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
Suspect Armed With Shotgun and Knives Detained at White House Correspondents Dinner
U.S. authorities confirmed Saturday that the suspect who stormed into the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner while President Donald Trump was attending acted alone, adding that there is no ongoing threat to the public following the incident, which left one Secret Service agent injured.
Acting Metropolitan Police Department chief Jeff Carroll said during a press conference that the suspect was carrying “a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives” when he attempted to pass through a Secret Service security checkpoint inside the hotel lobby at approximately 8:36 p.m. local time.
“At this point, everything indicates that this was a lone actor, a lone gunman,” Carroll stated, adding that investigators have found no preliminary evidence suggesting the involvement of additional suspects.
During the exchange of gunfire inside the hotel corridors, the suspect was not struck by bullets but was subdued by law enforcement officers and later transported to a hospital for medical evaluation.
A member of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was shot during the incident, though the bullet was stopped by the officer’s ballistic vest, preventing serious injuries. The agent was taken to a hospital and is reportedly “in good spirits,” according to Carroll.
The shooting prompted the immediate evacuation of President Trump, Melania Trump, and several senior officials attending the event after multiple gunshots were heard outside the hotel’s main ballroom.
International
U.S. allows Venezuela to fund Maduro and Cilia Flores’ legal defense
Until now, the U.S. administration had blocked the Venezuelan government from covering the legal fees of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who is also jailed and facing drug trafficking charges, due to international sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
The couple’s legal team had relied on that argument in an attempt to have the indictment dismissed, claiming that preventing a defendant from accessing counsel of their choice violates rights guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
However, the U.S. Treasury Department will now allow “defense attorneys to receive payments from the Government of Venezuela under certain conditions,” New York prosecutor Jay Clayton wrote in a letter dated Friday to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case.
According to the letter, the funds must have become available after March 5, 2026, and cannot come from Venezuelan oil sales regulated in the United States.
Since Maduro’s removal from power in early January, former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has served as Venezuela’s interim leader.
The United States effectively controls Venezuelan crude exports, with revenues deposited into special accounts supervised by Washington.
Court documents filed on Friday show that the defense acknowledged the sanctions exemption and, for now, withdrew its motion seeking dismissal of the charges.
International
U.S. Sanctions Network Linked to Fentanyl Trafficking Across India, Guatemala and Mexico
The United States Department of State announced sanctions on Thursday against 23 individuals and companies allegedly linked to an international fentanyl production and smuggling network operating in India, Guatemala and Mexico.
According to the State Department, the network supplied precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa Cartel, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Washington declared fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, a weapon of mass destruction last year due to its role in the ongoing overdose crisis in the United States.
“By targeting the entire supply chain — from chemical suppliers in Asia to logistical intermediaries in Central America and cartel-linked networks in Mexico — the Trump Administration is dismantling networks that destabilize governance across our hemisphere and threaten U.S. security,” the State Department said.
In a separate statement, the Office of Foreign Assets Control detailed sanctions against three Indian chemical and pharmaceutical companies: Sutaria, Agrat and SR Chemicals, along with a sales executive accused of supplying precursor chemicals to contacts in Guatemala and Mexico.
In Guatemala, authorities sanctioned J and C Import and Central Logística de Servicios, as well as intermediary Jaime Augusto Barrientos.
The OFAC also designated several intermediaries and import companies operating in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
As part of the investigation, U.S. authorities identified Ramiro Baltazar Félix as a member of Los Mayos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, and Alejandro Reynoso, accused of operating clandestine drug laboratories in Guadalajara.
Suspect Armed With Shotgun and Knives Detained at White House Correspondents Dinner
U.S. allows Venezuela to fund Maduro and Cilia Flores’ legal defense
U.S. Sanctions Network Linked to Fentanyl Trafficking Across India, Guatemala and Mexico
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