A manufacturing plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region has significantly scaled up its production of Iranian-designed drones, using a range of Chinese components, and recruiting a low-skilled workforce of Russian teenagers and African women,

In 2023, the factory produced 2,738 Shahed drones, and by the first nine months of 2024, it more than doubled this output, manufacturing 5,760 drones. According to anonymous sources, the factory is also assembling thousands of “fake” drones aimed at exhausting Ukraine’s air defense systems.

Kyiv targets missile fuel factory as Moscow claims assassination attempts foiled - Four Russians accused of helping assassination plots arrested

Early indications suggest a Russian anti-aircraft system may have downed the passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, a US official told CNN as Azerbaijan held a day of mourning for the dozens of victims of the disaster.

There was growing speculation that an Azerbaijani airliner was shot down by Russian air defense system. Russia had initially said it believed the plane hit a flock of birds, but a U.S. official says it may have been struck by Russian air defenses.