[L'article L’ancien PDG de la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain se lance en politique  a d'abord été publié dans InfoBref.]

[L'article Lancement du registre des activités d’influence étrangère  a d'abord été publié dans InfoBref.]

[L'article Santé Canada autorise Moderna à tester un vaccin contre la maladie Ebola a d'abord été publié dans InfoBref.]

It's possible Ukrainian forces launched a new type of ballistic missile at Moscow on 1 July. The apparent Ukrainian missile, which air defenses reportedly shot down over the Russian capital, is a harbinger of things to come.

Ukraine is developing several new ballistic missiles with the range to reach Moscow, 500 km from the border with Ukraine. If and when they begin raining down on Russian cities, gas facilities, factories and refineries, Russia may have to change the way it fights.

The Russians might have to aim their best S-400 air defense batteries into the sky, instead of aiming them at the ground. For Ukraine, that could mean some respite from relentless Russian missile strikes. After all, S-400s doubling as surface-to-surface munitions are in the mix most nights when Russia bombards Ukraine.

"Ballistic missiles force a different problem on Russia," wrote Michael Bohnert, an analyst for California think tank RAND.

The coming shift comes down to speed. Where one-way attack drones and many cruise missiles are slow—often motoring along at just a few hundred kilometers an hour—and are thus fairly easy to shoot down, ballistic missiles are fast.

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They're all supersonic, traveling at least the speed of sound. Heavier ballistic missiles may even be hypersonic. That is, capable of reaching five times the speed of sound.

The same air defenses that swat down incoming drones can't stop ballistic missiles. Only the best air defenses stand any chance of hitting an incoming ballistic missile. Ukraine's main defense against Russian ballistic missiles is its six or so US-made Patriot batteries; for Russia, the main defense against the coming Ukrainian ballistics will be the roughly 50 S-400 batteries.

Keenly aware of the deep strike dynamics, the Russians are pivoting away from easy-to-kill drones toward hard-to-kill ballistics. This is a serious problem for Ukrainian air defenses, which are desperately short of missiles for their Patriot batteries owing to the Americans' reluctance to sell or donate missiles. US forces are struggling with their own air defense shortfalls resulting from the on-again, off-again war with Iran.

In one wave of Russian attacks on 6 July, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 326 out of 351 incoming Geran drones and 37 of 39 incoming subsonic cruise missiles. But the Russians also launched six supersonic anti-ship missiles and 23 ballistic missiles. Every single one got through, wreaking havoc across Kyiv. At least 22 people died in the capital and the surrounding oblast, and 90 more were injured.

Deep strike disparity

At present, Ukraine can't match these strikes. Yes, the Ukrainians can launch lots of one-way attack drones. In fact, far more drones than Russia can launch. And the Ukrainians also have a reliable subsonic cruise missile in the form of the Fire Point FP-5. But Ukraine doesn't yet have a fully operational ballistic missile in the class of the Russian Iskander or S-400 (in its surface strike mode).

That's about to change, of course. The apparent 1 July ballistic missile strike targeting Moscow was just a preview of a wider Ukrainian campaign. Fire Point co-founder and chief engineer Denys Shtilierman has circulated what he claimed was test footage of a new ballistic missile, possibly the 855-km FP-9, and hinted that strikes on Russian soil could begin soon.

Soon has a season attached to it now. Fire Point CEO Iryna Terekh told The War Zone the company is casting the FP-9's solid-fuel engine—4.6 tons of propellant, more than four times what the smaller FP-7 carries—and that everything else on the missile is finished. "It's the last touch on the engine, and we are ready to start," she said, putting the first test launch in the autumn. Shtilierman told interviewer Dmytro Gordon on 27 July that strikes on Russia could begin as early as this autumn, too.

If FP-9s begin bombarding Moscow, Russian commanders might not have the luxury of using many, or any, of their S-400s for surface strikes.

