Defense Reference

[ Zelenskyy discusses Kyiv’s drone program and missile defense with the UK’s new leader ]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday at a British naval base, where the two discussed a joint drone project and Ukraine’s urgent need for ballistic missile defense systems to counter Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy’s visit marks the first by a foreign leader since Burnham took office last week. The prime minister said this demonstrates the U.K.’s “unwavering” support for Kyiv as it resists Russia’s four-year-long full-scale invasion. Burnham also said he planned to visit the Ukrainian capital soon.
The meeting took place aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was docked in Portsmouth on the south coast of England, one day ahead of Zelenskyy’s scheduled visit to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Zelenskyy said on X that the leaders also discussed the issue of “joint defense production.” Britain and Ukraine have reached an agreement to jointly develop a new type of drone, and Zelenskyy had previously said that he hoped to build a “big, big factory” in the UK.

[ The U.S. and Iran have halted their attacks following several days of escalating tensions ]
The United States and Iran suspended military operations for a second consecutive day on Sunday, as both sides work to resume negotiations to reach an interim ceasefire agreement. However, recent skirmishes have severely undermined the prospects for such an agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said.
A regional official involved in the mediation efforts said that the two countries hope to return to the interim ceasefire agreement, and the compromise currently under negotiation would allow Iranian ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and impose fewer restrictions on vessels.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to travel to the U.S. on Tuesday to meet with Trump in Washington.

[ Lebanese Prime Minister visits devastated border village and begins negotiations with Israel ]
Following months of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s prime minister visited a heavily damaged southern village on Wednesday to launch a Lebanon-Israel agreement brokered by Washington.
The latest conflict started March 2, when the Lebanese militant group fired rockets toward Israel after the U.S.-Israeli February attacks that set off the Iran war. In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and ground invasion in Lebanon, killing more than 4,000 people and displacing 1.2 million others.
The two sides, technically in a state of war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment, started rare direct talks championed by Washington.
They reached an agreement by late June, setting a plan for the deployment of Lebanese military forces in areas in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah had a military presence and influence, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, while disarming the militant group.
Hezbollah has refused the talks and disarmament calls.

[ U.S. forces launched airstrikes against Iran, and both sides have threatened civilian infrastructure ] 2026-07-23
The U.S. military announced Wednesday that the two sides are conducting their 12th round of nighttime strikes targeting civilian infrastructure.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that every time Iran fires on ships in the Strait, the U.S. will destroy a bridge or a power plant.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran will adopt a “eye for an eye” defensive strategy.
U.S. missiles struck areas near the western Iranian cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir, and Andimeşk on Wednesday evening. Iranian state media reported early Thursday that two people were killed in a U.S. missile strike on the town of Shalamcheh near the Iraqi border.
Iran responded to the U.S. attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants that supply drinking water to drought-stricken neighboring countries.

[ Trump has approved a nuclear agreement that could allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium ]
According to two people familiar with the matter, U.S. President Donald Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capabilities for its civilian nuclear program. The agreement is expected to be announced as early as Wednesday.
The agreement is expected to last 30 years and will involve U.S. companies in the project's development. According to a joint U.S.-Saudi study, the agreement may allow for the construction of a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia.
However, the deal is expected to be submitted to Congress for review and may face resistance, as some lawmakers fear that helping Saudi Arabia achieve its long-held ambition of becoming a uranium-rich nation could trigger a new round of nuclear proliferation and competition.

[ Following Stamer's resignation, Andy Burnham becomes the United Kingdom's seventh prime minister in a decade ]
Andy Burnham was sworn in as the United Kingdom’s new prime minister on Monday, pledging to launch a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy, while acknowledging that six British leaders had attempted to do so over the past decade but had all failed.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Burnham pledged to lower the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry, and put an end to homelessness on the streets. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has been plagued by serious problems since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government was gradually weakened.
One of Bernham’s most important tasks on his first day in office was to form a cabinet. The key position of chancellor of the exchequer was filled by former Defense Secretary John Healy, who had resigned from the previous administration a few weeks earlier over issues related to the department’s budget plans.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been appointed Foreign Secretary, succeeding Yvette Cooper, who was previously appointed Health Secretary. Shabana Mahmood will continue to serve as Home Secretary. A full Cabinet meeting will be held on Tuesday.

[ 17 U.S. service members were killed in the war in Iran, reflecting a conflict that was fought primarily in the air ]
The U.S. military said Sunday that another American service member had been killed in the war with Iran, bringing the total death toll to 17.
The deaths of these individuals reflect a complex reality: in a conflict involving drones, missiles, and aircraft, U.S. troops face lethal risks even without being on the ground.
Shortly after the war began on February 28, an Iranian drone struck a civilian port in Kuwait, killing six U.S. soldiers. A seventh soldier died on March 1, more than a week after being wounded in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Later in March, a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq, killing six service members. On Monday, the U.S. military said a Navy pilot was killed in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea.
On Saturday last week, U.S. Central Command said that two service members were killed on Friday in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. A third service member was missing following the attacks.
U.S. Central Command said Sunday that the latest U.S. military fatality in the Iraq conflict occurred Saturday in northern Iraq, when a downed Iranian drone triggered the “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance, killing one U.S. service member in the explosion.

[ The United States has expanded its airstrikes against Iran, targeting additional bridges ]
Earlier Friday, the United States expanded its airstrikes against Iran, increasingly targeting bridges as part of President Donald Trump’s threat to begin attacking infrastructure to force Tehran to ease its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran launched new missile strikes against U.S. allies in the Middle East and warned that the attacks would escalate.
In Qatar, authorities warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation. Qatar is a key mediator with Pakistan in trying to reach an end to the Iran war. But talks have broken down over Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, earlier threatened that Iran could launch widespread attacks on “all the infrastructure in the region” if the U.S. acted on Trump ‘s repeated warnings that America could hit Iranian bridges and power plants.
Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait.

[ As Ukraine’s new prime minister takes office, the street protests continue ]
On Thursday, Serhii Koretskyi, CEO of Ukraine’s National Energy company, was appointed as the new prime minister—a figure who is not a typical choice to lead the government.
Unlike many senior Ukrainian government officials, the 48-year-old Koretskyi did not rise through political parties, parliament, or the civil service. A trained engineer, he began his career in the business world, spending more than 20 years managing companies in the fuel and food industries before being selected to lead some of Ukraine’s most troubled state-owned energy companies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has tasked him with leading the country through what officials expect to be the toughest winter of the war, due to Russian attacks. He is the third prime minister since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Just as lawmakers were voting to confirm Koretskyi, hundreds of protesters gathered in the city center, expressing their anger at Zelenskyy and accusing him of unfairly sidelining the popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in this week’s sudden cabinet reshuffle.