RUSI
RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) is a British defence and security think tank, founded in 1831 and headquartered in London. It conducts research on defence policy, military strategy and international security, publishing analysis for governments, armed forces and the wider public.
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Russia builds large jet-drone launch base near Ukraine in about six weeks
Russia has nearly completed a large new base for launching jet strike drones in Russia's Rostov Oblast, near the Ukrainian border, built in about six weeks on a site that was an empty field at the end of August. The complex, roughly 0.9 square kilometers in area, sits about 3.5 km from the Millerovo airbase and is intended for launching 'Geran-4' and 'Geran-5' jet drones, according to private intelligence company DroneSec. Construction has coincided with a roughly six-fold increase in Russia's use of jet drones over the summer.
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US and Europe draft four-part Ukraine peace plan as Trump–Putin diesel deal overshadows Miami talks
On 9 October, US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner hosted a six-hour meeting at Witkoff's Shell Bay golf club near Miami with a Ukrainian delegation and representatives of the UK, France, Germany, the EU and NATO. The US envoys asked Ukraine to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries, relayed that Vladimir Putin is not yet ready to negotiate and is conditioning talks on receiving the remaining roughly 11% of the Donbas under Ukrainian control, and announced that Donald Trump had struck a separate deal with Putin on Russian diesel exports. President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the strike demand and called the diesel decision "unfair and dishonest." The Washington Post subsequently reported that Washington and European capitals are shaping a four-part peace proposal covering reconstruction financing, NATO-Article-5-style security guarantees, economic and energy integration including a possible Russia–Europe pipeline, and a ceasefire along the current front line. Ukraine's presidential office dismissed the leak as "not bad PR" rather than a joint US–European document.
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Russia mass-launches repurposed training missiles from S-400 systems against Ukraine
Russia has sharply increased its use of RM-48U missiles — originally built for air-defense crew training — against Ukraine, launching them from S-400 systems. The repurposed missiles accounted for more than half of all Russian ballistic and hypersonic strikes in July, according to the General Prosecutor's Office, while the use of precision Iskander missiles dropped sharply. Analysts say the strategy aims to exhaust Ukraine's air-defense interceptors and conserve Iskander, KN-23 and Zircon missiles for a winter campaign.