forcing it to halt production, the company said. No workers were hurt, but the destruction was extensive. One of the region's major employers now has no restart date.
Russia struck Zhytomyr Oblast overnight into 9 August and hit the Kromberg & Schubert plant, which reported the attack on Facebook. Its production lines and infrastructure took heavy damage.
"The most important thing for us is that no employees were hurt in the attack," the statement said.
With the damage so severe, the plant suspended operations for an indefinite period. A restart depends on a technical assessment and the full scope of repairs, the company added.
Kromberg & Schubert is a civilian manufacturer with 100% German investment. It has run in the Zhytomyr region for 11 years and employs about 3,500 people. The plant makes the wiring harnesses that thread through cars, supplying European automakers.
Vitalii Bunechko, head of the Zhytomyr Oblast Military Administration, called it one of the region's budget-forming enterprises. He said the administration and local authorities are working to help the strategic investor and keep the plant running.
Bunechko reported that Russia had launched a massive strike on the oblast overnight. The attack also damaged civilian infrastructure, he said. State Emergency Service crews contained the fires, and investigators began work at the site.
Russia has repeatedly struck Zhytomyr Oblast during the war, stepping up its drone strikes on northwestern Ukraine, often exploiting Belarusian territory.
The US Army has suddenly removed the general in charge of the corps that helps coordinate American support to Ukraine. The Army abruptly fired Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, commander of V Corps, roughly two months before his scheduled departure, ABC News reports.
The corps he led is central to the US role on NATO's front line with Russia. Costanza had commanded V Corps since April 2024, a corps partly based in Poland that has taken on an increasingly prominent role since Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, helping coordinate US military support for Ukraine and managing the American presence on NATO's eastern flank.
The Army confirmed the removal but not its cause. A service spokesperson said the circumstances remained unclear, and the Army said the matter was "referred to the appropriate authority in accordance with Army regulations," according to The Hill.
Reporting points away from politics. Two US officials told journalists that the removal was not political and was not initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with one source citing conduct that could ground a commander's removal at any level and a former defense official citing alcohol problems. Brigadier General John Mountford, the deputy commander for readiness, has begun his service as acting commander.
The timing places it in a turbulent period for US military leadership. Costanza's removal comes amid a broader shake-up in which more than two dozen senior officers have been removed or sidelined under Hegseth, often without public explanation.
The command change lands amid questions over the US presence in Poland. This year, the Pentagon canceled a planned deployment of a Fort Hood-based armored brigade to Poland, and after the cancellation drew criticism in Warsaw, President Donald Trump announced the US would deploy 5,000 troops in the country.
Ah, les titres! Ces derniers temps, prise d’une inspiration subite, j’ai fait quelques exercices d’écriture à la main. Promis, je demanderai à une IA de me les retranscrire pour que vous ne soyez pas obligés de zoomer sur les photos de mes ratures sur votre smartphone. C’est une expérience intéressante, d’autant plus que je résiste depuis des années à cette idée que l’écriture à la main possède une qualité fondamentalement différente, sur le plan cognitif, à celle où on tape sur un clavier (ou l’autre, où on dicte, que je connais aussi).
Une chose très claire quand on se met à écrire à la plume dans un cahier en mode “exercice d’écriture”, c’est qu’on ne part pas avec une idée préconçue de ce qu’on va dire, et surtout pas avec un titre. L’article de blog, lui, appelle haut et fort son titre, et je suis de plus en plus convaincue que ce qui pourrait sembler être un détail joue un rôle fondamental dans le fait que les blogs aient été délaissés au profit des réseaux sociaux. Juste là, j’écris sans titre. Je mettrai quelques mots au pif une fois que j’aurai fini d’écrire.
Je crois vraiment qu’il y a des démarches fondamentalement différentes dans l’écriture en ligne.
On peut avoir une intention claire, un message à faire passer. On va écrire un article avec une certaine structure, un titre réfléchi pour bien rendre compte du contenu, et être un peu efficace pour les moteurs de recherche. OK.
