Iran launched naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday in preparation for potential security and military threats in the strategic waterway. A statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz” exercise aims to assess the operational…

Senior Russian and Ukrainian officials have ended the latest round of peace negotiations brokered by the Trump administration, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the two sides once again failed to reach an agreement on fundamental issues. “We can see that some groundwork has been…

Issued on: 18/02/2026 - 13:31Modified: 18/02/2026 - 20:18 2 min Reading time Share Moscow "always" stands by Cuba, Putin tells Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez © Pavel Bednyakov / POOL/AFP Rodriguez travelled to traditional ally Russia seeking help as his country reels from a severe fuel crisis,…

It starts with a literal scream, a cry of pain from every player in the orchestra. The Ukrainian composer Anna Korsun’s piece Terricone is one of the most shattering creative acts of the war that began four years ago this month. Korsun was born in Donbas, where terricones, the slag heaps of the…

Russia abandoned the Kourou launchpad in response to European sanctions over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine - Copyright AFP Ronan LIETAR Olga Nedbaeva “Stop. Danger of death. Work in progress.” This sign, written in Russian, is still hanging inside an office at the site where Russia once launched…

The blocking of “unregistered” Starlink terminals revealed a significant vulnerability and technological lag of the Russian army, emphasizes expert Oleksandr Kovalenko. The Ukrainian General Staff used this situational advantage to launch a series of counterattacks, improving positions ahead of the…

With the final GPS III satellite scheduled to launch in March, the United States is completing the most significant upgrade to its positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) infrastructure in more than a decade. GPS III delivers improved accuracy, stronger signals and enhanced anti-jam capabilities…

Key points The US cut off oil supplies to force Havana into radical political and economic reforms. Cuba, for the first time in decades, has been left without energy subsidies following the halt of Venezuelan aid. Due to fuel shortages, international flights have been canceled, the industry has…

The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka is using AI-generated videos to discredit Ukrainian athletes at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. Source: fact-checkers from BBC Verify, as reported by BBC News Russian Details: Matryoshka's use of AI-generated voices impersonating "trusted…

In just weeks, Ukrainian forces reclaimed territory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region that Russia spent months capturing, erasing nearly half of Moscow’s recent gains, and exposing critical weaknesses in Russian communications and logistics. Feb 18, 2026 18:27 Updated Feb 18, 2026 20:23 4 min read…

Investigators examine a rail line damaged in an explosion in Mika, next to Garwolin, central Poland, on Nov. 17, 2025. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the explosion that damaged a railway line to its close ally Ukraine was an "act of sabotage." Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images MIKA and…

Slovakia has no legal grounds to unilaterally halt electricity supplies to Ukraine. Any one-sided suspension of cross-border electricity flows is prohibited by the rules of ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, says Volodymyr Omelchenko, Director of Energy…

German sculptor Jacques Tilly has placed Russia's war against Ukraine and tensions in Europe over Russian aggression at the centre of his satire at this year's Düsseldorf Carnival in Germany. Source: German international broadcaster and media outlet Deutsche Welle Details: Tilly created several big…

Russian Su-35 and Su-30SM2 fighter jets are being equipped more frequently with R-37M long-range air-to-air missiles, significantly extending their engagement range compared with earlier R-77-1 weapons, defense analyst Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute said, according to reporting…

Human infantry are still critical in the age of drone warfare But ground robots may have the edge in some conditions, especially at night Thermal cameras help armed ground robots see when most human infantry are blind In a one-on-one clash, a human infantryman has some clear advantages over a…

Russian government officials have decided not to restrict the operation of the Telegram messenger for Russian soldiers in the combat zone of the war in Ukraine, where they may use it to coordinate actions, transmit coordinates and track drones. Source: Russian propaganda outlet RIA Novosti, citing…

18 February, 02:00 PM Sweden's assessment came against the backdrop of statements by Estonian intelligence, which previously called Russia "dangerous, despite its incompetence" (Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS) Russia remains the primary military threat to Sweden and NATO, and…

China Wants 203,000 Satellites in Low Earth Orbit, Compared to SpaceX’s Current Leadership of 10,000 #Asia #China #Radiocommunication #Satellite #Space #Starlink #USA #World Launch of the Long March 5B carrier rocket with communication satellites. Photo credits: Xinhua China has submitted…

