International
Russia announces the creation of a center for the design and production of assault drones
The Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergey Shoigu, announced today the creation of a center for the design and production of assault drones, an aspect in which Ukraine has done a lot of damage to the Russian rear.
“The center will unite the different companies, laboratories and design departments that are dedicated to the development and production of advanced weapons,” Shoigu said during a visit to a military polygon in the Moscow region.
Shoigu was able to supervise the operation of drones with a payload of between 10 and 200 kilograms, and whose parts are all domestically manufactured, which facilitates their rapid mass production.
Specifically, the specialists presented to the minister a universal quadcopter that can carry different types of ammunition and operate in conditions of almost zero visibility, and whose easy handling only requires two weeks of instruction for its operators.
To begin with, the company is willing to produce 30 of those units per month in case it receives the approval of the Ministry of Defense.
Precisely, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has been insisting for many months on the need to accelerate the production of unmanned devices for use in the military campaign in Ukraine, where Moscow has mostly used Shahed imported from Iran.
Russian air defenses shot down fifty enemy drones in eight Russian regions during the early hours of the morning, including the one surrounding the capital, Moscow, according to a military statement.
Half of those drones were targeted at the border region of Belgorod, the hardest hit since the beginning of the war and where two other people died.
The governors of the Smolensk, Briansk and Kaluga regions reported that the Ukrainian attacks caused fires in a fuel tank and energy infrastructure.
Since the first year of the war, Ukraine has managed to hit different military and energy targets in the annexed Crimean peninsula, other occupied territories and the regions of the European part of Russia with self-produced aerial and naval drones.
For their part, Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted two Russian missiles and three Russian drones on Friday night, while they recorded a total of seven missile attacks, according to Air Force commander Mikola Oleschuk.
The air defenses destroyed two X-59 and X-69 guided air missiles, as well as three reconnaissance drones, two Orlan-10 and a Supercam, Oleschuk said through his Telegram channel.
In addition, according to the Air Force commander, the launches of three Iskander-M ballistic missiles, two S-300 and S-400 guided missiles from the Russian border region of Belgorod, in addition to the two intercepted missiles, which departed from the Black Sea, were recorded.
The Attorney General’s Office of Ukraine reported this Saturday that since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022 the number of children killed by the conflict has risen to 545 minutes that 1,289 have been injured with varying degrees of severity.
According to a publication of the prosecutor’s office on its Telegram channel, the majority of dead or injured children are concentrated in regions crossed by the war front such as Donetsk (east), Kharkov (northeast) and Kerson, but also in the capital region of Kiev, among others.
Only yesterday, Friday, an eight-year-old boy and a 14-year-old teenager were killed as a result of the bombing of the town of Sinelnikovo, in the Dnipropetrovsk region (center), while a six-year-old boy was seriously injured.
In addition, in the Mikoláiv region (south), a 14-year-old teenager was injured in the bombing of the town of Solonchaki, the prosecutor’s office recalled.
NATO Defense Ministers agreed yesterday in Brussels that they are willing to provide more military support, including anti-aircraft defenses, to Ukraine, at the end of an emergency meeting requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski.
In recent weeks, Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have intensified and according to Zelenski, some have not been able to be repelled due to a lack of anti-aircraft ammunition.
Ukrainian security services sources said that the drone attacks launched tonight against eight Russian regions achieved their goal of causing damage to that country’s energy infrastructure.
Russia accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting its journalists after the death on Friday of the war correspondent of the Russian channel ‘Izvestia’, Semion Yeremin, who died while making a report in the Ukrainian region of Zaporiyia.
“As for the fact that the Ukrainian Army deliberately makes Russian journalists its target, this is so,” Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, told that television channel.
International
U.S. warns China over Taiwan during high-level defense talks in Kuala Lumpur
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressed concerns over China’s growing military activity near Taiwan during a meeting on Friday with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in Kuala Lumpur.
“It was a constructive and positive meeting,” Hegseth wrote on X. “I emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and raised U.S. concerns about China’s actions around Taiwan,” the self-governed island that Beijing claims and does not rule out invading.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea. According to Trump, Taiwan was not discussed during their talks.
“The United States does not seek conflict and will continue to firmly defend its interests, ensuring it maintains the capability to do so in the region,” Hegseth added in his message.
Friday’s encounter followed a September 9 video call between Hegseth and Dong. Their previously planned meeting at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore was canceled due to Dong’s absence from the event.
Trump’s sit-down with Xi — their first since 2019 — resulted in some trade agreements but avoided addressing the issue of Taiwan, a long-standing source of tension between the world’s two largest powers.
Trump has taken a more ambiguous stance on Taiwan’s future compared with former President Joe Biden, who repeatedly stated that Washington would support Taipei if China launched an invasion. The Republican president has also criticized Taiwan for “stealing” the U.S. semiconductor industry.
International
U.S. considering airstrikes on military sites in Venezuela, reports say
The United States may soon carry out airstrikes on military facilities inside Venezuela as part of an escalating offensive against Nicolás Maduro’s regime, according to reports Friday from the Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the Trump administration.
Airstrikes could take place “within days or even hours,” the Herald reported. The Journal noted that while the option is under serious consideration, President Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on authorizing strikes on Venezuelan soil.
Potential targets allegedly include military-controlled ports and airports used in drug trafficking operations, such as naval installations and airstrips, officials told the Journal.
The Herald also quoted a source saying that “Maduro’s time is running out”, suggesting that more than one Venezuelan general may be ready to detain and hand him over. However, officials declined to confirm whether the Venezuelan leader would be among the military targets.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to block the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, following nearly two months of airstrikes against vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Those operations have destroyed 15 boats and left 61 people dead and three survivors since September 1.
“We are finally waging a war against the cartels — a war like they’ve never seen before — and we are going to win that battle. We are already winning at sea,” Trump told U.S. troops during a speech in Japan.
The reports on possible airstrikes come on the same day the United Nations accused the U.S. of violating international law with its maritime operations, saying those killed at sea may have been victims of extrajudicial executions.
International
Pope Leo XIV revives Global Compact on Education to confront cultural crisis
Pope Leo XIV announced on Friday that he will revive and update the Global Compact on Education, an initiative launched by the late Pope Francis aimed at deeply transforming global culture through education.
The announcement was made during an audience in St. Peter’s Square, held on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Educational World, which this week gathers more than 20,000 participants from 124 countries in Rome.
During his address, the pontiff — who is of U.S. origin and Peruvian nationality — emphasized the importance of restoring the value of educators and reinforcing the principles that support the pact.
“We must be careful: damaging the social and cultural role of educators means mortgaging our own future,” he warned before thousands in attendance. “A crisis in the transmission of knowledge leads to a crisis of hope.”
The Global Compact on Education, launched by Pope Francis, seeks an integral and long-term cultural transformation. It is structured around five pillars: dignity and human rights; fraternity and cooperation; technology and integral ecology; education for peace and citizenship; and culture and religions. To date, the initiative has been joined by over 553 schools and nearly 410,000 students, according to Catholic Schools data.
Pope Leo XIV also expressed concern over the widespread inner fragility affecting both students and teachers — many of whom feel overwhelmed by bureaucratic burdens.
He additionally addressed the role of artificial intelligence in education, warning that it may worsen emotional isolation among learners: “It can further isolate students who are already isolated, giving them the illusion that they do not need others — or worse, the feeling that they are unworthy of them,” he said.
U.S. warns China over Taiwan during high-level defense talks in Kuala Lumpur
U.S. considering airstrikes on military sites in Venezuela, reports say
Pope Leo XIV revives Global Compact on Education to confront cultural crisis
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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