Russia

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense.

Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.

U.S. and Gulf states have fired hundreds of interceptors in the opening days of the war to repel Iranian missile and drone barrages. Gulf states possess only days of interceptors under sustained attack, analysts estimate, potentially forcing Washington to pull from Indo-Pacific and other regional stockpiles, weakening its forward posture elsewhere.

Russia is developing a space-based nuclear capability that has the potential to threaten the U.S. and its allies, according to a source familiar with the matter. Russia's capacity could allow it to target satellites, the official said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters he plans to meet with House leaders on Thursday, though he did not confirm the topic of the briefing.

It is unclear what exactly the capability is that Russia is working on — importantly whether it is a nuclear-powered device or a nuclear weapon

Supplying Ukraine with Western arms only serves to worsen the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday, warning that Russian forces could potentially target such deliveries.

“We have warned the US that pumping up Ukraine with arms from several nations orchestrated by [Washington] is not just a dangerous move but something that makes these [arms] convoys legitimate targets,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Channel One. He did not elaborate on where and when Russia might target the convoys.

Ryabkov also warned that the “mindless handover” of “dangerous arms” like portable air-defense and anti-tank missiles poses a threat to Western nations themselves.?