Tag Archive for: russia

Latest news on Russia, Ukraine and the war

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U.S. approves potential sale $3.75 billion of M1A1 Abrams tanks to Poland

U.S. Army Abrams tank leaves ship during operation Atlantic Resolve rotation in Riga port, Latvia October 16, 2019.

Ints Kalnins | Reuters

The U.S. State Department has approved a potential sale of 116 General Dynamics made M1A1 Abrams tanks, other vehicles and munitions to Poland in a deal valued at up to $3.75 billion, the Pentagon said.

The sale comes just months after Poland was authorized to buy 250 M1A2 tanks by the same maker. With this new option, Poland could elect to buy a mix of the two tank versions as it seeks to modernize its military and adjust to new geopolitical realities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The package would include vehicles to recover disabled tanks, eight assault bridges and other vehicles. It would also provide thousands of rounds of advanced munitions including armor-piercing rounds, spares and technical support, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the possible sale on Tuesday.

Despite approval by the State Department, the notification does not indicate that a contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.

— Reuters

Blinken says U.S. neither encourages nor enables Ukraine to strike inside Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken attends the Freedom of Expression Roundtable, in New York, U.S., September 19, 2022. 

Craig Ruttle | Reuters

The United States has neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, but repeated Washington’s determination to make sure Kyiv has the equipment it needs to defend itself.

A third Russian airfield was ablaze from a drone strike, a day after Ukraine demonstrated an apparent new ability to penetrate hundreds of miles (km) deep into Russian airspace with attacks on two Russian air bases. Kyiv did not directly claim responsibility for the strikes, but nonetheless celebrated them.

— Reuters

At U.N., U.S., Russia accuse each other of no interest in Ukraine talks

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia addresses journalists regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations Headquarters in…

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Botnets, Trojans, DDoS From Ukraine and Russia Have Increased Since Invasion

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Activity from IP addresses in Ukraine and Russia has shown a substantial spike in malware, helping botnets spread since February 2022.

The data comes from security researchers at Top10VPN, who shared a report about the findings with Infosecurity ahead of publication.

In particular, Trojan malware with more significant increases in activity from Ukraine and Russia IP addresses since February 2022 included Citadel Trojan, CoreBOT Trojan, Wauchos Trojan and Nivdort Trojan.

“Some of the biggest sustained increases in malware activity since the war began were in Ukraine [and] have related to trojans, several of which can be used to create botnets,” wrote Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN.

“This suggests that bad actors may have been targeting Ukraine, where cybersecurity has naturally been a lower priority for much of the population, in order to expand their botnets.”

Further, the report suggested an increase in the Avalanche malware families using Russian and Ukraine IP addresses despite the shutdown of the crime syndicate in 2016. In this regard, Top10VPN observed individual daily surges of as much as 1500% compared to before February.

“Despite the dismantling of major botnets Avalanche and Andromeda/Gamarue several years ago, some of the key malware families that were hosted on the now-defunct networks have been particularly resurgent in Ukraine and Russia in recent months,” Migliano added.

“While this is not to suggest that these networks have somehow been resurrected, it’s concerning to observe increases in the threat posed by this malware localized to countries directly involved in a major conflict.”

The report also noted that distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks originating from Ukraine increased 363% in March compared to the average before February.

“These distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks became relentless once Russia’s military invaded Ukraine on February 24, as the Kremlin sought to weaken its enemy by knocking offline critical networked infrastructure,” Migliano explained.

Further, while the most significant increases in malware activity have come from Ukraine IP addresses, Top10VPN noted that there have…

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Russia has declared hybrid war on Britain

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The reported hacking of Liz Truss’s mobile phone over the summer, suspected to have been conducted by people working on behalf of the Kremlin, should raise alarm bells across Whitehall. Britain is under fierce attack in this new era of hybrid warfare. While we may not be exchanging fire on the battlefield, our critical national infrastructure will be severely undermined and potentially destroyed if we fail to get a grip.

Currently, it is quite clear that our political establishment is not taking the threat seriously enough. The compromised information on Ms Truss’s personal phone, it is reported, may have included sensitive information about the Ukraine war. If true, that would be an extraordinary dereliction of security. Even in the analogue days of the Second World War, it is hard to imagine any government minister making calls or sending cables about sensitive military or diplomatic issues through devices otherwise used for personal matters.

We may indeed have extraordinary technology these days, allowing us to encrypt messages as soon as they are sent, but this amounts to nothing if we continue to see Ukraine as a far-off battle that affects us only on our television screens. At times of war – and this is a war the UK is heavily engaged in – even encrypted communications should be carefully guarded by Whitehall’s security apparatus.

For Putin considers Britain to be his second biggest enemy in Europe, behind Ukraine. He demonstrated his particular hatred for us four years ago, with the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury. His authorities will use any means possible to damage us.

We therefore cannot put anything past him. That includes the severing of the Shefa-2 fibre-optic cables between Scotland, Shetland and the Faroes. These have been played down as accidents – “probably by a fishing vessel” – but how likely is it that an accident would produce two separate cuts on the same day, especially when there was a Russian “research” vessel in the same seaway? We should at the very least investigate the possibility of sabotage.

Indeed, it was just a couple of days after the Shefa-2 cuts that three fibre-optic cables were cut in the Mediterranean off Marseille,…

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Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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World Bank provides Ukraine with additional $500 million

A Ukrainian helicopter flies in Donetsk region, on September 22, 2022.

Anatolii Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images

The World Bank has distributed another $500 million to Ukraine to help finance the country’s critical spending needs.

The financing, provided by its lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, had been supported by $500 million in loan guarantees from the United Kingdom that were announced on Sept. 30, the bank said.

In total, the bank said it has authorized $13 billion in emergency financing for Ukraine, of which $11.4 billion has been distributed.

A report published in September by the World Bank, the Ukrainian government and the European Commission estimated reconstruction and recovery costs totaled $349 billion as of June 1. However, the number is expected to keep increasing as the war drags on.

— Natalie Tham

Four ships carrying more than 150,000 metric tons of agricultural products to leave Ukraine

ISTANBUL, TURKIYE – AUGUST 09: An aerial view of “Glory” named empty grain ship as Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations (UN) of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) conduct inspection on vessel in Istanbul, Turkiye on August 09, 2022. The UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal on July 22 to reopen three Ukrainian ports — Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny — for grain that has been stuck for months because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its sixth month. (Photo by Ali Atmaca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The organization overseeing the export of grain from Ukraine said it has approved four vessels to leave the besieged country.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal announced in July among Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the vessels are carrying 159,662 metric tons of grain and other crops.

Two ships will depart from Ukraine’s Yuzhny-Pivdennyi for China and Italy carrying corn and sunflower meal. One vessel will leave Odesa for Vietnam and is carrying nearly 57,000 metric tons of wheat. The fourth ship will depart from Chornomorsk to Algeria carrying 14,270 metric tons of wheat.

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