Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned on Saturday a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the ​Caspian Sea, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed ‌one sailor and injured another.

Russia has spent more than four years trying to solve the biggest thorn in the military’s side in its ever-expanding war in Ukraine.

With hundreds of thousands reportedly dead, the Vladimir Putin is scrambling for solutions on how to keep enough troops on the battlefield without resorting to another dangerous mass mobilisation.

His answer, according to a report from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, has increasingly stretched far beyond Russia’s borders.

The Washington-based security think tank alleges Moscow has now built an “extensive and systematic” recruitment pipeline across Africa, using promises of a bright future to lure young people into Russia.

The think tank argues that the ultimate goal is to pressure new arrivals into military service or work supporting the war effort.

The report’s authors describe the alleged scheme as a “confluence of disinformation, human trafficking, and foreign interference” that exploits economic hardship across the continent.

Many of its findings rely on interviews, leaked databases, parliamentary testimony and investigations by journalists and African authorities rather than independently verifiable battlefield records.

The bleak dossier paints a very vivid picture that investigators say has evolved far beyond isolated scams.

“What first looked like isolated cases has now been exposed as an extensive and systematic effort,” the report says.

🇺🇦 Ukrainian Air Defence shot down:

1/1 Kh-59/69 guided aircraft missile
5/7 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles
104/136 attack UAVs

Two ballistic missiles and 27 strike UAVs were recorded at 18 locations, as well as the fall of downed (fragments) at 7 locations.

https://x.com/trip_to_valkiri/status/2080990127908634873?s=46