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Every month, Russian industry produces approximately 40 missiles for S-400s batteries. If Ukraine can fling a few dozen FP-9s or similar missiles at Russian targets every month, Russia would have to devote its entire S-400 capability to air defense just to blunt the bombardment. After all, it usually takes several missiles in the class of a Patriot or S-400 to hit one incoming ballistic missile.

"Russia would have to choose," Bohnert wrote. Either "keep using the S-400 as a strike weapon and accept that hardened targets get hit, or return the system to its designed air-defense role."

If the Russians choose protection, they'll have somewhat fewer ballistic missiles to fling at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. That should take some pressure off Ukraine's own overstretched air defenses.

Andy Burnham's first move on Ukraine as British prime minister was to promise that none of Britain's commitments would lapse. Hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Portsmouth Naval Base on 27 July, a week into the job, he handed Kyiv the intellectual property behind Britain's Stone Cloak drone jammers and pledged to honor "every commitment this country has made to Ukraine in full."

What London, Paris, and the roughly 40 other members have not settled is what the force those commitments promise would be armed with.

A French and British contingent of up to 10,000 troops in Ukraine would be a useful demonstration of solidarity, but not very effective unless they, and the Ukrainian soldiers alongside them, are extremely well equipped with weapons that would deter Russia from another invasion.

Those weapons are the part of the plan that does not yet exist—and the only deep-strike production line scheduled to open before the guarantee could be called on runs through Ukrainian factories.

What the Coalition has actually promised

Neither leader said anything new at Portsmouth about the troops themselves, and the Presidential Office recorded only that Burnham would continue co-chairing the coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron and then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer launched it in London in March 2025 to unite countries dedicated to Ukrainian peace.

Its political leaders have been putting diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia while military commanders continue to put together plans to secure Ukraine in the event that Russia agrees to a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

Those plans became clearer on 6 January 2026, when Coalition members signed security guarantees including US-led truce monitoring and a multinational troop presence in Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached, to be activated at Ukraine's request once a credible cessation of hostilities takes place. Poland, which borders Ukraine, agreed to provide logistical support only, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk stating at the time that Polish troops would not be deployed "under any scenario."

The Coalition has grown well beyond its founding pair. Around 40 countries were represented at the Paris summit on 13 July, where Moldova and North Macedonia joined; Bulgaria's government announced its exit the following day. France and the UK remain the only two to have pledged ground troops, which is why Zelenskyy has called their presence "mandatory" for the guarantees to mean anything.

The two will put 1,500 troops through the Coalition's first joint exercise in Poland in September, which Warsaw describes as logistics and transport maneuvers rather than combat ones.

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The missiles that would actually deter Russia

Long-range deep precision strike (DPS) missiles and one-way effectors (OWE), aka kamikaze drones, are in demand following their demonstrated strategic use in the Middle East and in Russia's war on Ukraine. Ifri argued the main lesson from Ukraine is that effective deep-strike posture emerges from a layered mix of capabilities rather than from any single weapon system.

The layers do different jobs.

• Less-expensive, mass-produced systems like OWEs and attack drones saturate air defenses, as Iran has been doing with Shahed drones in the Middle East.
• MBDA, which builds both ends of the range, describes its own one-way effector as the weapon that breaks the door down for high-end systems like Storm Shadow/SCALP.

Getting through the door is not the same as destroying what Moscow values on the other side, and it is the heavy-payload end of the spectrum where Europe has bought least.

That gap matters because deterrence here is deterrence by counter-strike. European countries are pursuing high-value DPS systems because the alliance seeks to make its enemies fear that the use of their own deep-strike weaponry will be met with powerful retaliation.

Ground-launched systems carry that threat more credibly than air- or sea-launched ones, and Europe has been short of the class since the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty collapsed in 2019.

Why ground-launched, and why Europe has none

Same missile, different launcher. MBDA's land system is its naval cruise missile on a truck rather than a warship, and the American system Europe has been eyeing fires the same Tomahawks a destroyer does.

