Skip to playerSkip to main content
The Military Show
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 Something DEVASTATING Just Broke Inside CRIMEA... Russia Will Never Recover
17:35 Ukraine Gave the U.S. the Key… America Just Used It to OBLITERATE Iran's Navy
34:48 Canada Is Getting Ready for WAR
51:26 If You Think Putin’s Russia Isn’t EVIL… Watch What the FSB Just Did
01:08:43 Ukraine Secretly Deployed Colombia's Deadliest Soldier

Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join

#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00:00Ukraine is on an unstoppable march toward total victory in Crimea. That isn't us saying so,
00:00:06it's Philip Ingram. Once a high-ranking officer in UK military intelligence,
00:00:11Ingram is a man who has seen it all and has the MBE to prove it, and he has just
00:00:17delivered an
00:00:17explosive interview where he revealed one key thing. Something so massive is going down in
00:00:23Crimea that Putin is unable to stop it. The snowball started rolling downhill months ago.
00:00:30Now it's transforming into an avalanche that is going to de-Russify Crimea and release Putin's
00:00:35grip on the peninsula. None of this has happened by chance. One of the first things that Ingram
00:00:41says in his interview is that what's happening in Crimea, from the isolation strategy to the
00:00:46rampant fuel shortages, and right through to the Ukrainian strikes being conducted on the peninsula,
00:00:51was all by design. Ukraine built up to this, and it did it by ruthlessly targeting air defense
00:00:57systems in Crimea over and over again to create pathways over the Black Sea and Crimea itself
00:01:03to enable its strikes. If we look at what happened, whenever Ukraine first got permission to use
00:01:08its longer-range weapons, what did it do? Ingram asks rhetorically. It started to attack Russian
00:01:13air defense capabilities. Those attacks have occurred across Crimea and all of Russia as Ukraine has
00:01:19dismantled air defenses systematically and consistently. This was phase one of the Crimean
00:01:25liberation effort, and it set the stage for everything that we now see in 2026. We saw
00:01:30these attacks ramp up severely during the first two months of the year. In January and February,
00:01:36Ukraine carried out between 20 and 25 strikes per month against Crimean air defense assets,
00:01:41armed conflict location and event data or ACLED reports. Systems, radars, and entire depots
00:01:47went down under Ukrainian drone fire, opening up airspace to enable everything that came after. Ukraine
00:01:53hasn't stopped phase one just because it's entered phase two, ACLED points out. One bleeds into the
00:01:59other, as Ukraine continues to shatter the air defenses that remain in Crimea. We saw that on
00:02:05August 1st, when the new voice of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian strikes had sparked fires at air
00:02:10defenses and electronic warfare, or EW, positions in the main Crimean port of Sevastopol. That port,
00:02:17which was home to the Black Sea fleet before Russia's warships had to sail as far away from Ukraine as
00:02:22they could get, has become easier to hit because of how well Ukraine executed phase one of its
00:02:27strategy. As for that phase bleeding into what was to come, it's a simple concept. Phase two is
00:02:32isolation. That is ongoing, but Ukraine's key victory here is that the isolation stops Russia
00:02:38from sending more air defenses into Crimea to replace those that it loses. That makes Crimea's
00:02:44defenses finite, vulnerable. Every radar, every system, and every EW device that Ukraine takes out
00:02:51now moves Ukraine closer to its ultimate goal of de-Russifying the entire peninsula.
00:02:56Remove Russia's ability to protect itself, as Ingram says, and opportunities open up.
00:03:02And boy, has Ukraine taken the opportunities it created for itself.
00:03:06Isolation has followed air defense destruction. Ukraine has combined vehicle interdiction in the
00:03:11occupied territories, where it's smashing fuel and supply trucks carrying goods to Crimea via the
00:03:16occupied territories, with over 70 attacks against Shadow Fleet ships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov
00:03:22in July alone. All of this adds to strikes against depots and military facilities in Crimea itself.
00:03:28The logistical network that supports Russia's control over Crimea is being sliced to pieces,
00:03:34rendering it all but useless. There are two elements to this strategy. The military angle is obviously
00:03:40important and will be explaining how important Putin's slipping grip on Crimea has become soon.
00:03:45But above that, Ingram points out, is the psychological aspect of what's happening in Crimea.
00:03:50That's more damaging to Putin than even the gradual loss of what was supposed to be
00:03:54strategically significant territory. And the reason why comes down to a simple explanation.
