Ukraine Targets Moscow With Hundreds Of Drones

Russian officials have reported more than 600 drones targeting Moscow, in what appears to be one of Ukraine’s largest aerial attacks of the war.

Russian forces downed 180 of the drones over the Moscow region and emergency services were working at crash sites, mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, without going into detail on any casualties or damage.

Drones hit a warehouse of Russian e-commerce company Wildberries and other facilities near Moscow, regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said separately. At least three people, including a 10-year-old girl, were injured in the region, he added.

Wildberries, a frequent target of Kyiv’s attacks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said drone debris hit a wall at the warehouse, causing minor damage.

Several other Russian-controlled regions, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, also reported heavy attacks from Ukraine, Reuters said.

Related:

Putin Has Run Out of Moves — Anders Åslund, Project Syndicate

This Time Could Be Different For Russia Sanctions — Simon Johnson and Oleg Ustenko, Project Syndicate

Putin Likes His Worst Option In Ukraine — Carl Bildt, Project Syndicate

Letting Russia Burn — Nina L. Khrushcheva, Project Syndicate

X-Bow Interceptor Targets The High Cost Of Drone Defense

X-Bow, manufacturers of solid rocket motors, have been awarded an $11 million contract to build low-cost interceptors – solving the problem of sending million-dollar missiles against thousand-dollar drones.

X-Bow unveiled its supersonic Buckler interceptor at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2026. It is designed to counter Group 3 unmanned aerial systems, a broad category covering drones weighing 25-600 kg, capable of flying at altitudes between 1 and 5.5 km, at speeds of 100-250 knots (185-465 km/h).

This includes the Iranian Shahed drone and its variants currently under production in Russia. A Shahed can be built for as little as $20,000, while the Buckler comes in at under $100,000, a fraction of the cost of other missile systems

X-Bow manufactures the airframe, solid rocket motor, and propellant in-house. This vertical integration allows the company to improve cost control while allowing maximum production scalability at a time when the U.S. industrial base is under significant demand.

Brazil’s President Hails Oil Discovery Near Amazon River

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has hailed the discovery of oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, saying it could be “a passport to the country's future”.

His decision to allow exploratory drilling in the area known as the Brazilian Equatorial Margin was heavily criticized by environmentalists, who raised concerns that any potential oil spills could devastate its ecosystem.

Lula, who is running for another four-year term in elections scheduled for October, stressed that he remained committed to phasing out fossil fuels to curb climate change.

The oil discovery was made in the sea about 175km off the Amazon coast, but the size of the field is not yet clear.

It is also still unknown whether extracting the oil, which is located at a depth of 2,886m, would be commercially viable.

Conservationists have warned that the area where the exploratory drilling is taking place is very biodiverse, the BBC said.