What changes is whether the launcher survives to fire a second time:

• Warships must be on station and can be tracked.
• Aircraft must reach a launch point through Russian air defenses, which is why Ukraine's Storm Shadow sorties are rationed by how many jets can get close and come home.
• A road-mobile launcher in a treeline has neither problem—and deterrence by punishment works only if the adversary believes retaliation will still arrive after his opening strike.

Why does Europe have no ground-based deep-strike missiles?

Europe starts near zero because it was once forbidden to start. The INF treaty removed the entire class from the continent for three decades, and Europe—the theater, never a party to the agreement—complied. Russia did not.

• 8 December 1987 — Washington and Moscow sign the INF Treaty, banning ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 km. It eventually eliminates 2,692 of them.
• 2014 — The United States first declares Russia in violation, over a ground-launched cruise missile later identified as the 9M729.
• December 2017 — Russia admits the missile exists and insists it complies.
• December 2018 — The United States declares Russia in material breach. NATO allies back the finding.
• 2 August 2019 — The treaty lapses. Neither side is bound, and Russia already has the missile.
• February 2026 — Six European states sign an ELSA letter of intent covering low-cost one-way effectors above 500 kilometers: the cheap layer, not the heavy one.
• June 2026 — MBDA unveils its ground-launched cruise missile. First test firing planned for 2028, earliest availability 2029. Nobody has ordered it.

Seven years after the treaty lapsed, European militaries still lack a category of weapon they were once forbidden to field and their adversary was already building.

Despite years at war, Russia retains a substantial stock of long-range missiles, including the Oreshnik ballistic missile, the Novator 9M729 cruise missile, and its Shahed/Geran-2 attack drones. It is not holding them back.

Russia fired 126 ballistic missiles at Ukraine in July alone, the most in any month this year, from road-mobile ground launchers—the class of weapon Europe is still three years from fielding at deep-strike range.

If a ceasefire is declared and a small contingent of European troops is deployed, a significant arsenal of ground-launched DPS weapons might be the only thing standing between that contingent and a repeat.

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The heavy layer arrives at the end of the decade

France's MBDA unveiled a complete version of its "European Tomahawk," the Land Cruise Missile (LCM Mk2), at the Eurosatory show in June—the ground-launched version of its battle-proven MdCN, with a first launcher firing planned for 2028 and availability from 2029.

The naval variant is in contract negotiations with France's armaments agency, the DGA. No order has been confirmed for the land-launched version, though Poland remains interested in collaborating through the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA).

ELSA itself shows where European money is going. When France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the UK signed a letter of intent under the program on 12 February, it covered collaborative development of low-cost effectors with ranges above 500 kilometers—the saturation layer, not the heavy one.

The six did agree in June to split ELSA into eight implementation groups, three of them covering ground-launched strike by range band. None of those lines is expected to field before the 2030s.

The American shelf is no fuller. Ukraine unsuccessfully requested Tomahawks from Washington, even though they would have come with authorization-to-use requirements. That option looks increasingly off the table after America's sustained use of Tomahawks under Operation Epic Fury—more than 1,000 missiles fired over the campaign's 39 days, according to CSIS—a burn rate that will take years to replace at current production rates, with Washington's own orders taking priority.

US forces also ran their Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) inventory down hard: CSIS estimates 40 to 70 fired from a prewar stock of about 90, and quotes one Army official who says the entire inventory went. Either figure casts doubt on Poland's plans to buy the American system.

The Coalition's planned "reassurance force" is being designed against that background.

As Armida van Rij, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, put it in mid-July, it would likely be "a small force, light footprint, very defensive posture, quite far away from the front line," which raises the question of "how useful actually is that as a deterrent to Russia." She added that there remains "a bigger issue around the credibility of such a force and the credibility of a European deterrent without a US backstop."

Zelenskyy has made the same objection about placement, telling partners that 10,000 troops stationed in Lviv would not stop anything.

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The factories are not moving faster than the schedule

The two countries pledging troops are also the two whose military leadership says it is not ready. General Fabien Mandon, chief of staff of the French armed forces, warned that France was not prepared for high-intensity conflict, citing an "insufficient number of ships and armaments" and a particular need for "more missiles with greater range and lethality."