Mais le blog, il n’est pas né du magazine en ligne, il n’est pas l’enfant de la presse traditionnelle qui s’aventure au pays du numérique. Non, le blog est plutôt l’enfant des diaristes, des gens qui expriment quelque chose qu’ils ont sur le coeur ou dans les doigts, des gens qui écrivent parce que ça leur sert à quelque chose d’écrire et de partager, des gens qui racontent quelque chose qui leur parle. La mission d’informer le monde et d’atteindre le plus grand nombre, ce n’est pas ce sur quoi le blog s’est construit. Le blog c’est le lieu des bouteilles à la mer, de la réflexion à haute voix, de la correspondance d’avant internet qui nous tombe par hasard sous les yeux.
Et dans ce monde-là, même si le titre a son utilité pour le lecteur – pour s’y retrouver, pour avoir une vague idée de quoi sa parle, peut-être même décider si on lit ou non la première phrase – il dessert plutôt l’écriveur. Il est une première marche haute sur laquelle il faut se hisser, il enferme le texte dans une boîte, et la pensée aussi.
Je refuse les titres, de plus en plus. Vous l’avez peut-être remarqué, ces dernières semaines, ces derniers mois. Je veux écrire, surtout. Tant mieux si vous voulez me lire, aussi. Mais le titre, franchement… c’est comme la photo d’illustration. Il y a quelques années j’ai commencé à mettre presque systématiquement une photo pour illustrer mes articles de blog. Parce que quand on partage sur les réseaux, ça donne mieux. Et aussi parce qu’on aime les photos, et j’aime prendre des photos, et j’ai des tas de jolies photos, d’ailleurs. Mais vous avez peut-être remarqué que ma photo d’illustration n’a pas toujours grand-chose à voir avec ce dont je parle. Des fois oui, un peu. Mais la plupart du temps, je regarde juste dans mes photos récentes, j’en choisis une sympa. Parfois elle me parle un peu par rapport à ce que j’ai écrit, mais pas toujours. Des fois c’est juste parce qu’elle est jolie.
Je me dis que je devrais nourrir la “médiathèque” de mon WordPress avec un petit stock de photos choisies, à l’avance, au gré de mes égarements dans mes albums photos. Je pourrais par la suite piocher directement dedans quand je suis prête à publier mon article, plutôt que de scroller sur mon téléphone pour chercher quelque chose d’exploitable, entre les captures d’écran, les photos de tickets de caisse ou de plantes malades, les mauvais clichés du quotidien et de mon salon en désordre, ou ma dernière mesure de tension artérielle.
Ecrire pour écrire, un peu, sans but précis. C’est peut-être pas génial à lire, surtout si vous me connaissez pas. Mais moi ça me fait du bien.
Ces temps je réfléchis beaucoup à l’équilibre de ma vie, au système complexe d’ingrédients multiples qui me permet de fonctionner et qui s’est effondré il y a 16 mois aujourd’hui. Je reconstruis. La fatigabilité est le sable dans les rouages. Je fais des allers-retours: faut-il me reposer plus? Faire moins? Faire plus mais d’autres choses?
Le manque d’activité physique peut nourrir la fatigue. Le manque de plaisir aussi, le manque de contact. Je me demande de plus en plus si le plus gros obstacle à ma récupération en ce moment n’est pas ce qui est en trop, mais ce qui manque. J’apprends à me reposer mieux – plus tôt, plus consciemment. Il faut faire des pauses avant d’en avoir besoin. C’est pas simple pour moi, les pauses, mais je trouve des stratégies: un moment de puzzle, écouter quelques chansons, m’étendre avec un podcast ou un livre, même regarder ma série.