00:03:59Crimea was supposed to be a symbol of Russian power and an example of the mythology that Putin has
00:04:04created about Russians and Ukrainians being one people. All of that has fallen apart. Ingram points
00:04:11to the initial campaign of aggression in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea as the starting point
00:04:17for the myth that Putin was trying to build. Russia took over Crimea almost bloodlessly, Ingram points
00:04:22out, and that was vital to the Russian psychology that Putin wanted to create about the peninsula.
00:04:28Therefore, it is the center of the Russian psychology for their actions against Ukraine,
00:04:32Ingram says of that annexation. That's where it all started. It's also got a psychological
00:04:37importance to Vladimir Putin and to his inner circle. Vladimir Putin has his last honeymoon there.
00:04:43He owns some very valuable seafront property, as do many of the oligarchs in his inner circle.
00:04:49For Putin, this idea of casting Crimea as always being part of Russia is vital. Soon after the annexation
00:04:55of the peninsula, Putin flew in and conducted a showy pilgrimage of sites he believed were vital to
00:05:00expanding on his myths. Wreaths were laid at a Soviet-era World War II memorial. Putin visited
00:05:06a cathedral associated with Russian Christianity, and he made sure to head to Sevastopol to conduct
00:05:11an inspection of the Black Sea fleet that Russia had just usurped from Ukraine. It was all in service
00:05:16of building the image of Russia as a great power that was welcoming Ukraine back into its fold,
00:05:21and Ukrainians wanted it. The annexation was practically bloodless. That was Putin's big victory,
00:05:27and it's something that he has used to create the myth that Russians and Ukrainians are the one people.
00:05:32For Putin, Crimea could be used as a symbol of unity. That's according to Ingram, who says,
00:05:37it was also shared between the Ukrainians and the Russians because we had the headquarters of the
00:05:41Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Therefore, there had been this symbol of unity between Ukraine and
00:05:46Russia for many years. Putin reinforced this claim of unity in July 2021, just a few months before he
00:05:52launched the full-scale invasion, with an essay entitled, On the Historical Unity of Russians and
00:05:58Ukrainians. In his rambling triatize, Putin claimed that Russians and Ukrainians were always one,
00:06:04and that external forces were to blame for the wall that had emerged between the two.
00:06:09Divide and rule, as Putin puts it, which is a strategy he is all too familiar with.
00:06:14Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians are all descendants of ancient Russ, Putin declared. That,
00:06:19apparently, is enough of a reason for Russia to take control of Crimea and ultimately Ukraine,
00:06:24or in Putin's view, to unite them. All of this context matters to what is happening in Crimea
00:06:29right now because Ukraine's isolation strategy is a direct rejection of this myth that Putin created.
00:06:36For the one people claimed to be true, Ukrainians must want to join Russia and become one. They don't.
00:06:42The bloodless annexation of Crimea fueled Putin's myth, but the very real destruction and pain all over the
00:06:48peninsula right now destroys the narrative. Don't underestimate the psychological importance of
00:06:54what Ukraine is doing. Ukraine estimates that at least 850,000 Russians have relocated to Crimea
00:07:00since the 2014 annexation, and many more besides treat the peninsula as a holiday destination.
00:07:06All were drawn in by Putin's claim of unity, only to find that every drone or missile that Ukraine sends
00:07:12punches holes not only in military equipment but in the tail that Putin weaved. Ukrainians aren't one
00:07:18people with Russians. That message is being hammered home in phase two of Ukraine's operation.
00:07:24The collapsing of this myth is key to relinquishing Putin's grip on the peninsula because it exposes the
00:07:30lies that Putin has told to keep hold of Crimea in the first place. But beyond the supposed unity,
00:07:35there is one more psychological aspect of Putin's control over Crimea to consider, the power.
00:07:41Unity means nothing in comparison to showcases of strength for Putin, and for over a decade,
00:07:47Crimea has been the best demonstration of Russia's supposed ability to dominate Ukraine.
00:07:52The bloodless coup wasn't just about unity, it was about showing the world,
00:07:56and the people of Ukraine, that Russia was to be feared. Ukraine didn't fight back because it was
00:08:02scared to do so. It knew Russia would roll through the rest of the country if it did.
00:08:06That may have been the case in 2014 when Ukraine was ill-prepared to fend off a full invasion.