In the UK, General Sir Roly Walker, chief of the general staff, said British land forces must act "with the urgency of wartime," warning that Russia "will only take us seriously ... when they see our factories producing at wartime production rates."

The money has since moved.

An additional 36 billion euros for France's 2024–2030 Military Programming Law was definitively adopted by Parliament on 1 July, bringing total planned defense investment to 436 billion euros—nearly $500 billion—by 2030.

Britain's Defence Investment Plan was published on 30 June, a year overdue, setting out £298 billion, about $400 billion, of investment over four years. Industry welcomed the clarity.

How quickly either plan converts into contracts, and contracts into missiles, is the question the 2029 date already answers.

The one deep-strike line that opens inside the window

Ukraine had to increase domestic defense production quickly, initially with drones and OWEs, then heavier systems like Fire Point's Flamingo cruise missile, shown internationally for the first time at Eurosatory in June.

Its combat record has improved: a 27 June strike on the Titan-Barrikady arms plant in Volgograd was among its most damaging yet, and Germany's Diehl Defence is now in talks to co-produce it, as Berlin looks for alternatives after Washington shelved plans to station Tomahawks there.

For deep-strike missions Ukraine has also relied on UK and French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, and on 13 July France went further, licensing Ukraine to manufacture SCALP missiles, AASM bombs, and Aster interceptors on its own soil.

The bilateral roadmap authorizes SCALP and AASM production "before the end of 2026 and starting as soon as possible," the Telegraph reported, though it attaches no date to the first missiles and notes that the factories will more plausibly run after a settlement than before one.

It is the only European deep-strike production line in the plan with a 2026 authorization attached at all—and it runs through Ukrainian factories, not European ones.

The Paris declaration commits the Coalition to activate its guarantees the moment a ceasefire enters into force, at Ukraine's request. No European ground-launched deep-strike missile is scheduled to be available before 2029, and the one closest to ready has no customer.

Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller is a risk management consultant advising public institutions and private-sector clients on geopolitical risks and their market implications. His work focuses on the Euro-Atlantic region, which has become a central geopolitical risk environment since 2022.

Editor's note. The opinions expressed in our Opinion section belong to their authors. Euromaidan Press' editorial team may or may not share them.

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Exclusives

Reconstruction holds Ukraine’s economy above water as service sector cracks. The sector rebuilding what Russia destroys is now the war economy’s most confident, while service firms slip into pessimism, and the overall mood stops improving.

Ukraine’s ousted defense minister took drone contracts away from the generals. Now they may take them back. The suppliers who thrived under the old system are already pushing to bring it back.

Can Ukrainian forces save Sloviansk and Kramatorsk?. Sloviansk and Kramatorsk are the last big free cities in Donetsk Oblast. Can Ukrainian forces save them from a creeping Russian advance?

Military

Over 100 strategic targets struck in Ukraine's 40-day campaign against Russia's war machine. Ukraine's Security Service says the operation combined deep strikes on air bases, oil facilities, air defenses, and shadow fleet vessels with battlefield attacks on more than 21,000 Russian military targets.

Two Russian missiles landed 5 and 150 meters from Lithuania's embassy in Kyiv. Its FM says strike could have been deliberate. Lithuania's foreign minister said Russia may have deliberately targeted diplomatic missions in Kyiv, noting no military sites stand near its damaged embassy.

Ukraine has intercepted 445,000 Russian aerial targets since 2022, but cracks in the shield are starting to widen. Ukraine says its air defenses have shot down hundreds of Russian missiles and tens of thousands of attack drones since 2022, as Russia increasingly shifts toward harder-to-intercept ballistic attacks.

Take Lyman, then Sloviansk, then Kramatorsk: Russia's plan is still stuck on step one, the Ukrainian military says. Russian commanders treat the town as the necessary launchpad, yet their infantry cannot hold ground inside it, according to the report.

