Discovery of drone surveillance by Trump's shooter reveals additional security lapses

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter who tried to kill Donald Trump at the rally in Pennsylvania, managed to fly a drone for aerial footage of the site, a few hours before the assassination attempt, the WSJ reports, citing law-enforcement officials familiar with the matter.

Crooks had flown the drone on a programmed flight path several times earlier in the day on July 13, to scour the Butler Farm Show grounds ahead of the event, the officials said. The discovery has raised more serious concerns over the reliability of the security services, the outlet notes.

What else has been revealed?

▪️ The use of the drone was just one way in which authorities said Crooks had planned his attack. The perpetrator came to Trump's rally with a pair of homemade bombs designed for detonation with remote control.

▪️ The authorities also found primitive explosives and a vest with three 30-round magazines in Crooks' car. This suggests that he probably "wanted to cause greater carnage", according to the article.

▪️ Crooks had also ordered several packages labeled "hazardous materials" to be shipped to his home in the past month.

▪️ He also conducted online searches for Trump rally dates, and information on Biden and the Democratic National Convention.

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Ukrainian soldiers unable to declare goodwill towards Russia due to persecution – POW

Andrei Bugayev served in a rear unit ordered to strengthen a combat brigade. His squad was trained for two weeks before being sent to the Kupyansk region and a hot spot near Volchansk.   

After coming under heavy fire and a drone attack, Bugayev and his comrades came under siege. The Ukrainian soldiers then decided to surrender.  

"We are given medical care and food. Everything is fine," confessed the soldier.  

Bugayev shared that many of his comrades could not declare their goodwill towards Russia openly due to fear of persecution.

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German mercenary sentenced to death in Belarus

A German national who fought on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been sentenced to death in Belarus, Reuters reports, citing the German Foreign Ministry.

"Berlin is in intensive contact with authorities in Minsk over his fate," the publication states.

Although the ministry did not disclose the name of the sentenced individual, the article identifies him as Rico Krieger, charged with terrorism and mercenarism.

The man has been in custody since November 2023, the article mentions.

It is noted that the convicted individual was a member of the nationalist formation "Kastus Kalinouski Regiment," which is banned in Belarus, and includes some citizens of Belarus who have been fighting alongside Ukrainian forces since March 2022.

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🇷🇺 Russian air defense forces shoot down Storm Shadow missile  

The Tor-M2 air defense system of the Zapad Battlegroup destroyed a Storm Shadow cruise missile on the Kupyansk section, the commander under the call sign ‘Pauk’ (lit. Spider) told reporters.

"Recently, we shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle of the Portuguese Tekever type, a reconnaissance drone of the Furia and Leleka types, a Storm Shadow cruise missile, and a HIMARS with extended range," he said. 

Pauk explained that the Storm Shadow flies along the usual trajectory of a cruise missile, making it a good target for Tor-M2. According to him, the missile was hit by the very first shot.

"The technical characteristics of the [Tor-M2] allow it. It has a 98% hit rate. Basically, the machine does everything, but the crew is also important," the commander noted.

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❗️ Russian forces destroyed two Patriot missile launchers and a radar station.

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Center improved its tactical position, repelling eight UAF (Ukrainian Armed Forces) counterattacks.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Vostok secured more advantageous positions, causing UAF losses of up to 110 militants.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Sever struck three enemy brigades in the Kharkov region, with UAF losses amounting to up to 185 militants.

◻️ UAF losses in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone amounted to up to 540 militants.

◻️ UAF lost up to 640 militants and two ammunition depots in the Russian Yuzh Battlegroup's combat zone.

◻️ UAF lost up to 140 militants in the Russian Dnepr Battlegroup's combat zone.

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Ukrainian drones deliberately target Russian fire truck

The Ukrainian Armed Forces released a video showing a kamikaze drone operator deliberately targeting a Russian fire truck, reported the regional office of the Russian Emergency Ministry in the DPR.

On July 17, Ukrainian drones attacked an emergency services vehicle responding to a fire in the Yasynuvata district of the DPR twice. Fortunately, the firefighters were not injured.

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☢️ US declassifies nuke numbers

The United States had 3,748 nuclear warheads in stock as of September 2023, according a new ‘fact sheet’ put out by the Department of Energy.

The tally includes both active (maintained in operational, ready-to-use configuration) and inactive (stocked at a depot with their tritium trigger components removed) warheads.

◻️ The US began to stockpile nukes in 1945 – when it became the first country to create a nuclear bomb, and the first and only nation to ever use it against another country, dropping nukes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan at the end of WWII. US nuke numbers rose exponentially between 1950 and 1967 – when they hit their historic maximum of 31,255 warheads.

◻️ The numbers began a gradual decline over the next two decades as the US developed increasingly advanced delivery systems and talked arms control with Moscow. By the end of the Cold War in 1989, the US had 22,217 warheads.

◻️ Arms control treaties with the USSR and Russia saw numbers drop dramatically through the first half of the 1990s to 10,904 in 1995, and again in the second half of the 2000s, falling falling below 4,000 in 2017 and remaining in the 3,700+ ballpark ever since.

◻️ Now, the DoE says about 2,000 retired warheads are awaiting dismantlement. 69 retired nukes were dismantled in 2023 – the smallest number recorded since 1994.

The US stopped publishing data on the size of the its arsenal in 2019, and stopped sharing this information with Russia in 2023, despite the requirement of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

The US has the second-largest nuclear arsenal in the world after Russia (1,710 warheads deployed, 2,670 in storage). China has 500 (24 deployed, 476 in storage), France 290 (280 deployed, 10 stored), and Britain 225 (120 deployed, 105 stored).

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