00:08:11But in 2022 and beyond, Ukraine has ruined this Russian claim of invincibility. Every missile that
00:08:17flies or drone that strikes in Crimea now offers a visible contradiction between Putin's claims of
00:08:23strength and the reality on the peninsula. Russian folklore is being destroyed bit by bit
00:08:28through Ukraine's isolation campaign, along with everything that it has done to Crimea.
00:08:33Ingram points to what happened to the Black Sea Fleet, as around 30% of that fleet has been
00:08:38destroyed and the rest has gone into hiding. He highlights Ukraine's attacks on the Kerch Bridge,
00:08:43which is another monument to Russia's supposed power, as it connects Crimea to the Russian mainland.
00:08:48None of this was ever supposed to be possible. Russia was too strong, Ukraine was too weak.
00:08:54Russia wanted to frame the annexation of Crimea as the starting point for reunification with Ukraine,
00:08:59a return to Russia's glory days. What Ukraine has done, especially in 2026,
00:09:05is deliver a twist in the tale. Putin's grip on Crimea is eroding precisely because Ukraine has
00:09:11experienced so much success in destroying the peninsula's air defenses and isolating it from Russia
00:09:16and the occupied territories. But it all goes deeper than that. Beyond Putin's fairy tales,
00:09:21Crimea was also a military asset that, along with the myth, is being dismantled in Ukraine's
00:09:26unstoppable march to victory. However, before we dig deeper, this is a reminder that you're
00:09:30watching the military show. If you're getting insight from the channel, then remember to subscribe
00:09:35and enable notifications so you catch all of our daily videos.
00:09:39In 2026, there is a huge difference between what Crimea is and what it was supposed to be for Russia,
00:09:45strategically speaking. Crimea is a very large area, Ingram points out. It proved to be
00:09:50relatively secure while Ukraine didn't have medium-range capability. A relatively secure base
00:09:55to have logistics stores, to have air force bases there, and all the rest of it. To be able to
00:09:59fly
00:10:00up and support what was going on in the east of Ukraine and support the Russian troops out there.
00:10:03Ingram says that Crimea essentially provided Russia with almost aircraft carrier-like capability
00:10:09because Putin thought Ukraine couldn't hit the peninsula. The UK expert repeats the word secure.
00:10:14That's what Putin thought Crimea was, a secure base from which to conduct attacks and handle
00:10:19logistics into eastern Ukraine. All of that has changed, and it's thanks to Ukraine's brilliant
00:10:25isolation strategy. By isolating it, Ingram says of the Crimean Peninsula, what Ukraine is doing is
00:10:30stopping Russia's ability to do that. It stopped Russia's ability to use it as an airfield or multiple
00:10:35airfields, as logistics bases, as command and control bases. The Black Sea fleet has been pushed out,
00:10:41and all of this has made Putin very concerned about Crimea because he can't use the peninsula
00:10:46to achieve military dominance that he has promised to Russia's people. Putin has been forced to watch
00:10:51as Ukraine's strategy for Crimea has turned out to be much broader and far more effective than he
00:10:56could have ever imagined. When it was just the occasional strike on the Kerch Bridge or attacks
00:11:00against military assets in the Black Sea, but not Crimea itself, Putin could handle that.
00:11:05Isolated strikes don't mean a thing, he would argue. But now Ukraine's strategy encompasses
00:11:10everything. Crimea is a regular target, typically being struck several times per week. The Black Sea
00:11:17is all but controlled by Ukraine, and the logistical arteries that flowed through the occupied territories
00:11:21into Crimea have crumbled, just like Putin's grip on Crimea is doing. Russia has been exposed
00:11:27strategically due to once again underestimating Ukraine. The geography that made Crimea so valuable to
00:11:33Russia at the beginning of the invasion has been transformed into a liability. That middle-range
00:11:38capacity that Ingram talks about isn't a problem anymore. Ukraine has drones that can reach any
00:11:43point in Crimea. It has naval drones that can travel the length of the Black Sea and into the Sea
00:11:48of
00:11:48Azov. Distance is no longer a factor. The Black Sea fleet learned that early on, and now the rest of
00:11:54Crimea is getting the message. Crimea isn't safe, and that means it can't be used as a massive military base
00:12:01that Putin envisioned. Ukraine's strikes against everything from bridges and rail links to convoys
00:12:06and fuel depots have ruined Crimea as a strategic asset for Putin. Ukraine is using force to retake
00:12:12Crimea, but it's doing it in a way that nobody, not least Putin, ever expected. For years, especially
00:12:18before the Ukraine war, the consensus was that retaking Crimea would require a massive, amphibious assault,
00:12:24enabling Ukraine to put boots on the ground in the peninsula. That assault would be joined by a push
00:12:29through the narrow strip of land that connects Crimea to Ukraine. It simply couldn't happen.