ISW: First Pokrovsk, then Huliaipole, now Russia points its logistics-killing air campaign at the Fortress Belt. The 2025 version took months to set up advances, and this one is expected to move just as slowly.

No siren sounded before drone hit crowded Russian beach near missile maker's resort, killing six. OSINT analysts say Russian air defense likely brought it down.

Intelligence and technology

Mystery drone resembling America's F-117 stealth jet filmed over a Russian refinery. The unidentified aircraft appeared during a strike near Ufa, and Ukraine's military has said nothing about what it is.

This Russian refinery makes the jet fuel for Moscow's warplanes, and Ukraine keeps setting it on fire. Syzran supplies airfields and units of two Russian military districts, and it sits over 800 km from Ukraine. Also, Wildberries confirmed a fire at the Krasny Bor complex, the third of its Leningrad Oblast hubs struck in under two weeks.

Russia wanted Novorossiysk to be its main export gateway, Ukraine turned it into a chokepoint. The port handled every fifth ton of Russia's seaborne exports, but a grain-exporters' union now warns the Black Sea corridors could be blocked entirely.

Russia's largest retailer is taking cameras away from its own workers, month after eight of its warehouses burned. Russia's Wildberries now lets warehouse staff bring only button phones without cameras, after employees filmed Ukrainian drone strikes on its facilities and shared the footage.

Russia uses old KGB trick to get rid of Ukrainian soldiers not on battlefield. It's already tried more than 50 times this year. Russia is using "honey traps," fake dating profiles and staged dates, to lure Ukrainian soldiers to their deaths, the SBU says.

International

US begins handing Ukraine military aid mission to European allies as Pentagon reorganizes command. The Security Assistance Group-Ukraine has coordinated billions of dollars in military aid since 2022. The Pentagon says the transition reflects Europe's growing role in supporting Kyiv's defense.

Lithuania moves to produce Ukrainian drones locally under bilateral defense pact. The project will manufacture Ukrainian-designed drones in Lithuania using transferred technology, expanding Ukraine's production capacity abroad while strengthening Europe's defense industry.

Syria agrees to cut Russian oil imports as US pushes to curb Moscow's influence, Reuters. Russian crude shipments to Syria have risen sharply this year, making Moscow the country's dominant supplier, but Damascus is now reportedly seeking alternative sources as it pursues closer relations with Washington.

Russia is now Belgium's only LNG supplier, after Iran War disrupts imports, Bloomberg. Belgium's LNG intake plunged, yet every cargo it received in July came from Russia while European purchases from Moscow continued rising.

Georgia's sanctioned Kulevi refinery says switch to non-Russian crude is under way. Black Sea Petroleum says Kazakhstan's crude has already entered production and the first shipment from Libya is due later this month as the company seeks to meet EU requirements for ending its reliance on Russian oil.

Iran was prepared to strike three Ukrainian sites over sunken ship but paused after Kyiv's explanation, Tehran claims. A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader said Tehran still intends to make Ukraine "pay" for the attack despite suspending its immediate response. Ukraine has maintained the vessel was carrying Iranian drone and missile components for Russia.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia has destroyed 80% of Ukraine's power capacity. Its next target makes blackout survivable for only three days. Russia's aim this winter is to destroy Ukraine's water supplies, First Deputy PM and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal says.

Crimea mass shooting: Russian soldier reportedly kills three civilians and one fellow soldier. The detained serviceman reportedly opened fire on fellow soldiers before attacking residents outside Sevastopol. His identity and motive remain undisclosed.

Putin gave this brigade honorary title weeks after war crimes in Bucha. It's now hiding its own dead as "missing". The 64th Brigade, a main suspect in the Bucha atrocities, is intimidating wives of missing soldiers and relabeling its dead as "missing" to hide losses, the ATESH partisan movement says.

70 Ukrainian firefighters help tackle one of France's largest wildfires in the past 20 years. Ukrainian rescuers were assigned to the most challenging section, where they received their first tasks today.

