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6:00 PM ET, Tuesday, July 25, 2023

The Cipher Brief curates open source information from around the world that impacts national security. Here's a look at today's headlines, broken down by region of the world:  

In the Americas

U.S. Pledges $400 Million in Ukraine Military Aid.  The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Tuesday that the U.S. is providing up to $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine.  The aid package will include Hornet drones made by FLIR Systems — which are being sent to Kyiv for the first time — as well as Stryker armored personnel carriers, artillery rounds, mine-clearing equipment, and munitions for Patriot and NASAMS systems.  The package will be funded with the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which pulls from U.S. stockpiles.  The package is the 43rd approved by the U.S. for Ukraine and brings the total of Washington’s military aid for Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022 to over $43 billion.  Reuters Associated Press

Former U.S. Marine Released in Prisoner Swap With Russia Injured in Ukraine.  The U.S. State Department confirmed that Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine detained in Russia for almost three years before being released in a prisoner swap in April 2022, was injured while participating in fighting in Ukraine.  An NGO transported Reed to a hospital in Kyiv and then to Germany for medical care.  The department did not provide details on his condition or circumstances around his injury in combat, but it maintained that Reed was not acting on behalf of the U.S. government.  However, experts say Moscow may still react angrily, which could impact U.S. efforts to get other Americans designated as wrongfully detained in Russia back home.  The U.S. has warned Americans who seek to participate in fighting in Ukraine that the U.S. government cannot assist them.  Associated Press CNN

Western Europe

Zelensky, UK’s Sunak Discuss Ukraine Military Needs.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday.  Zelensky said he and Sunak discussed Ukraine’s need for air defense support, underscored by the recent Russian attacks on Odesa, as well as needs for offensive operations.  Zelensky said he also raised Ukraine’s NATO membership bid in the context of G7 security guarantees offered at the NATO summit in Vilnius.  CNN Ukrinform

Central and Eastern Europe

U.S. Warns Iran Helping Russia Build Drone Factory.  Analysts from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency told reporters on Friday that Russia is building a drone-manufacturing facility with support from Iran.  The analysts said that once the facility is completed, likely by early next year, it will allow Russia to acquire drones at a rare “orders of magnitude larger” than what it has been able to procure from Iran to date.  The U.S. previously released satellite imagery of the purported planned location of the drone plant inside Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone about 600 miles east of Moscow.  The analysts said Tehran has been sending construction equipment to help complete it.  The analysts added that it is estimated that Iran has given over 400 drones to Russia, which it has used primarily for attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure.  CNN 

Putin to Visit China in October.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly planning to visit China in October.  Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters about the planned trip on Tuesday, saying that Putin’s visit will coincide with China’s Belt and Road Forum.  Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly invited Putin to attend the forum when he visited Moscow earlier this year.  CNN Reuters 

Moldova Summons Russian Envoy Over Suspected Surveillance at Embassy.  Moldova’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it summoned Russia’s Ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Vasnetsov, over media reports of suspected surveillance operations at the Russian embassy in the Moldovan capital.  The Insider media outlet and Jurnal TV television channel reported seeing 28 satellite dishes, masts, and transmitting and receiving devices on the roof of the embassy building and neighboring residential building used by diplomats and technical staff.  The media outlets also reported seeing people suspected of being linked to Russian intelligence on the roofs.  The Moldovan foreign ministry said it summoned the Russian envoy to express concern about the suspected surveillance activities, saying that “espionage or foreign interference” is “absolutely unacceptable,” adding that it “represents a direct challenge to the sovereignty and national security” of Moldova.  The Russian embassy and Moscow did not comment on the media report or ambassador summoning.  Russia has repeatedly denied Moldovan accusations of meddling and espionage.  Reuters Ukrinform

Asia and Oceania

China Sends 29 Planes, Ships Around Taiwan.  Taiwan's defense ministry reports that 25 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels traveled around Taiwan on Tuesday.  The Taiwanese military said ten of the aircraft flew into the southeast and southwest of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, including several drones, one of which crossed the unofficial median line of the Taiwan Strait.  The incursions came as Taiwan started its annual Han Kuang drills in which the island tests its military readiness to counter an attack.  South China Morning Post 