00:12:34Ukraine would lose tens of thousands of soldiers, if not more, and it would leave itself vulnerable
00:12:39on the mainland. Force wasn't an option, and most in the West seemed to agree, the Kiev independent
00:12:44notes. But force has become an option, just not the force that anybody expected. As has so often
00:12:50been the case in Ukraine, drones are at the center of everything. And it's due to drones that Ukraine
00:12:55doesn't even need to send soldiers into Crimea to loosen Putin's grip. The constant drone strikes
00:13:01and their after effects are doing the derecification work for Ukraine.
00:13:05We've now seen the ferries that carry the trains from Russia across the Kerch Strait into Crimea,
00:13:09bringing tourists, but also bringing oil, gas, food, and everything else that people would expect
00:13:14to live in from there get struck repeatedly by Ukraine, Ingram points out. That goes on top of
00:13:19the truck strikes in the occupied region. Ukraine now controls the flow of everything into Crimea
00:13:24from fuel to water, and the problems are evident for all to see. Ukraine's isolation strategy has
00:13:30led to a fuel crisis in Crimea, as gas stations run dry and Russians run out of means to replenish
00:13:35them.
00:13:36Ukraine arguably exercises fire control over the peninsula, which has been made possible by that
00:13:41focus on destroying air defense systems that we mentioned. Beyond fuel, food is also a problem.
00:13:46Reuters reported on August 1 that Russian occupiers in Crimea are now being forced to queue to get
00:13:51their hands on hot food because Ukraine is conducting strikes against the Crimean energy grid,
00:13:56which snatches power away from the occupiers. Whole towns are being left without power and water,
00:14:01the New York Times reports. In some cases, blackouts last for days before Russia can get the power back
00:14:06online, only for Ukraine to strike once again. Nighttime illumination on the peninsula fell by 20% in July.
00:14:131.4 million of Crimea's pre-war population have been affected by power cuts caused by Ukraine.
00:14:19This is the entire point. Beyond the symbolic and military aspects, Ukraine is turning Crimea into
00:14:24hell on earth for the people that Russia has transplanted onto the peninsula. Those people
00:14:29know that Putin can't protect them, they see it every day. But what will really hurt Putin isn't the
00:14:34everyday occupier queuing for food after burning through the last of their gas to get to a vendor,
00:14:39it's the elites. They can see what Crimea has become, and it's not what Putin promised to.
00:14:44Crimea was supposed to be a holiday destination, a paradise for Putin's oligarchs that Ukraine
00:14:49couldn't touch. Those oligarchs now go to the beach and they see the beach has got mines on it,
00:14:54and got barbed wire on it, and got anti-tank devices on it. It's not the same, it's all changed,
00:15:00Ingram says. That's the message that is leaking back into Russia's elite circles,
00:15:04into Putin's inner circle. What we're seeing here is liberation by narrative destruction.
00:15:10Ukraine doesn't need to send soldiers into Crimea. What it's doing is making the peninsula
00:15:14unviable for Putin and his elites. Ukraine just has to keep on sending drones to hit what they've
00:15:19been hitting for the last few months now. Every strike does damage. That damage can't be repaired
00:15:25because of Ukraine's brilliant isolation strategy. And every time that a drone touches down in Crimea,
00:15:30Putin absorbs a blow. How many more can Russia's leader take? As all of this is happening,
00:15:36Russia is preparing for state Duma elections in mid-September. These are the first such elections
00:15:40held since Putin launched his invasion, and Russia's leader is staring down the barrel of bad results.