Mais le gros de ce qui manque juste maintenant c’est le mouvement et le plaisir. Donc je suis en train de me mettre à reprendre l’activité physique. Pas juste me promener au parc. Ramer ou pédaler et me retrouver à bout de souffle et les pulsations à 180. Il n’y a pas besoin de faire ça longtemps – ça me fait déjà un bien fou. Justement: je ne peux pas juste “reprendre” ce que je faisais avant directement. Je dois reconstruire. Alors reconstruisons. Ma vie sociale et mes loisirs ont pâti: ça aussi, il faut reprendre. En mars, j’ai tout coupé, mais peut-être était-ce trop radical? Ou nécessaire sur le moment, mais plus maintenant?
J’ai été à deux concerts ces dernières semaines. Mika et Lewis Capaldi. Ça fait un bien fou. Même pas de mal de tête le lendemain, malgré des nuits courtes. La semaine prochaine, je vais à Paléo deux soirs. Je me réjouis. Je vais remettre les pieds au judo et au chant dans les semaines qui viennent, à voir exactement quand, en mode “thérapeutique” pour commencer. Pas tout le cours, pas toute la répète – une dose limitée pour en tirer les bénéfices sans déclencher l’alerte de surcharge. Il trotte aussi dans ma tête l’idée d’organiser une après-midi par mois “sociale”: apéro ou thé, jeux de société ou puzzle. J’en ai marre de ne pas voir les gens que j’aime. Je vais aussi couper dans les rendez-vous médicaux: bien sûr qu’on ne peut pas tout envoyer balader, je dois faire mon job de patiente, mais certaines choses peuvent peut-être être espacées, ou repoussées, ou même mises sur pause “jusqu’à ce que”.
L’autre chose qui est cruciale pour moi c’est la structure, les routines, les habitudes. Pas évident, entre l’accident et le changement brutal de rythme qu’il a amené, la reprise du travail un peu par à-coups, l’alternance de congés pour cause de formation ou de festival, le décès d’Oscar aussi. Tout ça a bien mis à mal la structure de mes journées et de mes semaines qui me sert de support. Pas facile de remettre ça en place entre les coups de mou dûs à la fatigue subite que je n’avais pas vue venir, les semaines de canicule en mode survie, les gens qui meurent et les diverses petites urgences de la vie qui ne prennent pas de vacances, elles. Mais je reconstruis.
J’essaie de me lever à heure régulière, même si ça peut vouloir dire moins de sommeil. En passant, c’est moins tentant de se coucher à pas d’heure quand on sait que le réveil sonne le lendemain que quand on se dit “bah je peux dormir si besoin”. Je mets en place des petites habitudes avec Juju – monter à l’appartement pour le petit déj sur le balcon et le souper. Il pionce à côté de moi en ce moment, pendant que je pianote sur mon clavier dans le noir. Mettre en route Bob et ranger la cuisine dans la foulée quand je ramène mes assiettes — sinon, le risque est grand que je ne le fasse pas par la suite. Un épisode de Grey’s Anatomy le soir: un objectif réaliste si je prends garde de me “programmer/vacciner” (“à la fin de l’épisode je sais que je vais vouloir enchaîner avec un deuxième, c’est fait pour ça, mais je vais quand même éteindre la télé et l’ordi et m’arrêter là même si c’est frustrant”) et si j’évite de mettre en route la série quand mon moral est en berne (mieux vaut juste écrire ou lire, à ce moment-là, et faire l’impasse sur la télé). Voilà un petit aperçu, il y en a d’autres.
Sur ce, il est grand temps que je descende (avec Juju) voir ce qui se passe ce soir à Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital!
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on July 8 that it had issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity and gender-based persecution following the group's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
The move follows Russia's recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government on July 3. Russia, which had previously designated the Taliban as a banned terrorist group, became the first country in the world to recognize it.
In a statement, the ICC named Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Afghanistan's top judge Abdul Hakim Haqqani as suspects in a campaign of systematic oppression targeting women, girls, and others who do not conform to the group's rigid gender ideology.
The court said the alleged crimes took place across Afghanistan from the Taliban's return to power on August 15, 2021, and continued at least until Jan. 20, 2025. The suspects are believed to have played key roles in the enforcement of Taliban policies that led to "murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance."