Japan Encourages Startups to Enter Defense Industry.  The Japanese government has unofficially selected approximately 200 startups to encourage them to enter the defense industry. Representatives from the defense and economy ministries met with the startups in June in Tokyo as part of a bid to harness the advanced technology they are developing.  Further meetings will be held to discuss providing financial support to the startups, requests from the companies and other potential businesses that could join the initiative.  The selected startups include drone development companies, cyber defense companies, satellite communications analysis firms and others. Nikkei Asia

Taliban Visited Indonesia. A delegation of the Taliban visited Indonesia this month in order to “improve relations” between Afghanistan and Indonesia. Analysts believe this visit was an attempt to gain support for international recognition for the Taliban. This visit was also brought on by the Taliban in order to court foreign investment in Afghanistan to support its ailing economy. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah confirmed that the Taliban were in Jakarta for "internal activities with their mission.”, although they did not meet with the foreign ministry.  Nikkei Asia

Middle East and Northern Africa

Russian Aircraft Struck US Drone with Flare Over Syria, US Says.  U.S. Air Forces Central released a statement on Tuesday saying that a Russian aircraft flew “dangerously close” to a U.S. drone in Syria on Sunday, harassing the drone by deploying flares which struck the unmanned aircraft.  This is the latest encounter between Russian fighter jets and US drones flying over Syria.  The U.S. has called on Russia to stop such “unprofessional behavior,” inferring that such actions could lead to an accident that endangers both Russian and US aircraft. Al Jazeera Wall Street Journal Politico 

Islamophobic Demonstrators Set Fire to Koran Outside of Embassies in Denmark.  A far-right group known as “Danish Patriots” lit Korans on fire in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Copenhagen in anti-Islam demonstrations on Tuesday.  The demonstrations followed several similar protests in both Denmark and Sweden in recent days, which have prompted anger across the Islamic world.  The Turkish government called on Denmark to prevent further “hate crimes” and the Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Cairo to protest such demonstrations in Stockholm.  Crowds in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon also gathered to protest the Koran burnings.  Denmark and Sweden have both condemned the burnings, but said that they cannot stop them due to freedom of speech protections.  Al Jazeera BBC Reuters

Sub Saharan Africa

Armed Gang Kills 34 in Northwest Nigeria.  A gang of armed men killed 27 villagers and seven military personnel in the remote Dan Gulbi district of the Maru local government area in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara state on Monday afternoon.  Armed gangs, referred to as bandits locally, have caused chaos in northwestern Nigeria for the past three years, kidnapping and killing hundreds.  Nigerian security forces are stretched thin countering the bandits as well as Islamist insurgents and farmer-herder and sectarian violence.  Reuters  US News

Cyber and Tech

China’s Top Diplomat Urges BRICS to Oppose Tech Hegemony.  China’s top diplomat Wang Yi called for “fairness and justice” in cyberspace, urging emerging economies to counter technological dominance or hegemony while also preventing the internet from being used for “color revolutions.”  Speaking at a cybersecurity meeting of BRICS countries, which other emerging economies also sent representatives to, Wang harkened back to Mao Zedong’s call for cyberspace to be a “grand stage for the blossoming of a hundred flowers” instead of a place for a “digital iron curtain,” calling for multilateral technological development and internet governance that includes developing countries.  His comments come amid increased U.S. pressure on China’s digital industry; Washington has accused Beijing of working to steal advanced technologies and launch cyberattacks, which China has denied as false.  South China Morning Post

TSMC Investing Nearly $3 Billion in Advanced Packaging Chip Plant.  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. is investing $2.9 billion in a new advanced packaging plant for artificial intelligence (AI) chips in western Taiwan.  Construction on the plant will start in the second half of 2024, with mass production planned for 2027.  Advanced packaging involves the interlocking of multiple chips into the same package.  They are critical for semiconductors related to AI processors.  Nikkei Asia 

Read deeply-experienced, expert-driven national security news, analysis and opinion in The Cipher Brief