Up to 5,000 Cuban mercenaries are fighting against Ukraine on the side of the Russian Federation, according to an internal US State Department cable seen by Reuters.
According to media reports, the administration of US President Donald Trump has mobilized US diplomats to lobby against a UN resolution calling on Washington to lift its long-standing embargo on Cuba.
One of the points in the unclassified cable is that Cuba and its President Miguel Diaz-Canel are actively supporting Russia's war against Ukraine.
"After North Korea, Cuba is the largest supplier of foreign troops to Russia's aggression, with an estimated 1,000 to 5,000 Cubans fighting in Ukraine," the document said.
A State Department spokesman declined to provide further details about the Cuban mercenaries. Washington, however, is aware of reports that Cubans are fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.
"The Cuban regime has failed to protect its citizens from being used as pawns in the war between Russia and Ukraine“, the representative said.
According to the British agency, in recent weeks Ukrainian officials have warned US lawmakers about the growing recruitment of Cuban mercenaries by Russia for military operations in Ukraine.
A vote on this resolution at the UN may have political significance, but only the US Congress can lift the embargo against Cuba, imposed after the communist coup on the island in 1959.
The above-mentioned resolution has been adopted annually by the UN General Assembly since 1992 with a large majority of votes.
According to a State Department cable, the aim of the lobbying is to demonstrate the US administration's disagreement by significantly reducing the number of votes in favor of the document.
Since returning to the presidency in January 2025, Trump has doubled the sanctions, returned Cuba to the list of states supporting terrorism, tightened financial and travel restrictions, and imposed sanctions on third-country nationals who receive Cuban doctors.
On October 5, during the attack on Ukraine, in particular on the Lviv region, the Russian army fired various weapons from different sides, surrounding the region in a semicircle. This was reported on the air of the telethon "Єдині нові" by the head of the communications department of the Air Force Command, Yuri Ignat.
According to him, at night Russia carried out a typical combined strike using various drones and types of missiles, including air, sea and ground weapons. The bulk of the missiles were cruise – "Iskander-K", "Kalibur". There were also two "Kinzhal" aeroballistic missiles.
"Actually the entire mass was directed at the Lviv region, certain objects were damaged, Zaporizhia and other cities were also damaged – the attack was large and massive... The enemy used different tactical methods, different routes... A huge amount from different directions – they actually surrounded the launch sites in a semicircle – from the sea, the air, the land“, the military officer stated.
"Russia quite often", Ignat explained, "accentuates such attacks on individual regions".
"Earlier, Kiev suffered such an attack, now - Lviv and the Lviv region".
At the same time, Ignat notes: "based on the number of downed weapons, the Air Command "West" of the Ukrainian Air Force has done quite well".
He adds that the effectiveness of Russian attacks is influenced by a number of factors, in particular tactics. For example, the work of mobile fire groups is hampered by the high altitude at which the "Shahed" drones rise. It is also more difficult for air defense systems to perform their functions, because the attack is carried out from different directions with different weapons: ballistics, cruise missiles, drones.
It is also more difficult for air defense to perform its functions, because the attack is carried out from different directions with different means of defeat: ballistics, cruise missiles, drones, including jets.
"All this complicates our work, because we have to make extremely quick decisions, determine the type and method of shooting down this or that drone, missile. Well, and the weather conditions... They are not very favorable for the work of manned aviation, for anti-aircraft drone operators - the target must be visible. If there is fog or cloudiness, this significantly complicates the work. "But despite these difficulties, Ukrainian pilots, especially on F-16s, have worked out a certain part of the missiles today," Ignat explained.
Russia "launched" a new version of the "Dagger" missile.
He also commented on the information that Russia is modernizing ballistic missiles, which is why they are more difficult to shoot down:
"The enemy is gradually testing different types of weapons on the battlefield. Of course, it has become more difficult to shoot down missiles that fly on a quasi-ballistic trajectory or fluctuate when approaching the target." As Ignat specifies, this complicates the work of the Patriot system, since it operates in automatic mode and it is more difficult for it to calculate the "point" of intercepting the target. In addition, if the missiles are approaching from different directions, one Patriot complex cannot cope with them. Several systems (radars) are needed, Ignat notes.
During the Russian strike on October 5, at least three Chinese reconnaissance SAR satellites flew over the western part of Ukraine, which took the main blow, Militarny writes.
Such data was provided by the military analytical monitoring center Heavens Above, which monitors the movement of satellites.
In particular, a flight of Yaogan 33 series satellites was detected over Lviv: Yaogan 33, Yaogan 33-03 and Yaogan 33-04, which flew a total of 9 times over the region from 00:00 to about 11:30 in the morning.
In total, over 60 different types of Yaogan series satellites can operate over Ukraine, capable of conducting optical, radar and electronic reconnaissance. They fly at an altitude of about 700 km, completing a complete revolution around the Earth approximately every 90 minutes.
