China has invited Afghanistan to join its Belt and Road Initiative, Kabul claims.

Source: Bloomberg

Ukraine’s Fire Point startup is mass-producing long-range drones and testing cruise missiles to strike deep inside Russia.

Its FP-1 drones, costing $55k each, now make up 60% of strikes inside Russia, hitting oil refineries and depots.

Production jumped from 30 per month in 2023 to 100 per day in 2025.

Fire Point is also building the FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missile, with a 3,000 km range and 1.1-ton warhead.

Sudan: RSF’s top commander Hala Muhammedin Isa was reportedly killed in clashes in the besieged city of Al Fashir.

Bulgaria’s F-16 Block 70 jets face major delays.

First deliveries, once set for 2023, slipped to 2025 due to COVID supply issues.

A system fault found in May 2025 may push service entry back further.

Bulgaria got $34 million compensation ($25M arms, $9.5M training).

Dutch defense expo NEDS 2025 in Rotterdam bans Israeli firms like IAI, Elbit, and Rafael, citing “security and organizational” reasons.

Turkish MoD sources:

Technical visits are planned to assess Syria’s defense needs on-site and draft a joint roadmap.

Turkish MoD sources:

Speculation about sending Turkish peacekeepers to Ukraine has no concrete basis; commenting on it would be premature.

Uganda: Government announced an agreement with Washington to receive third-country nationals denied asylum in the United States.

NEW: Türkiye’s port authorities are now informally requiring agents to provide letters confirming ships have no links to Israel and aren’t carrying military or hazardous cargo bound there.

The instruction, given verbally and without an official circular, reportedly applies to all Turkish ports.

This follows Ankara’s suspension of $7B trade with Israel over the Gaza war.

Source: Reuters

UAE-operated Il-76 cargo plane landed at Israel’s Ramon Airport before returning to Abu Dhabi, reportedly the first such flight.

The aircraft has a history of arms deliveries, sparking speculation about weapons supplies to Israel.

NEW: The Ugandan government says it has reached an agreement with the US to "host" migrants.

Source: AFP

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov:

Putin will visit India by the end of the year, the parties will prepare a solid package of documents for the Russia-India summit.

Iran launches its “Sustainable Power 1404” naval drill in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean.

The two-day exercise features warships, subs, drones, missiles, and EW units.

It’s Iran’s first drill since the 12-day war with Israel.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov:

Ukraine is clearly showing that it is not interested in a sustainable and long-term resolution of the conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov:

Europe is proposing foreign intervention on part of Ukrainian territory – this is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow.

Israel’s Defense Ministry awarded XTEND a multi-million dollar deal to supply thousands of FPV drones to the IDF Ground Forces.