Russia's oil producers have cut drilling to the lowest level in three years, denting prospects for output growth this year as tougher western sanctions and a strong rouble squeeze revenues. Source: Bloomberg Details: Drilling rigs in Russia drilled about 29,140 km of production wells in 2025, down…

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/241902/ Feb 18, 2026, 11:03 AM News ID 241902 Politics Politics Feb 18, 2026, 11:03 AM TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – The Russian Navy’s helicopter carrier Stoikiy docked at Iran’s strategic Bandar Abbas naval base today to participate in a joint naval exercise with the Iranian…

This was reported on the Norwegian government’s website, as cited by Ukrinform. It is noted that air defense is a priority in Norway’s military support to Ukraine. “Through the Nansen programme, NOK 85 billion has been set aside for civil and military support to Ukraine in 2026. We will continue to…

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The Director of Implementation at the JATEC Center, Colonel Valeriy Vyshnivskyi, spoke about this. As the Ukrainian officer noted, last December there was a competition-trial on medical issues aimed at finding optimal solutions for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield under conditions of…

Ukrainian troops on the Sumy front are battling subzero temperatures as low as –25°C (–13°F), where frozen trenches, failing engines, and constant drone surveillance reshape daily combat. Snow conceals artillery positions even as it risks exposing them, while frostbite and exhaustion shadow soldiers…

The Discourse by SWJ Staff | 02.18.2026 at 08:34pm Check out this new report from USSOCOM’s Joint Special Operations University: From Guns for Hire to Military Doctrine: Russia’s Institutionalization of Influence in Africa. Nadina Ronc’s report provides one of the most comprehensive threat…

A Ukrainian soldier who took part in the Hedgehog 2025 exercises has said the drills showed that NATO troops do not fully understand the threat posed by drones or how to respond on the battlefield. Source: Nick, commander of a UAV platoon in the 412nd Nemesis brigade, in an interview with hromadske,…

The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with Bill Browder, investor and longtime sanctions advocate, about why Western sanctions have so far failed to change Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior. Browder argues that while Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world, a…

As Ukrinform reports, the Special Operations Forces informed about this on Telegram The Rangers of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a successful raid on the position of the Russian invaders on one of the front lines. The operation was announced through…

Major General Wolf-Jürgen Stahl warns President Putin may be preparing military aggression against Nato and Europe faces turbulence as alliances are strained Major General Wolf-Jürgen Stahl said President Putin was preparing for a war of aggression against Nato, as Germany hosts the alliance’s…

How IndiGo-Air India duopoly is causing turbulence at MakeMyTrip, peers The dollar is still king, and its fate rests in America’s hands Is it hope against hope for Indian tech cos? Can Mahindra’s playbook scale up this big boy of school buses? Stock Radar: Bank of India stock hits fresh record highs…

Culture Culture Series Cinema The film "Traces" portrays seven women in Ukraine who survived Russian captivity. The film is being shown at the Berlinale. - Copyright Franziska Müller / Euronews Copyright Franziska Müller / Euronews By Franziska Müller & Sonja Issel & Emma De Ruiter Published on…

It isn't difficult to identify the main beneficiary of the past two and a half decades of the Kremlin regime. The country’s entire economy and society have been subordinated to the will of a small elite bent on enriching itself. But the war has changed that elite, making it more vulnerable to a…

The European Union is seeking the withdrawal of Russian military forces from Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and the breakaway region of Transnistria as part of a possible peace framework tied to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The proposal is outlined in a document circulated among member states by EU…

The President’s wife, Olena Zelenska, visited the renovated dining hall and kitchen at the Krasyliv community lyceum and the modern primary school of the Khmelnytsky City Council. She shared her impressions on her social-media page, describing the scale of modernization of the educational…

On February 12, the Sibir entered Norwegian waters and subsequently sailed southwards with course for St. Petersburg. In its wake followed the diesel-engined icebreaker Murmansk. Only few days after it had escorted a convoy on the Northern Sea Route, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir sailed…

Cuba is under more US pressure than at any point this century. Its regime is dealing with the consequences of US military action against its ally, Venezuela, and a subsequent shut down in oil supplies. Power cuts and food shortages have spread across the island, while garbage is piling up on the…

A banner promoting the Russian messaging app MAX hangs on an apartment building in Moscow, November 16, 2025. Sergei Bulkin / TASS / ZUMA Press / Scanpix / LETA Roughly 70 percent of the channels on Russia’s “national messenger,” Max, were registered by government agencies and public institutions at…