Despite China's official statement that these satellites are used for “scientific research“ and “natural disaster monitoring“, experts believe that the Yaogan are military devices with SAR (synthetic aperture) radars, similar to the ICEYE systems.
The Yaogan 33 satellites were launched in 2022-2023, replacing the older models of the first generation Yaogan-1 (2006).
The first devices in the series have SAR L-band with a resolution of up to 5 meters in high-precision mode. Given the technical progress over the past 15 years, experts suggest that Yaogan 33 has significantly better characteristics, close to modern Western reconnaissance satellites.
It is still not known whether the Chinese satellites were actually conducting reconnaissance during the attack on Ukraine, but the very fact of their synchronous flyby is causing concern among analysts.
Russia is stepping up its attacks on Ukraine's gas and energy infrastructure on the eve of winter, while the international response remains weak. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, RBC-Ukraine reports.
"Unfortunately, there is no adequate reaction from the world to everything that is happening, to the constant increase in the scale and audacity of the strikes“, the president said.
He emphasizes that this is precisely why Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing this.
"He is simply laughing at the West, at the silence and the lack of strong retaliatory actions. Russia has rejected all proposals to stop the war or at least stop the strikes. Russia is openly trying to destroy our civilian infrastructure. And right now, before winter – gas infrastructure, electricity production and transmission“, he explains.
Zelensky notes that so far there has been no real reaction from the world.
"We will still fight so that the world does not remain silent, so that Russia feels the response“, he adds.
The president notes that Russian missiles and drones contain numerous critical components manufactured abroad.
"In just one Russian missile "Dagger" there are 96 components manufactured abroad. Many of them are truly critical components that Russia does not produce“, the Ukrainian president emphasizes.
According to him, over 500 drones used that night contain more than 100 thousand foreign components. Among the suppliers of these components are companies from:
USA, China, Taiwan, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland,
Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands.
Zelensky notes that in the fourth year of a full-scale war, it is strange to hear that some countries do not seem to know how to stop the supply of critical elements for Russian military equipment.
The President of Ukraine reports that a meeting of the coordinators of sanctions of the "Group of Seven" is planned for next week.
"And all our proposals for sanctions, for limiting supply schemes are available, our partners have them. The materials have been provided – solutions are needed. We are also preparing our new sanctions against those who are working for Russia at the moment, for its war, and against those who are trying to weaken Ukraine at such a moment", he summarizes.
Ukraine is recruiting more and more young people to defend the country. After the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense approved the "Treaty 18-24" project, many young men have joined the army, reports the Spanish newspaper El Pais, whose journalists visited a group of Ukrainian soldiers who are training according to NATO standards abroad.
"Focus" presents a translation of the material without editorial intervention
""The instructors constantly remind us to be aware that every day in our position could be our last", says the 18-year-old Ulan during training, already dressed in the uniform of the Ukrainian army along with a dozen of his comrades. They were children when Russia occupied Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014. They were teenagers when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. Now, in 2025, having come of age, they are the latest and youngest group to volunteer to join an army devastated by three and a half years of bloody and intense conflict.
Until this year, young men like Ulan were not accepted into recruitment centers, where the mandatory age ranges from 25 to 60. That was until February, when the Ministry of Defense approved the so-called "18-24 Contract" project, which guarantees training to NATO standards. "At the beginning of this war, I decided that I would join the army as soon as possible," admits this young man with big blue eyes from the northern Sumy region.
All members of the group visited by the Spanish media team are between 18 and 24 years old. They are completing their two-month training in an area of the country that their superiors are not allowing to be disclosed in this report. They are doing so after signing a one-year contract for which they will receive about 52,000 euros ($61,000). In return, they will be deployed to an area where, although the government does not provide data, there have been a significant number of casualties, according to reports.
Although they will receive a significant amount of money (the average salary in Ukraine is about $645 per month), Ulan does not cite the pay as the main reason for donning the uniform. "Not all of us can join the army. "The economy is also important for the survival of the country," he says, as gunshots from a shooting range can be heard in the background.
Sergey (no one mentions his last name), a 39-year-old officer who works in an army unit that supports the mental health of soldiers, explains that there are two types of young people who volunteer for the army. On the one hand, and mainly, those who belong to families with nationalist views and attach great importance to the country's defense; and on the other, those who come from troubled families and perhaps see the salary offered as a way out of their situation.
In any case, he believes caution is needed regarding the impulse that could lead these young soldiers to underestimate the dangers they face, given their lack of life experience and the fact that they almost never have wives or children.
21-year-old Alexander has no doubt that the main reason he enlisted in the army as a volunteer was “to defend the homeland”. He had just jumped out of a BMP 2 infantry fighting vehicle, rifle in hand, which was being used for training exercises. When he was 17, Russia invaded and he fled to Poland with his family. His father returned and enlisted, but he failed to do the same after several attempts because he was told he was too young. With the government's support for the 18-24 campaign, he has found his opportunity. "Quick, quick, quick!" the instructor shouts as he orders the others to lie down on the ground in a firing position.