00:15:46He is in no risk of being pushed from the seat of power, but many of his allies are. People
00:15:51that
00:15:51Putin has installed to tow his line are up for election, and the state of Crimea is perhaps one
00:15:56of the biggest factors at play. Putin is scared now. He worries that what's happening in Crimea,
00:16:01along with Ukraine's attacks against other symbolic targets, including Moscow and St. Petersburg,
00:16:06could lead to elections not going his way, even in a police state where he supposedly controls
00:16:11everything. Elites who thought their association with Putin would lead to power may be on their way
00:16:16out. And if they are, they'll have what's happening in Crimea to blame. The whispers about Putin's
00:16:21failure grow louder by the day in darkened corners of the Kremlin, and in the homes of oligarchs and
00:16:26politicians who see that Putin is weaker than ever. That ultimately is the entire point of what Ukraine
00:16:31is doing. Ingram brought up the September elections for a reason. It was to show that Putin is vulnerable,
00:16:37that his power isn't as untouchable as he thought. Ukraine is the reason why. The collapse of Putin's
00:16:43control over Crimea could motivate everyday Russians at the polls and elites behind the scenes to finally do
00:16:48something about a leader who has gone so far over the edge that he can't be pulled back. Putin won't
00:16:54pull out of Crimea. Ukraine won't invade. But neither of these scenarios needs to happen for Ukraine to
00:17:00be victorious on the peninsula. Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhailo Fedorov laid it all out back
00:17:05in June. Crimea is becoming an island. You could argue that it already is one. And what lies in the
00:17:11peninsula's future is more strikes, more pain and more anger at a Russian president who promised to
00:17:16protect but has failed at every turn. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the
00:17:21Russian rule in Crimea. Something massive is already going down on the peninsula and for Putin it's only
00:17:26going to get worse from here. Ingram has explained much of what Ukraine is doing in Crimea and the
00:17:31after effects of the brilliant two-phase campaign. The US war with Iran has reignited. Several days of
00:17:39strikes have already been carried out but there's something different about Operation Epic Fury the
00:17:45second time around. It's not just about air power anymore. The US has learned its lessons and knows
00:17:52that the Strait of Hormuz will be the key to success the second time around. So the US has unleashed
00:17:58a secret
00:17:58weapon. And it's not just any old weapon. This is something that Ukraine innovated and the US has learned how
00:18:05to use. Ukraine gave the US the key. Now, in a US first, that key is being used to unlock
00:18:13the Strait of
00:18:13Hormuz barrier and Iran isn't ready for any of it. What is that key? We'll let US Central Command or
00:18:21CENTCOM explain. In a July 13 article published on X, CENTCOM revealed that it had launched a wave of
00:18:28offensive strikes against Iran the previous day and that those strikes hit multiple locations, all with the
00:18:35express goal of preventing Iran from attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM forces
00:18:41struck Iranian military air defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities and
00:18:48small boats using US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones and one-way attack sea
00:18:55drones for the first time, the article revealed. It's that last statement that is the kicker. For the first time
00:19:01ever, the US has used kamikaze maritime drones in an attacking capacity against an enemy. And in doing so,
00:19:09America has just shown the world that it's been inspired by everything that Ukraine has managed
00:19:14to achieve against Russia in the Black Sea in the Sea of Azov. Ukraine is the innovator of this era
00:19:19of
00:19:20drone technology, and it has laid down the blueprint for using sea drones to control a relatively small
00:19:25body of water. Ukraine's secret weapon is now being used against Iran. But is it actually a
00:19:31Ukrainian-made weapon that is doing the damage? There were signs that it might have been that
00:19:36emerged about a month before the US finally used sea drones for the first time. On June 9, United 24
00:19:43media reported that Ukraine's Magura V-5 maritime drones had made their debut in the Indo-Pacific during
00:19:50a US training operation. The drone made an impression. The operation, which included 17,000
00:19:56soldiers, managed to sink a target ship during a live-fire exercise in the Philippines, demonstrating
00:20:02that it is precisely what Ukraine has always shown it to be. This is the same drone that wreaks havoc
00:20:08on Russia's Black Sea fleet, to the point where that fleet is basically a non-factor in Ukraine today.
00:20:13And in the Philippines, the US got its first direct dose of the power of Ukraine's weapon.
00:20:18The US even conducted this strike in the Luzon Strait, which seemed like a purposeful move,
00:20:24to show countries that control narrow waterways such as Iran with its hold over the Strait of Hormuz,
00:20:30that the US can use maritime drones effectively. That operation marked the official spread of
00:20:36Ukraine's drones beyond the Black Sea. And it might lead you to the assumption that it was the Magura V
00:20:42-5
00:20:42that the US used to strike Iran on July 12. However, those assumptions are wrong.
00:20:48The US may have been testing the Magura V-5, and it may well bring the power of that drone,
00:20:53which has a 320 kg payload and a 430 nautical mile range to bear in the Strait of Hormuz soon.
