7:33 AM 10/20/2022 - Russia admits to using "several hundred" domestically produced kamikaze drones in Ukraine | Germany's Scholz: scorched earth tactics won't help Putin win the war | Headlines | No 10 chief of staff’s position untenable amid lobbying claims, says Labour
Russia admits to using "several hundred" domestically produced kamikaze drones in Ukraine
Russia admits to using "several hundred" domestically produced kamikaze drones in Ukraine. Image: Mike Mareen/Shutterstock.com
“Several hundred” domestically produced kamikaze drones have been used in Ukraine since the start of the war, according to reports from Russia.
“Since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the Russian military has already used several hundred domestic bomber munitions. We are talking about Kub drones and two types of Lancets,” the source said.
He added that “Russian kamikaze drones, in particular, show high efficiency in destroying anti-aircraft missile systems of Ukrainian troops, as well as radar stations of various types, including counter-battery control stations and radars of Ukraine’s air defence system.”
The source revealed that “the borne ammunition is highly effective in engaging enemy manpower both in the open and in cover.”
He added: “Not least of all, this effectiveness is ensured by the low physical fields of the UAVs – they are barely detectable in both radar, thermal, visible and acoustic ranges.
“The Ukrainian militants only manage to hear the drone approaching at the very last moment, when it is too late.”
On Wednesday, October 19, it was also revealed by the Russian Armed Forces that they had been using the Leer-3 complex to jam Ukrainian communications.
According to the Russian Armed Forces, servicemen are using the Leer-3 complex to jam communications of the Ukrainian Army “within a radius of up to 30 km for dozens of hours.”
It added: “The Leer-3 electronic warfare and electronic reconnaissance complex is designed to suppress GSM communications using jamming signals transmitted by a special UAV.
“The complex’s direct strike capability is the Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles. They are equipped with special radio signal transmitters imitating operation of GSM base networks and counteracting the use of subscriber terminals.
“Such equipment allows blocking the operation of any devices in certain bands at a distance of up to 30 kilometres, as well as enabling them to send false messages to subscribers.
“However, the main task of Leer-3 complexes is to detect mass accumulation of cellular subscribers in forested areas, along river beds, in village barns and other uncharacteristic places.
“The coordinates of such clusters are immediately transmitted to headquarters for further decision-making.”
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was using energy and hunger as weapons but has failed to break the West's unity and will not achieve his war aims through scorched earth tactics.
Speaking to the German parliament, he also said Germany had freed itself from dependence on Russian gas but was working to bring energy prices down, including by securing new gas delivery contracts from other countries.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Labour has claimed Mark Fullbrook’s position as Downing Street chief of staff is no longer tenable after it was revealed that before his appointment he tried to change UK foreign policy by arranging for two cabinet ministers to meet Fathi Bashagha, a Libyan politician with links to the Russian Wagner Group.
The Guardian had previously reported that Fullbrook, as chief executive of Fullbrook Strategies, had lobbied on behalf of Bashagha, but the Sunday Times alleged he arranged for Bashagha to come to London in June, where he met the then business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the education secretary at the time, Nadhim Zahawi.
Neither minister registered the meetings, which seem to have been designed to persuade the British government to adopt a policy of broad neutrality in Libya and support Bashagha.
Soon after his visit to London, the foreign affairs select committee held a rare off-evidence session via satellite link with Bashagha.
The session was highly unusual given the committee was not conducting an inquiry into Libya at the time, it did not seem related to any of its other work and it largely gave Bashagha a platform to lobby for British support.
The committee members – few of whom attended the session – hardly challenged Bashagha’s claim to be the legitimate prime minister of Libya.
Libya is broadly divided between two sides: one based in Tripoli, dependent on Turkish support and led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and the other based in the east and reliant on the support of Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Before his visit to London, Bashagha had entered Tripoli expecting his arrival to foment an uprising in his support. However, he was forced to hastily retreat when the militia backing he sought failed to materialise.
Bashagha had formed an odd alliance of convenience with not only the powerful speaker of Libya’s house of representatives (HoR), Aguila Saleh, but also eastern Libya’s military strongman Khalifa Haftar, a man accused of war crimes.
Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) laid a bloody siege to Tripoli in 2019-20 with the support of thousands of Kremlin-affiliated Wagner Group mercenaries. The brutal and economically hugely damaging siege was only defeated when Turkey intervened to provide military training and equipment to the military forces of the government of national unity.
Bashagha’s claim to be prime minister of Libya derived from a vote of confidence decision issued by the HoR, and the recommendation of members of the high council of state (HCS). The HoR claims Dbeibah should have stood down after it was impossible to hold elections as planned in December.
The UK ambassador in Libya, Caroline Hurndall, has herself met Bashagha but the UK has adopted a broadly neutral position focusing on the need for both sides to agree the terms of national elections.
Kwarteng has previously defended Haftar, writing a pamphlet calling for Britain to swing behind the strongman. He did so after a visit to Libya, where he met Haftar in conjunction with Leo Docherty, now a Foreign Office minister responsible for Europe.
Fullbrook has defended himself by saying he has recused himself of any responsibility for Libya policy, but at least nine countries – Italy, France, the UAE, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, Qatar and Tunisia – have a direct interest in the internationalised Libyan power struggle, making it hard for Fullbrook to compartmentalise his involvement in Libya.
In a joint letter to Liz Truss, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, and the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, warned the prime minister that Fullbrook’s “continued presence poses not just a potential security risk but an ongoing threat to the credibility and prospects of UK diplomacy and ethical standards in government”. There is now “no place in No 10” for Fullbrook, they said.
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“This raises grave questions about the involvement of the prime minister’s own chief of staff in murky paid lobbying efforts for foreign clients,” Lammy said.
“This was work undertaken to overturn Britain’s diplomatic position on behalf of an overseas entity, through visits that were not approved by the Foreign Office or No 10 and meetings with ministers that were not declared.”
Truss has not appointed an ethics adviser on the ministerial code, so the propriety of the ministers’ meetings in apparent conflict with official UK foreign policy may not be officially investigated.
Fullbrook’s position was further destabilised on Sunday when he was also forced to recuse himself from discussions about changes to the government’s smoking strategy due to his past as a tobacco industry lobbyist.
Fullbrook worked on behalf of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes.
The government is considering shelving an action plan on tackling smoking, according to media reports.
Liz Truss’s chief of staff was paid by a Libyan warlord to persuade ministers that he should be treated as the country’s recognised leader.
Downing Street said Mark Fullbrook, 60, would play no part in Libyan policy work after The Sunday Times revealed he had worked as a lobbyist for Fathi Bashagha.
Labour criticised the PM’s judgment in appointing the political strategist, who has also been interviewed by the FBI over his lobbying.
Before taking up his role with the government, Mr Fullbrook arranged meetings for Bashagha with Kwasi Kwarteng and Nadhim Zahawi through his firm Fullbrook Strategies.
In exchange for diplomatic recognition, the Libyan reportedly offered a concession for the UK on access to oil fields and a crackdown on Mediterranean migrants.
A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook said both he and his firm had complied with all legal obligations and conducted everything in an open and transparent manner.
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Немецкие социал-демократы на протяжении десятилетий ошибались в отношении России. Такое признание давно назревало - и вот теперь оно прозвучало с высокой трибуны. Сопредседатель Социал-демократической партии Германии (СДПГ) Ларс Клингбайль (Lars Klingbeil) выступил вечером 18 октября в Берлине перед однопартийцами с программной речью.
В ней 44-летний политик, занявший этот пост в декабре 2021 года, призвал к полному пересмотру подхода к России на фоне войны в Украине и перечислил четыре кардинальных заблуждения партии, политику которой долго определял экс-канцлер Герхард Шрёдер (Gerhard Schröder). Многие влиятельные члены СДПГ годами занимали руководящие должности в различных германо-российских организациях и обществах и нередко лоббировали интересы РФ и "Газпрома". Сегодня ключевой фигурой партии является нынешний политический лидер Германии канцлер Олаф Шольц (Olaf Scholz).
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