United States defence secretary Lloyd Austin has waded in on reports that North Korea was preparing to enter the Ukraine war with troops. "If they are co-belligerents, if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia's behalf, that is a very, very serious issue," Austin said. Austin was returning from his fourth visit to Kyiv, where he announced a 400m package of US weapons for Ukraine. John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, said Washington believes that at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers arrived this month by sea to Vladivostok, Russia's largest Pacific port. "These soldiers then travelled onward to multiple Russian military training sites in eastern Russia, where they are currently undergoing training," Kirby said on Wednesday.

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Badly wounded from a Ukrainian attack on a Russian bunker in the Donetsk region, Sri Lankan fighter Senaka Bandara* tried to carry his fellow countryman, Nipuna Silva*, to safety. Senaka*, 36, was bleeding from his legs and hands. Nipuna's condition was worse – he had sustained injuries to his chest, hands and legs, according to Senaka. As the two Sri Lankans retreated under fire, another wave of Ukrainian drones struck their bunker in the occupied Donetsk region where the two served with the Russian military. "While I was carrying [Nipuna], there was another huge drone attack at the last bunker and Nipuna fell to the ground," Senaka said earlier this month while being treated for his injuries in a hospital in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., weighs in on challenges Border Patrol faces as more migrants flood the southern border on'Special Report.' The crash between a Russian fighter jet and a U.S. drone likely resulted from the pilot's aggression and "incompetence," according to former astronaut and Navy captain, Sen. Mark Kelly. "Look at the level of incompetence – I mean when we saw the flanker yesterday, which basically had a midair with the MQ-9 [drone], with a reaper … I spent 15 years in the astronaut office, I used to fly with Russian fighter pilots in the backseat of my plane," Kelly, D-AZ., told Fox News chief political anchor and host of "Special Report with Brett Baier" during an interview Thursday. "The level of incompetence in the Russian pilots that I flew with was shocking to me." Russia has denied that its plane crashed into the U.S. drone despite video evidence showing the plane make at least two fly-bys, including one in which it appeared to dump fuel on the drone before the feed abruptly cut off, and the drone crashed into the Black Sea. On Friday, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu reportedly presented the pilots responsible for crashing the drone with state awards, saying the pilots prevented the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation," referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian member of parliament Rustem Umerov reacts to President Biden announcing on Wednesday another $1.2 billion in security and humanitarian assistance on'Fox News @ Night.' An individual's location is typically known to someone or thing at any given time whether using a smartphone or device – such as a drone. This issue has become one of tremendous strategic importance for Ukrainians in their battle against Russian aggression. Allegations have arisen that Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), a Chinese company that is the world's largest civilian drone manufacturer, has been providing the Russian military with software to track Ukrainians piloting DJI drones used to conduct operations. The matter raises grave new concerns about the behavior of another Beijing technology behemoth and its impact on Ukrainian self-defense efforts. Ukraine's minister of digital transformation sent an open letter to DJI founder Frank Wang in March accusing Russia of using "an extended version of DJI AeroScope" to navigate missiles that are killing Ukrainian civilians.

In March, WIRED ran a story with the headline "Russia's Killer Drone in Ukraine Raises Fears About AI in Warfare," with the subtitle, "The maker of the lethal drone claims that it can identify targets using artificial intelligence." The story focused on the KUB-BLA, a small kamikaze drone aircraft that smashes itself into enemy targets and detonates an onboard explosive. The KUB-BLA is made by ZALA Aero, a subsidiary of the Russian weapons manufacturer Kalashnikov (best known as the maker of the AK-47), which itself is partly owned by Rostec, a part of Russia's government-owned defense-industrial complex. The WIRED story understandably attracted a lot of attention, but those who only read the sensational headline missed the article's critical caveat: "It is unclear if the drone may have been operated in this [an AI-enabled autonomous] way in Ukraine." Other outlets re-reported the WIRED story, but irresponsibly did so without the caveat.

Ukraine's most sophisticated attack drone is about as stealthy as a crop duster: slow, low-flying and completely defenseless. So when the Russian invasion began, many experts expected the few drones that the Ukrainian forces managed to get off the ground would be shot down in hours. But more than two weeks into the conflict, Ukraine's drones -- Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 models that buzz along at about half the speed of a Cessna – are not only still flying; they also shoot guided missiles at Russian missile launchers, tanks and supply trains, according to Pentagon officials. The drones have become a sort of lumbering canary in the war's coal mine, a sign of the astonishing resiliency of the Ukrainian defense forces and the larger problems that the Russians have encountered. "The performance of the Russian military has been shocking," said David Deptula, a retired three-star Air Force general who planned the U.S. air campaigns in Afghanistan in 2001 and the Persian Gulf in 1991.

The war in Ukraine has highlighted two things to Russia and the outside world: that Russia's much-vaunted military revolution has been exaggerated and that Ukraine's resistance to the invasion is total. Russia's military capabilities have been built up in Western eyes, particularly after its modernisation programme in the wake of the 2008 Georgian conflict. New equipment was ordered and training focused on realism as Russia's armed forces were put on a more professional footing. A new doctrine, designed to give the military greater flexibility in responding to a variety of scenarios, was also developed. Russia's new "hybrid" military tactics were highlighted by the relatively bloodless takeover of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, when "grey" operations – those below the threshold of actual conflict – were seen.

"The Russian military seeks to be a leader in weaponizing AI technology," Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, told National Defense. The JAIC -- which has been working to facilitate AI adoption across the Defense Department since 2018 -- recently commissioned a report by CNA, a research organization based in Arlington, Virginia, to examine Russia's developments. The report -- titled "Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy in Russia" -- identified more than 150 AI-enabled military systems in various stages of development, Groen said in an email in June. Key areas of interest include autonomous air, underwater, surface and ground platforms. The nation wants to use AI for electronic warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strategic decision-making processes as leaders pursue information dominance on the battlefield, Groen said.

The Russian military is more technologically advanced than the U.S. realized and is quickly developing artificial intelligence capabilities to gain battlefield information advantage, an expansive new report commissioned by the Pentagon warned. The federally funded Center for Naval Analyses examined the Kremlin's whole-of-government approach for artificial intelligence development and found it is largely driven by the perceived threat from the United States, combined with lessons learned from its continuing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine about what the future battlefield will look like, the report released Monday said. However, the Russian government faces limitations because its AI efforts are primarily government funded, and it lacks a strong defense industrial base, noted the report, written on behalf of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Still, analysts cautioned Pentagon leadership not to underestimate the Russia's technological advances as the U.S. pivots its strategic focus to the Indo-Pacific. The Russian military has been undergoing modernization since 2009.