00:21:00But for its first ever combat deployment of a sea drone, the US may have been inspired by
00:21:06Ukraine's Black Sea exploits, but it wanted to use a drone it developed itself to send the message to
00:21:11Iran that a new type of weapon is in town. It wasn't the Magura V-5 that the US used
00:21:16on July 12,
00:21:17it was the Corsair. In its report on what CENTCOM did in Iran, the Military Times says that the US
00:21:24used Corsairs to assist in degrading Iran's ability to continue to attack commercial shipping through
00:21:31the Strait of Hormuz. And it's easy to see why the US might have preferred to use that sea drone
00:21:36over
00:21:36Ukraine's more established drone. The Corsair is a powerhouse. Built by Texas-based Saronic,
00:21:43the Corsair measures 24 feet and it can deliver a thousand kilogram payload over a range of more than
00:21:501,000 nautical miles. So it can travel more than twice the distance of the Magura V-5 and delivers
00:21:56more than three times the explosive force in a kamikaze strike. The Corsair can also hit speeds
00:22:02of up to 35 knots, which makes it fast enough to deal with the Iranian fast boats that are the
00:22:07main
00:22:07threat posed in the Strait of Hormuz. After all, Iran's traditional navy isn't going to be able to do
00:22:13much. Toward the tail end of the first phase of Operation Epic Fury, the US was claiming to have destroyed
00:22:18over 160 of Iran's naval vessels, essentially putting Iran's navy to bed early on. Now it's the fast boats
00:22:27and similar small vessels that form the crux of Iran's strategy. Following Ukraine's Black Sea blueprint,
00:22:34the US now wants to make the Corsair the perfect counter. You may be wondering why the US may have
00:22:39chosen the Corsair over the Magura V-5 from a combat perspective. Yes, the Corsair is more powerful and
00:22:45can travel further. But the Magura V-5 is a proven ship killer. That might make you think it was
00:22:50a
00:22:50better choice. However, the Corsair is far from untested. In fact, it has been used by the US
00:22:55before, albeit not for the type of mission that we've just seen. The Corsair platform has logged
00:23:00over 100,000 nautical miles, so it's hardly like the drone has just been dropped into the sea for the
00:23:05first time in Iran. It also has a solid track record in other types of missions. A recent track record,
00:23:11too. It was only on June 8, the US used a Corsair to rescue the crew of an AH-64
00:23:17Apache helicopter
00:23:18that had crashed off the coast of Amman, Task and Purpose points out. That chopper is believed
00:23:23to have been struck by an Iranian drone, and the Corsair showed that it could offer a low-risk way
00:23:28of navigating through the Strait of Hormuz to save soldiers. That was a US first in its own right,
00:23:34only this was the first time that America had used a sea drone to rescue personnel stranded at sea.
00:23:39What CENTCOM did with the Corsair on July 12 was much different.
00:23:43What the US has done here is watch Ukraine reshape modern naval warfare. Inspired by the
00:23:49likes of the Magura, which, we remind you, may find its own way into the Strait of Hormuz soon,
00:23:54the US has unleashed a showcase of sea drone power against Iran that is a clear signal to the Tehran
00:24:00regime that the battle over the Strait of Hormuz is going to go differently this time around.
00:24:05Like the Black Sea, the Strait of Hormuz is a relatively small body of water with clear
00:24:10access points. It is controllable. However, questions remain that we haven't answered yet,
00:24:16chief among them being what the US actually struck with the Corsair.
00:24:20We know that a first-of-its-kind strike took place, but what did it take out?
00:24:24You are about to discover the answer, but first, this is a reminder that you are watching the
00:24:28military show. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, now is the perfect time to hit the
00:24:34button. There is a key difference between Ukraine's Black Sea campaign and what the US just did with
00:24:41its sea drone, and the difference lies in the type of target that was struck. Ukraine focuses primarily
00:24:47on taking out ships with its sea drones because it knows that Russia can't replace warships that have
00:24:52been taken out in the Black Sea. The US doesn't have that luxury when it comes to Iran's fast boats,
00:24:57which are smaller, faster, and far more numerous than Russia's warships. So the US decided that
00:25:03instead of targeting the fast boats with the Corsair, it would go straight to the source,
00:25:07a base from which those fast boats depart. What the US did with the Corsairs on July 12th was part
00:25:13of a wider range of strikes that also incorporated aerial drones, warships, and fighter jets,
00:25:19which combined to attack dozens of Iranian military installations. However, it was the job of the Corsairs
00:25:25to target Bandar Abbas Naval Base. Three of America's sea drones paid visits to that base,
00:25:31and it's clear why the US chose this particular target for its combat-first approach. Bandar Abbas
00:25:37is considered one of Iran's most important naval bases, as it's a primary installation for both the
00:25:42Iranian Navy and the naval forces deployed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
00:25:48The latter is primarily responsible for the fast boat deployments Iran uses to disrupt shipping in
00:25:54the Strait of Hormuz. Bandar Abbas is something of a jack of all trades for Iran's naval forces,
00:26:00Sandbox reports. It's home to command and control points. Iran uses it as a staging point for its
00:26:06fast boats and mine layers, both of which have already caused plenty of problems in Hormuz. There are
00:26:12even missiles located at this particular base. But above all else, and perhaps the big reason why this base was
00:26:17the first to be struck by America's Corsairs, Bandar Abbas is located right at the tip of the bend
00:26:23in the Strait of Hormuz, which is pretty much bang on the center of the waterway. The base is central
00:26:29to
00:26:29everything. No ship that attempts to sail in or out of the strait can avoid Bandar Abbas, and any ship
00:26:35that Iran doesn't want in the Strait of Hormuz can be targeted by weapons unleashed from this particular base.