Russia keeps hitting warehouses that keep Ukraine fed. This time, it was food storage outside Dnipro. A Russian drone strike ignited a large fire at food warehouses in a suburb of Dnipro, the regional administration says, with casualty information still being clarified.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine's former commander-in-chief just said what officials won't: NATO membership will never happen for Kyiv. Kyiv should tie its security to a future European military bloc.

Zelenskyy names one of the worst consequences of Russia's war. This threat is about to grow everywhere in the world. Ukraine needs 100 systems under its FREYJA anti-ballistic project to close its skies, President Zelenskyy says, pitching it as a future shared shield for Europe.

Read our previous daily review here.

The United States is reorganizing its Security Assistance Group-Ukraine (SAG-U), shifting greater responsibility for coordinating military assistance to European allies while maintaining support for Kyiv, US European Command (USEUCOM) announced on 3 August.

The changes affect the division of responsibilities between SAG-U, US military components, and NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU). According to USEUCOM, the reorganization is intended to improve the efficiency of military assistance while transferring leadership of key elements of the mission to allied countries.

Established in November 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion, the headquarters oversees long-term security assistance for Ukraine, including coordinating equipment deliveries, training Ukrainian forces, and sharing battlefield lessons learned with US and NATO militaries.

Pentagon says support for Ukraine will continue

USEUCOM said the reorganization "will not impact US support for Ukraine" and would free US resources for other global priorities while recognizing Europe's growing role in supporting Ukraine's defense.

"Allies have shown that they can take the lead in support of Ukraine's defense," USEUCOM commander Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich said.

"SAG-U was always meant to be a temporary command. Its transition builds on the progress that we have already seen, helping to set conditions for lasting peace in Ukraine."

US Army Europe and Africa spokesperson Col. Michael Weisman similarly said the reorganization "does not diminish our support or commitment to Ukraine" and that Washington would continue coordinating assistance through USEUCOM and NSATU in line with US policy.

Shift follows broader push for Europe to take the lead

The announcement follows reports that the Pentagon plans to hand leadership of SAG-U to another NATO member over the coming year while retaining a US deputy commander, a move reported by Politico.

According to the outlet, the transition forms part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to shift more responsibility for European security onto NATO allies. The administration has previously reduced US leadership roles within NATO's command structure and has repeatedly called on European countries to assume a greater share of the burden for Ukraine's defense and the alliance's collective security.

USEUCOM likewise said the realignment reflects Europe's leading role in supporting Ukraine over the past year.

USEUCOM said SAG-U has distributed more than $2 billion in security assistance over the past three and a half years while coordinating military aid from allied and partner nations.

Lithuania plans to establish production of Ukrainian-designed drones on its territory under a bilateral defense industry agreement, expanding Ukraine's manufacturing capacity abroad while strengthening Europe's defense industrial base, according to Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT.

Ukraine has increasingly pursued joint weapons production with allied countries as it seeks to scale up output, attract foreign investment, and build manufacturing capacity beyond the reach of Russian missile and drone attacks.

Bilateral drone agreement enters implementation phase

Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said the project will be carried out through joint investments under a defense industry cooperation agreement signed by Lithuania and Ukraine in May.

Speaking to the business daily Verslo žinios, Kaunas said his ministry was reorganizing its team to begin implementing what he described as the two countries' "drone deal."

"We have an agreement with Ukraine known as the drone deal. Changes are currently being made within the ministry's team to bring in key personnel who will begin translating that agreement into practical solutions on the ground, so that we can localize Ukrainian drone production in Lithuania," Kaunas said, according to LRT.

He said the drones would be manufactured in Lithuania using Ukrainian technology.

The agreement, signed by Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Gitanas Nausėda in May, provides for the joint production of four classes of Ukrainian drones – long-range strike drones, naval drones, interceptor drones, and bomber drones – as well as technology transfer and broader cooperation in air defense, missile defense, and unmanned systems.

