Ukraine's forces advanced on the southern and eastern fronts during the 79th week of the country's war with Russia, reaching what experts believe to be the rear of Russia's first line of defence. But they also faced a Russian advance in the northeast that created a dilemma about where to field available troops. Ukrainian forces driving towards occupied Melitopol confirmed their recapture of Robotyne, an important Russian stronghold in western Zaporizhia, which they entered on August 20. Southern forces spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said on August 28 that forces were busy demining the area, securing their positions and winning more territory southeast of the settlement. Geolocated footage placed them 5km (3.1 miles) southeast of Robotyne.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Ukraine's defense minister said Wednesday his country has received the U.S-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile systems it has long craved and which Kyiv hopes will help shield it from Russian airstrikes during the war. "Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet. Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of Patriot systems, which Washington agreed to send last October, would be a major boost and a milestone in the war against Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Russia has said that a division of its Bastion coastal defence missile systems has been deployed to Paramushir, one of the Kuril Islands in the north Pacific, some of which Japan claims as its territory. The move is part of a wider strengthening of Russia's defences in its vast far eastern regions, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday, partly in response to what he called United States efforts to "contain" Russia and China. Moscow's move also comes after high-level visits by Asian leaders to both sides of the Ukraine war. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, a close US ally and a key Chinese rival in East Asia, made a surprise trip to Ukraine this week, which some observers said was an attempt to upstage Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia. "To contain Russia and China, the United States is significantly increasing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthening its political and military links with its allies, continuing to create a new American security architecture in this region," Shoigu said in a video of his address to Russia's top brass, published by the defence ministry.

MBDA's plan to acquire a stake in Numalis, a French company will help the former build Artificial Intelligence-based solutions for use in missile systems to detect, track, intercept and destroy aerial targets. "Numalis will give us access to essential building blocks of the future validation – and ultimately certification – processes for the AI-based applications used in our missile systems," said Éric Béranger, CEO of MBDA. The company announced its plan to buy a stake in the French firm on Monday. "Whilst AI holds a lot of promise, it remains a highly complex concept to validate and integrate into systems where error is not acceptable. Because it develops sovereign mission-critical products, MBDA has decided to invest in Numalis in order to benefit from its expertise and solutions," MBDA said in a statement.

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials said Thursday it was "highly likely" that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner late Tuesday, killing all 176 people on board. They suggested it could well have been a mistake. The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general last week. Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent. But they said the airliner could have been mistaken for a threat.

Arms manufacturers are rushing to develop missile systems to take down drones. Arms makers are targeting the growing menace of drones at airports and on battlefields with a rush to develop new missile systems, radar jammers and laser cannons. U.S. forces, along with Middle East allies and Russian troops, have been forced to confront hostile drone operations. Commercial flights at some of the world's busiest hubs--in New York, London and Dubai--have been grounded in recent months amid concerns that nearby drones could endanger airliners. The rising number of incidents has put the threat in the public eye and propelled interest in anti-drone technology.

Earlier this month, a resident in a rural province of South Korea found a small, sky-blue unmanned plane perched nose-up against a tree in a remote forest. The drone belonged to the North Korean military and apparently had flown south for five hours, capturing images of a sensitive new U.S. anti-missile system before crashing. It lacked missiles or other weapons like the larger, more advanced models used by U.S. forces in the Middle East. But South Korean officials and security experts consider such flights unlawful incursions. As world powers focus on North Korea's emerging nuclear capabilities, its drone program is raising concerns about espionage and aggravating already tense relations with its southern neighbor.

North Korea has been accused of spying on South Korea after a suspected Pyongyang drone was spotted on the site of a U.S. missile interceptor system, Seoul's military officials said Tuesday. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, which is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, is being deployed in Seongju in order to protect South Korea from Pyongyang's growing threats. According to Yonhap News, the small unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a Sony-made camera was found last week on a mountain near the inter-Korean border. The drone had apparently crashed close to the THAAD site. The South's military took the drone in custody and analysed the content of the 64-gigabyte memory chip.

The North Dakota Army National Guard reportedly deployed an "anti-drone missile system" at the site of the Dakota Access oil pipeline on Tuesday. North Dakota Guard spokesman William Prokopyk confirmed to The Daily Beast the presence of the Avenger missile system. He added that the system was put in place "strictly in the observation role." The Morton County Sheriff's Department echoed Prokpyk's statements, adding that the systems "are used strictly for observation of ungoverned encampments to help protect private property and maintain public safety," according to The Daily Beast. Jon Ziegler, who describes himself as a "citizen journalist," spotted the surface-to-air missile launchers at the site.

With rising security challenges in the global commons, there is growing interest in the subject of "intelligent" weapons systems. This is especially so in the maritime realm, where recent studies have shown that precision-guided weaponry and networked systems are likely to play an increasingly important role. Even while accepting autonomous systems as the future of maritime warfare, however, many find the subject of "intelligent weapon systems" to be deeply contentious. A good point of departure for the discussion on autonomous combat systems is a recent report in the Chinese media about the development of a family of cruise missiles with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. In August this year, a Chinese daily reported that China's aerospace industry was developing tactical missiles with inbuilt intelligence that would help seek out targets in combat.