00:26:42So the US hit it with Corsair C drones. And in doing so, America not only aimed to destroy the
00:26:47ports built into the base, but it also ensured that the risk posed by the Soviet-era air defense systems
00:26:53and the Chinese anti-ship missiles installed at Bandar Abbas would be practically worthless. Sandbox
00:26:59reports that America's specific target may have been the submarine repair and maintenance facilities at
00:27:05Bandar Abbas, which makes sense in the context of taking out the one aspect of naval power Iran has left,
00:27:10that the US can't simply destroy with air strikes and anti-ship missiles on the surface.
00:27:16However, the US hasn't confirmed anything yet beyond that the strike took place and Corsair C drones
00:27:21were involved. Now Bandar Abbas is no stranger to American strikes. It has been hit before. However,
00:27:28Iran's regime wasn't ready for what the US had in store this time. It couldn't possibly be. The Corsair
00:27:35hadn't been used to conduct a strike before. And though Iran likely figured that the US would introduce
00:27:40sea drones into the battle for Hormuz eventually, it clearly didn't anticipate those drones being
00:27:45used to strike a base. Fast boats maybe, but one of the most fortified bases on the Iranian coast
00:27:51wasn't supposed to be hit. Yet it was. And though Iran might not have expected the Corsair to be
00:27:57America's weapon of choice, it knew that something was coming. US President Donald Trump made that very
00:28:02clear in the run up to Operation Epic Fury reigniting. Frustrated that negotiations weren't progressing
00:28:08as fast as the US would like, or in the direction that the US wants them to go, Trump said
00:28:13on July
00:28:138th that America's ceasefire agreement with Iran was over, as he branded the country's leaders as
00:28:19cuckoo and scum. That came on the back of the worst exchange of strikes between the US and Iran that
00:28:25has been seen since the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding that, among other things,
00:28:30Americans guaranteed a 60-day ceasefire period. We guess that guarantee didn't work out.
00:28:35The US is showing no signs that it's going to stop either. Two days after its first ever use of
00:28:41a sea drone as a weapon, Trump said that Iran's power plants and bridges are next on the agenda,
00:28:47as the US also instituted a blockade against Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:28:52Next week it gets really bad for them, Trump declared, adding,
00:28:55we're going to knock out all of their power plants, we're going to knock out all of their bridges,
00:28:59unless they get to the table and negotiate. At the risk of sounding cynical, the more things change,
00:29:05the more they stay the same. It looks like the US and Iran are right back to where they were
00:29:09a few months ago. All of that leads us to the obvious question of what all of this means for
00:29:14the
00:29:14future. We have the US pulling off firsts along with the re-ignition of the aerial and naval strikes
00:29:20that defined the situation in the Strait of Hormuz for much of the period between March and June.
00:29:24This isn't a short-term thing for the Trump administration either. Trump has made it very
00:29:29clear that war with Iran is back on and it's going to last for as long as the US needs
00:29:34it to last.
00:29:35Formal notification has been given to Congress that the US is resuming military activity
00:29:40in Iran in the form of a letter that Trump sent on July 10th, informing Congress that this activity
00:29:46has commenced. That has triggered debate in the US. A notification isn't the same thing as
00:29:52Congressional approval. Not that the Trump administration looked for approval the first
00:29:56time around, of course. As the debate rages, we are more interested in the military implications
00:30:01of America's first use of a sea drone to launch a strike. Those implications are massive because this
00:30:07single incident may signal a wholesale shift in how the US develops and procures weapons.