The persecution was not limited to women and girls, according to the ICC. The court said that men perceived as allies of women or opponents of Taliban ideology were also targeted.
The ICC emphasized that the Taliban implemented a state-led policy of repression that violated fundamental human rights and freedoms across the country.
Most of the international community has refused to formally recognize the Taliban regime due to its human rights abuses and failure to meet international standards.
Meanwhile, since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the Kremlin has deepened relationships with authoritarian regimes, including North Korea, Iran, and now the Taliban. Russia has expanded trade with Afghanistan and allowed Taliban officials to participate in Russian forums.
In December 2024, the Russian State Duma passed a law allowing certain groups, including the Taliban, to be removed from the country's list of banned terrorist organizations. The move paved the way for official recognition.
Putin has referred to the Taliban as "allies," and Lavrov has called them "sane people," despite the group's ongoing enforcement of strict Islamic law, including gender apartheid, public executions, and bans on women's education.
The Kyiv IndependentDr. Gary E Myers
The European Union has reached a long-term trade agreement with Ukraine, marking the end of wartime trade liberalisation measures, though key details of the deal remain undisclosed.
EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen announced the agreement on June 30, calling it a "predictable" and "reciprocal" framework. However, they did not reveal the final quotas or volumes included in the deal. Sefcovic noted that the finer points would be finalised "in the coming days."
The new deal replaces the autonomous trade measures (ATMs) that allowed Ukrainian agri-food exports to enter the EU tariff-free since 2022. Those temporary measures expired on June 5, reinstating pre-war trade conditions for a brief period.
Structured in three tiers, the new framework introduces modest increases in quotas for products considered sensitive by EU member states, such as eggs, poultry, sugar, wheat, maize, and honey. A second group of products—including butter, skimmed milk powder, oats, barley, malt, and gluten—will see their quotas adjusted to reflect peak import levels reached since the start of the war. A third category, which includes items such as whole milk powder, fermented milk, mushrooms, and grape juice, will be fully liberalised.
Once finalised, the text of the agreement will be submitted to the Council for ratification.
Sefcovic said negotiations concluded over the weekend, less than a month after formal talks began. However, some critics claim the EU delayed the process to avoid backlash from farmers ahead of Poland’s presidential election.
The agreement also benefits EU producers, granting them greater access to the Ukrainian market for goods like pork, poultry, and sugar. But Hansen made it clear that expanded access for Ukrainian exports will depend on Ukraine’s compliance with EU agricultural standards by 2028, including rules on animal welfare and pesticide use. "This commitment also fits perfectly with Ukraine's EU accession path," he said.
The deal includes safeguard provisions, allowing the EU or individual member states to restrict imports if domestic markets face serious disruptions. “Both EU and Ukrainian producers deserve a stable and predictable basis for the future development of bilateral trade,” Hansen added.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk
Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an official invitation to attend the G20 summit in South Africa, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Marat Berdyev said in an interview with state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti on June 19.
South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a signatory to the Rome Statute, meaning it is obliged to arrest Putin if he enters the country.
The ICC issued a warrant for the Russian leader's arrest in March 2023 over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Last week, we received an official invitation. This is an appeal from the head of state, the president of South Africa (Cyril Ramaphosa), to his colleagues," Berdyev said.
The summit is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg from Nov. 22 to 23. Berdyev noted that Russia's final decision on Putin's participation will be made closer to the date. In recent years, Russia has been represented at G20 summits by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Despite the warrant, South Africa continues to deepen political and military ties with Moscow. In 2023, the country conducted joint naval drills with Russia and China, and maintains its membership in the BRICS bloc alongside both nations.
In November 2024, Putin skipped the G20 summit in Brazil, another ICC member state, and sent Lavrov instead. Russia's G20 participation has continued uninterrupted despite its war against Ukraine.
In September 2024, Putin made a rare visit to Mongolia, which is also a signatory of the ICC, prompting criticism over the non-enforcement of the warrant.
The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir
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