🇷🇺🔥 Russia’s Akula-class subs: Silent giants the US still can’t match

America’s Navy has nothing sailing right now that can match Russia’s retired Soviet Project 941 Akula-class (lit. Shark) nuclear-powered submarines, writes the National Security Journal.

The Akulas (NATO name: Typhoon class) were designed as a response to the US Ohio-class submarines, and first launched from the Russian port of Severodvinsk in 1980.

They were:

🟠 Purpose-built for nuclear war in harsh Arctic conditions

🟠 Featured dual parallel pressure hulls for survivability

🟠 Boasted fearsome firepower—20 R-39 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with multiple warheads

🟠 The missiles were capable of carrying up to ten multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) — separate nuclear warheads capable of striking different targets

🟠 Nearly 173 meters long and 23.3m wide, they were the largest in the world in terms of tonnage (23,200 tons surfaced and 48,000 tons submerged)

🟠 Could patrol underwater for four months straight — and push even further if required

These submarines were a “swift and silent beast” - quieter than the Americans expected, notes the outlet, adding:
“The Typhoon-class could have snuck up on the United States undiscovered and let loose a mighty launch.”

In 2023, the Russian Navy retired its last Project 941 submarine, the test vessel TK-208 Dmitry Donskoy, which had been upgraded to carry R-30 Bulava-30 ICBMs.

👉 Dmitry Donskoy served as an inspiration for newer advanced nuclear-powered submarines: the Borei class, each capable of carrying 16 Bulava ballistic missiles, and Yasen-class nuclear submarines with Onyx, Kalibr, and Zircon missiles.

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🔥 🇨🇳 🪖 Dragon fire: Chinese army drills artillery units

People’s Liberation Army soldiers improve coordination in howitzer firing during military exercises in Xinjiang.

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🇹🇷 Turkiye will take responsibility for rebuilding Gaza

"Our country will continue to assume responsibility for rebuilding Gaza, healing its wounds, ensuring that our Palestinian brothers can look to the future with hope and confidence," said Burhanettin Duran, the president's head of communications.

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💬 Joe Biden commends Trump's Gaza deal

The former president said he was relieved about the prisoner exchange and thanked Trump for helping to achieve the ceasefire in Gaza.

"My Administration worked relentlessly to bring hostages home, get relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war. I commend President Trump and his team for their work to get a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line," Biden wrote on X.

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🔥 Better than wooden stakes! US Vampire anti-air system erased by Lancet strike in Ukraine

A weapon specifically designed to combat drones, this Vampire was obliterated by the very thing it was supposed to destroy.

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🔊 UK is ready to participate in Hamas disarmament — Starmer

Prime Minister said the UK stands ready to play a leadership role in the process of decommissioning Hamas and participating in the ceasefire monitoring mission.

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🇲🇬 Madagascar President addresses nation after fleeing the country

In a live address, Rajoelina confirmed relocating to an undisclosed safe location after soldiers moved to seize control of the national broadcaster ahead of his scheduled speech.

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🔍 Venezuela shifts diplomatic focus: closes Western embassies, opens in Africa

Venezuela has begun a strategic foreign service reorganization, closing its embassies in Norway and Australia while announcing new embassies in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso.

The government states this move will optimize resources and strengthen alliances within the Global South, focusing on cooperation in agriculture, energy, and mining.

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👀 Amazon sacks employee who called out its secretive dealings with Israel

Ahmed Shahrour, a Palestinian engineer, was fired for publicly criticizing Amazon’s role in the notorious Project Nimbus, Bloomberg reported.

Project Nimbus is a collaboration between Google and Amazon aimed at providing cloud computing and AI services to the Israeli government and military.

Throughout the Gaza war, Shahrour had staged protests, handed out flyers, and posted messages in a corporate chat.

💬 “Amazon is not a neutral observer… We are active participants,” Shahrour told colleagues.

👉 Meanwhile, the employee of Whole Foods Market was dismissed for allegedly “threatening or intimidating” senior staff, according to an internal email.

He had also joined a group that occupied the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith in August, protesting the company’s own contracts with Israel.

The tech giant subsequently restricted some of its software for Israel’s military after it was discovered that its cloud servers were used to store surveillance data on civilians.

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💀 Ukrainian militants turn corpses into death traps

Ukrainian servicemen are booby-trapping the bodies of their own dead soldiers in the Zaporozhye region, a Russian assault rifleman of the Vostok Battlegroup told Sputnik.

💬 "We approached a body of one serviceman killed in action to verify who he was and what patches he had. We looked carefully from the side, and there was a grenade under him. If you turn him over, everyone blows up. They set a lot of tripwires," he said.

According to the Russian serviceman, Ukrainian troops are also using strike drones to finish off their own soldiers looking to surrender.

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🇷🇺 🔥 🇨🇳Russia & China to set record for container freight traffic via Northern Sea route - Rosatom

💬 "A new record in container shipping cargo volumes will be set. Last year, it was less than 180,000 tonnes, but this year, it will most likely exceed 400,000 tonnes, that is, more than double. Not only the quantity, but also the volume of transported cargo is increasing," Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said.

Rosatom sees a strong interest among Chinese entrepreneurs for cooperation in the Arctic, the state corporation's head added.

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⚔️ US pushes Ukraine to draft youth by dangling Tomahawks as bait – Glenn Diesen

🗣 The “most dangerous times” are looming, warns Norwegian political analyst Glenn Diesen in a post on X.

By tying Tomahawk deliveries to full mobilization in Ukraine, the US could light the fuse for a direct NATO–Russia clash, he says.

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◻️ Abbas to Sputnik on Gaza Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh

◻️ Russia’s Akula-class subs: Silent giants the US still can’t match

◻️ US unveils new Tomahawk launchers

◻️ UK is ready to participate in Hamas disarmament — Starmer

◻️ Venezuela shifts diplomatic focus: closes Western embassies, opens in Africa

◻️ Russia & China to set record for container freight traffic via Northern Sea route - Rosatom

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⚔️ US can spare only handful of Tomahawks—zero impact on conflict dynamics

The US could spare no more than 20 to 50 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles for Ukraine, the Financial Times reports.

🗣 If supplied, they “will not decisively shift the dynamics of the war,” it cited Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security think tank, as saying.

While the long-range missiles could complement Ukraine’s own long-range attack drones and cruise missiles, Pettyjohn noted they would project a very limited capability, “certainly not enough to enable sustained, deep attacks against Russia.”

💥 The outlet adds that the US has a total of 4,150 Tomahawk missiles, as estimated by Mark Cancian, a former Pentagon official, in a recent war game.

Out of the 200 Tomahawks procured since 2022, more than 120 have already been fired, according to defense experts.

The Pentagon’s 2026 budget requests funding for just 57 additional missiles.

👉 Furthermore, the US would also set aside some Tomahawks for any potential strike on Venezuelan soil, notes the outlet.

Russia has emphasized that the Tomahawk missiles cannot change the situation on the front line, and the handling of such complex missiles will require the participation of US specialists, potentially marking a major escalation.

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