Alexander's mother, the young man explains, did not want another soldier in the house. Over the years, several relatives have joined the family. The young soldier's wife was also not supportive at first. The reality is that, as the country's military leaders admit, the army cannot stop recruiting new recruits because it must maintain a high level of personnel, even after the Russian invasion is over. In contrast to the positions of Alexander and others who voluntarily enlist out of patriotism, there are hundreds of thousands of men - up to 1.5 million according to government estimates - of military age who refuse to be mobilized and live outside the law.
The shortage of personnel has prompted the authorities in Kiev to look for new ways to partially solve the problem. Therefore, in addition to young people aged 18 to 24, the army has now opened its doors to people over 60 who wish to enlist, although they will not be assigned to combat positions. Far from being an obligation, the contract for 18-24-year-olds "is more of an opportunity for people to make a conscious decision, gain combat experience and achieve financial stability in just one year. The decision to extend their service or return to civilian life is up to the volunteers," the then Defense Minister Rustem Umerov emphasized in early 2025.
The contract provides for receiving one million hryvnias (about $24,265) in advance. Of this amount, 200,000 hryvnias are paid immediately, and the rest – during the volunteer's service. In addition, recruits receive a monthly salary of up to 120,000 hryvnias (about $2,930), as well as other benefits: an interest-free mortgage, state-funded training, access to free medical care, the right to travel abroad after one year of service, and exemption from military service for 12 months after the contract expires.
Ulan, Alexander and the others have been at the training camp for five weeks. They have been training with weapons, learning how to move and coordinate, and how to defend themselves. Alexander already knows where he will be assigned as a member of the infantry, but he is not authorized to give details. The instructor shouts orders and advice. He places their rifles in the correct position, explains how to move in groups and individually. The recruits will soon complete their two-month training, and the children will be assigned to different brigades. The war in Ukraine continues and the prospects are not encouraging.
The search for cheap, light armored vehicles for logistics and evacuation of the wounded has prompted Russian designers to develop a new pickup truck based on the GAZ-3308 "Sadko" - the successor to the legendary GAZ-66 ("Shishiga") - a military truck whose appearance hardly inspires confidence in its reliability, writes Defense Express.
Moscow has unveiled an armored vehicle called the "Legionnaire", whose design closely resembles the Soviet BTR-40 of the 1950s. The vehicle is built on the chassis of the GAZ-3308 "Sadko".
Described as an armored pickup truck, the "Legionnaire"'s open cargo platform can accommodate riflemen and infantrymen, transport supplies or evacuate the wounded. The developers present it as a multifunctional platform for logistics, evacuation of the wounded and use by motorized rifle units in combat.
"Legioner" is also offered as a platform for mobile anti-aircraft units - a niche role, given that vehicles of this class usually do not need heavy armor, although additional protection is always welcome.
The protection meets the ballistic standards BR5 and, according to information, is capable of withstanding fragmentation and impact from an SVD cartridge (7.62×54 mm, steel-core projectile) from a distance of 10 meters. There is no mine protection, the vehicle is described only as “fragmentation resistant”.
According to the developer's website, the armor prevents penetration by small arms such as AK-type rifles or SVD (Dragunov sniper rifle). Against a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun (e.g. DShK) penetration occurs only at a distance of less than about 100 m, and for a 14.5 mm heavy machine gun KPVT - at a distance of less than about 600 m. This formulation is somewhat technical - the armor may not be completely penetrated, but internal fragmentation can still occur, endangering the crew and equipment in the cabin.
The “Legionnaire” has a curb weight of 6.5 tons, and a payload of 2.5 tons. It is equipped with a night vision camera. The cabin seats a driver and one passenger and is equipped with noise and explosion insulation. The maximum speed is up to 100 km/h on paved roads, and the range is up to 750 km.
The developer does not explicitly indicate the GAZ-3308 "Sadko" as the base platform, but the visual features and the YaMZ-534 engine clearly indicate its origin. This follows a familiar pattern: mounting an armored hull on an existing serial chassis.
Light armored vehicles have become widespread because they provide protected mobility for logistics units at a relatively low cost.
Visually, however, the "Legionnaire" looks crudely assembled, relying heavily on off-the-shelf components. It offers limited situational awareness outside the narrow forward field of view, and its armor appears thin for a vehicle of this size. In short, while the concept is good, this particular vehicle looks questionable.
The developer, "Русские боевые машины" (Russian Fighting Machines), claims to have been operating since 2016 and has delivered over 200 wheeled armored vehicles. Independent sources are scarce, and Russian corporate registries list the official registration date as August 8, 2025.
It is possible that this marks the formalization of the so-called "garage design bureau", which previously operated informally or as a volunteer collective. Alternatively, this could be another opportunistic venture aimed at taking advantage of Russia's expanding military orders.