Russia has dramatically increased its use of jet-powered attack drones against Ukraine, deploying thousands of high-speed weapons capable of overwhelming air defences and striking targets hundreds of miles behind the front line. The new generation of Russian Geran drones can travel at up to 600km/h, carry warheads weighing as much as 90kg and, in some variants, fly almost 1,000km, giving Moscow a weapon that combines some of the capabilities of a cruise missile with the lower cost and mass production of a drone. Their emergence in large numbers is regarded as a significant development because their speed means many can…

Russia has attacked a passenger train travelling from Kyiv to Warsaw in a drone strike just two miles from the Polish border. The drone strike has prompted warnings that Moscow is deliberately escalating the war towards Nato territory. The train was struck near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing on Sunday after passengers had been evacuated. A nearby petrol station was also hit and caught fire. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said European politicians and security officials had been travelling through the border area after attending the Yalta European Strategy conference in Ukraine. Passengers included Boris Johnson, the former…

Britain faces the “worst of both worlds” as hostile states pose a growing security threat while terrorism persists, the head of MI5 has warned on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Sir Ken McCallum, director general of the Security Service, said the threat landscape had changed significantly since 2001 and called for Britain to continually adapt its national security defences. Writing in The Independent on the anniversary of the attacks, McCallum described the threats facing the UK today as “markedly different” and called for “relentless adaptation”. He said security should be treated as a “shared national endeavour”. “Sadly,…

Iran-backed rebels capture Mocha as missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia raise prospect of Pakistan and Turkey being drawn into widening conflict. Iran-backed Houthi forces have seized the strategic Yemeni port of Mocha as fighting with Saudi Arabia intensifies, strengthening the group’s position near the Bab al-Mandeb strait and one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Yemeni military sources said on Thursday that Houthi forces had taken control of the Red Sea port city following a major offensive across Hodeidah and Taiz provinces. Pro-government forces withdrew south towards Dhubab, about 46km from Mocha, following several days of fighting.…

Britain will spend more than £3 billion strengthening its military capabilities in space amid growing concern that Russia and China could target Western satellites in a future conflict. The government is investing in technology designed to detect hostile activity in orbit and protect satellites that provide British forces with communications, intelligence and navigation. Under a new UK Space Strategy, £880 million will be spent on space control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, while £2.8 billion will strengthen satellite communications, including the military’s SKYNET network. The investment reflects growing concern within NATO over the vulnerability of satellites on which modern…

New evidence surrounding alleged Saudi links to the September 11 hijackers has intensified calls for the US government to release further classified material as families prepare to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks. Previously unseen video footage, court documents and evidence seized by British counter-terrorism officers have raised fresh questions about Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who assisted two of the hijackers after they arrived in California. Bayoumi is a central figure in a $1 trillion (£733 billion) civil lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims against Saudi Arabia, which alleges the kingdom provided support to the men responsible…

The United States has destroyed Iranian oil tankers after missile attacks on American warships, as fighting between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia threatened to widen the Middle East war. American forces said they destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers on Tuesday after Tehran targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in two days. The strikes followed attacks over the weekend on three Iranian tankers after Iran fired ballistic missiles at an American aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer. None of the US warships was damaged and no American personnel were injured, but the attacks mark a significant escalation…

A response to the Financial Times By André Pienaar The Financial Times has published a careful and well-sourced case against Golden Dome, President Trump’s comprehensive space-based air defence system designed to protect the US homeland. In making its case against the feasibility and merits of Golden Dome, the FT marshals the standard objections: the engineering is formidable, the price is understated and the politics will not hold. Although these are serious points for consideration, the FT’s analysis is focused on the wrong question. The implicit test the article applies is the one inherited from President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)…

The United States is seeking to restart direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine after Donald Trump’s envoys held separate meetings with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Steve Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, said they believed a fresh three-way meeting between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv could be arranged soon after a weekend of shuttle diplomacy between the two capitals. The pair travelled to Kyiv after holding more than three hours of talks with Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday, part of a renewed American attempt to end a war now in its fifth year.…

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt, bringing the party within reach of governing a German state and raising concerns over what its growing influence could mean for Germany’s policy towards Russia and Ukraine. The AfD won 43.8 per cent of the vote and secured 39 seats in the 83-member state parliament. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second on 17.2 per cent. The AfD fell three seats short of an absolute majority. Mainstream German parties have maintained a political “firewall” against entering coalitions with the party. The result has prompted concern among…

Tensions over the Falkland Islands have escalated after Argentine President Javier Milei announced tougher measures against companies involved in oil development around the territory, as Donald Trump raised the prospect of Washington reconsidering its position on the sovereignty dispute. Milei used a televised national address to renew Argentina’s claim to the British Overseas Territory, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, and announced plans to strengthen his country’s military presence in the South Atlantic. Milei said: “Our role and relevance as a country in the world has changed dramatically. The Falklands are our future – we need to recover these islands,…

By André Pienaar This week, two of the most consequential names in offensive cybersecurity — NetSPI and Synack — announced a merger to form what will be the industry’s leading offensive security platform, backed by KKR, C5 Capital and other investors. As a growth investor, C5 has supported Synack’s growth since 2020. This merger is not simply a consolidation story. This deal indicates where effective cyber defence is heading in the age of AI. The question is: as AI systems become capable of finding and exploiting vulnerabilities on their own, does the human hacker still matter? Some vendors have bet…