Been a while...

🇮🇷🇪🇺 The UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to adopt a China and Russia draft resolution that could have delayed Snapback sanctions by EU countries on Iran by 6 months or more.

Today, Saturday, sanctions will be imposed again, halting military deals, disconnecting Iran's banks from the Global Payment System (SWIFT), and reactivating other sanctions that would further damage the Iranian crippled economy.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Yesterday, Ukraine's 14th Seperate UAV regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces carried out a strike on the AT-22/4 primary oil refining unit of the Russian Afipsky Oil Refinery in the Krasnodar Territory, located about 380 km from the front line.

The refinery has been subjected to continues attacks by the regiment throughout the previous months as it supplys Russian army vehicles with fuel more than any other refinery in the south.

🇺🇸🇷🇺 The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) deployed on Wednesday an E-3 “Sentry” surveillance aircraft, four F-16C “Fighting Falcons”, assigned to the US Air Force's 18th Interception Wing in Eielson AF Base, and four KC-135 aerial tankers to intercept two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” Strategic bombers and two Sukhoi Su-35 “Flankers” that entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for 53 minutes, 30 nautical miles of the US Mainland, southwest of St. Lawrence Island, over the Bering Sea.

🇮🇱🇺🇦 During a speech he delivered today in a press conference, Ukrainian President Vlodomyer Zelensky announced that Israel supplied Kyiv with a US-made Patriot MIM-104 Battery last month, marking the first official military aid announcement from Tel Aviv.

The battery is not just in transit—it has been installed and is operational, and was used by Israel during the second Gulf War to defend it's airspace from Iraq's Hussein and Abbas Missiles.

🇪🇺 Unidentified drones flying over military installations in Europe trigger NATO to boost its Baltic Sentry Mission

In recent days, numerous unidentified drones, likely Russians, were spotted flying over Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Romania, Finland and Poland.

In Germany, authorities may soon revise an aviation security law to allow the nation's armed forces to get involved to possibly shoot down drones, as Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein reported multiple drone sightings overnight on Sept. 26.

In Lithuania, two Russians drones crossed into its airspace from Belarus, with one of them carrying 2 kg of explosives of the type Gerbera, passing over govermental and military facilities, including the residences of the President’s country in Vilnius, and carshing near a NATO training camp.

Denmark also witnessed similar drone incursions, with drones observed near military installations, following several drone incursions near airports and critical infrastructure this week, including the Copenhagen Airport, leaving it closed for several hours, and triggering Denmark to deploy its XENTA-C X-Band Counter-UAS Radar System at Copenhagen Airport.

So far, only Poland triggered Article 4 emergency consultations with NATO members, and Denmark, too, is reportedly considering Article 4 action.

NATO said it will increase its presence in the Baltic Sea with new assets, including at least one air-defense frigate from Standing NATO Maritime Group One. The new assets will enhance NATO's Baltic Sentry Mission and Mission Eastern Sentry. As part of this, today, a US Navy P-8A Poseidon ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) aircraft was observed over the Baltic Sea near the Kaliningrad region of Russia, circling for several hours.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian forces have intensified pressure on the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka directions, while Ukrainian troops successfully slow their advance and destroy equipment in some sectors of the front.

The Pokrovsk direction remains one of the main axes for Russian forces, and according to summaries, there have been more than 50 engagements and assaults in a day.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukrainian forces launched a salvo of HIMARS guided rockets from Kharkiv, targeting the Belgorod Thermal Power Plant, leaving the city experiencing significant power outages and disruptions in water supply.

There are plumes of smoke rising from the plant. Russians said the lack of electricity may cause interruptions in missile or drone attack alerts.

Update: Power supply in the city has been restored.

🇺🇦🇪🇺 In a statement he released a short while ago as Europe witnesses unprecedented amount of unidentified drone incursions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that intelligence reports indicate Russian forces are employing commercial tankers to launch unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in European countries.

Zelensky added that Moscow is attempting this year to impose widespread power outages across Ukraine as part of its campaign, and it seems that Ukrainians have already responded to this intelligence assessment by striking power plants in Russia.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukrainian Air Force's (UAF) 59th Assault Brigade downed a Russian Mi-8 “Hip” helicopter using a FPV drone in Donetsk region, Pokrovsk direction.

The drone seems to had hit the fuel tanker of the aircraft. Russians claim the crew survived and landed safely before the arrival of a Ka-52 helicopter for it.

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Russian forces reportedly advanced and have broken through Ukrainian positions towards eastern Verbove, in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of southern Ukraine, Pokrovsk direction, under heavy air and artillery cover, entering the village and occuping at least half of it, with increasing FAB glide-bomb strikes.

Map: AMK Mapping

🇷🇺🇪🇪 One of the three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets that entered Estonian Airspace for about 12 minutes above the Gulf of Finland on 19 September, armed with 3x short-range R-73 air-to-air missiles.

The Russian pilots acknowledged but disregarded communication from two Italian pilots in F-35 fighter jets, which had taken off from NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission in Amari Air Base in Estonia, before ultimately being escorted into international skies by the F-35 pilots.

Photo: AFP

🇮🇱🇵🇸 Hamas released a footage from inside one of the tunnels in which they hid the Israeli-American and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Alexander Idan, claiming that the IDF tried to kill him while he was in captivity but the fighters quickly managed to save his life from the shellings of the IDF.

This comes following a statement by Idan in the US, released by Hamas in a hostage deal, saying that he will return to Israel and fight again against the Palestinians.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 A meeting in Qatar’s Doha will start soon to discuss the Peace Plan of US President Donald Trump, which is accepted by Israel and many other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.

The meeting will see Qatar and Turkish, Egyptian and Palestinian (Hamas) delegations discussing the proposed plan, which according to Israeli sources, will only accept “Yes” or “No” as a negotiation result.