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Ukraine builds production capacity with allies

Kaunas said the initiative would benefit both countries by expanding Ukraine's production capacity while helping Lithuania develop its own defense industry through new manufacturing capabilities, technological advances, and cooperation between Lithuanian and Ukrainian engineers.

For Kyiv, producing weapons abroad has become an increasingly important part of its defense strategy. Manufacturing in partner countries allows Ukrainian companies to expand output, access investment and industrial capacity, build more resilient supply chains, and reduce the risk of disruption from Russian long-range strikes while giving allies access to battlefield-tested Ukrainian technology.

Lithuania was among the first countries to back the initiative, having previously agreed to finance Ukrainian long-range drone production before formalizing the broader partnership this year.

Lithuania expands cooperation with Ukraine's defense industry

LRT reported that several Ukrainian defense companies have already received approval from Lithuania's national security commission to establish operations in the country, according to Invest Lithuania CEO Elijus Čivilis.

In June, Kaunas also invited Luxembourg-based drone manufacturer Luxuav, founded by Ukrainians, to conduct testing in Lithuania, underscoring the country's growing role as a base for Ukrainian defense technology and manufacturing in Europe.

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Syria has told the United States it is willing to drastically reduce imports of Russian crude oil as part of discussions over lifting Washington's remaining terrorism-related sanctions on the country, according to three sources familiar with the talks cited by Reuters.

The reported commitment would mark a significant shift for Damascus, which has remained heavily dependent on Russian oil since the fall of Bashar al-Assad despite pursuing closer ties with Western governments.

Russian oil reportedly discussed during sanctions negotiations

According to Reuters, senior Syrian officials told US counterparts they were prepared to reduce Russian oil imports during negotiations over removing Syria from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST), one of the last major sanctions designations still applied to the country.

US President Donald Trump announced in July that he intends to rescind Syria's designation, which has been in place since 1979, but the move remains subject to a congressional review period before taking effect.

Three sources told Reuters that the United States requested such a reduction and Damascus agreed, although they said Washington did not formally make it a precondition for lifting the designation.

A US State Department official told Reuters that Washington is encouraging Syria to work with "trusted corporate partners," particularly US companies, during the country's reconstruction and expects Damascus to comply with sanctions targeting Russia.

A White House official, meanwhile, said there was no formal link between removing Syria from the terrorism list and reducing Russian oil imports.

Removing the designation would eliminate one of the biggest remaining barriers to Syria's economic reintegration. While many US sanctions have already been lifted, the terrorism designation continues to restrict access to US assistance and complicate foreign investment, banking, and broader commercial ties, making its removal a key priority for Damascus.

Syria seeks alternatives to Russian crude

Despite improving relations with the West, Syria remains heavily reliant on Russian energy supplies. Reuters reported that Russian crude shipments to Syria have risen by 75% this year to around 60,000 barrels per day, making Moscow the country's dominant oil supplier.

One Syrian source told Reuters that Syrian officials have argued they currently rely on Russian oil out of necessity rather than preference, saying the removal of the terrorism designation would allow Damascus to diversify its energy imports.

A Syrian energy official also told Reuters the government is already searching for alternative suppliers and expects a "radical change" in the country's energy sourcing.

Analysts told Reuters that replacing Russian crude quickly could prove difficult without creating fuel shortages or increasing import costs.

Part of broader US effort to reduce Russia's regional influence

The reported discussions reflect a broader US effort to weaken Russia's remaining economic and strategic influence in Syria following Assad's removal from power.

Reuters noted that Washington has recently placed greater emphasis on reducing Moscow's role in the country, while Congress has directed the Pentagon to examine options for limiting Russia's military presence, including at its naval facility in Tartus and the Hmeimim air base.

The move also mirrors broader efforts to curb demand for Russian energy beyond the European Union. Last month, Georgia's sanctioned Kulevi oil refinery announced it had begun replacing Russian crude with supplies from Kazakhstan and Libya after the EU imposed sanctions over its processing of Russian oil, giving the company six months to complete the transition.