00:30:13Saronic is a perfect example of the shift going on in America's defense industry right now.
00:30:18Once again inspired by Ukraine, the US is looking to its defense contractors to deliver actual war
00:30:24fighting capability, rather than spending untold millions of dollars on platforms and weapons that
00:30:30are as much about projecting power as they are about actually unleashing it. The Corsair is one of the
00:30:35results of this shift in defense procurement dynamics. The sea drone costs the US less than $1 million,
00:30:41making it cheaper than any of the missiles that America is using against Iran and is capable of
00:30:46carrying out rescue and strike missions. What we are seeing here is a shift toward cost efficiency
00:30:51combined with combat effectiveness, which in a nutshell describes Ukraine's approach to developing
00:30:56weapons it uses against Russia to a T. This shift is ongoing. In Iran, we are likely to see the
00:31:02debut of
00:31:02several new weapons, though they will complement what the US is already using rather than replace it.
00:31:07However, this shift is likely going to lead the US to developing a lot more drones of every type.
00:31:12Again, that is due to Ukraine. It has shown that drones can be used for practically every task
00:31:18imaginable in modern warfare, leaving the US in the unlikely position of playing catch-up in this
00:31:23department. Focusing back on the reignited conflict in Iran, it is obvious that the Strait of Hormuz is
00:31:29going to be the focal point for both the US and Iran. How could it not be? It was chaos
00:31:34in this waterway that
00:31:35defined Operation Epic Fury earlier in the year as Iran's successful blockade resulted in oil prices
00:31:41skyrocketing and tensions exploding across the world as the war restricted the Gulf nation's ability
00:31:47to sell oil and left many Western nations wringing their hands about a conflict they felt didn't need
00:31:53to happen. Oil prices have already started rising again, CNBC reports. It is no coincidence that the
00:32:00first strike carried out by a Corsair took place in the Strait of Hormuz. Ultimately, it will be whoever
00:32:05controls this waterway that comes out on top in the war between the US and Iran. Both sides know it.
00:32:11Trump has already declared a blockade, along with a demand for 20% tariffs from ships that has quickly
00:32:17been withdrawn. Iran says that it is going to halt all Middle East oil exports through the strait.
00:32:23Iran has also started attacking in its own right as it struck US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain,
00:32:29along with UAE-flagged oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation for America's strikes.
00:32:35It is starting to feel like Spring 2026 all over again. For the US, the difference now is that it
00:32:41has a new weapon in play in the Strait of Hormuz. How much of a game-changer that weapon will
00:32:46be
00:32:46remains to be seen. The Corsair is clearly effective, but it seems unlikely that it will
00:32:52be used to chase down fast boats. The Financial Times estimates that Iran has anywhere between
00:32:58500 and 1,000 of these types of boats, and using a fleet of sea drones that cost close to
00:33:04$1 million
00:33:04to go on the hunt for them is inefficient and may not be executable on a sheer numbers basis.
00:33:10Instead, the US may look to use the Corsair in the ways that we have already seen. Rescues when required,
00:33:16and strikes against ports and coastal bases that Iran is using to control the Strait of Hormuz.
00:33:21The logic is sound. Cutting Iran's fast boats off at the source reduces the impact they can have on
00:33:27shipping, giving the US more time to accomplish what it wants to do in Iran before the pressure
00:33:31from the international community weighs down as it did before. There is also a possibility that
00:33:36the Corsair could be used to escort merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The US Naval Institute
00:33:42reported in June that the House Armed Services Committee has recommended this as a use case for
00:33:47America's sea drones, stating, The committee believes that manned army watercraft may be aided by
00:33:52dedicated unmanned surface vessels , providing enhanced force protection, early warning,
00:33:59sensing and defensive effects, while reducing risk to personnel. The one abundantly clear thing is that
00:34:05the Corsair and perhaps other sea drones are being factored into round two of Operation Epic Fury.
00:34:11The US has learned from Ukraine, and it knows how versatile these drones can be. And though it may
00:34:17not be able to execute the same strategy that Ukraine used against Russia in the Black Sea due to the
00:34:22number of fast boats that Iran brings to the table, America has just shown us how dangerous its Corsairs can
00:34:27be. Our guess is that we'll see more coastal strikes conducted by America's sea drones in the very near
00:34:33future. But beyond that, the possibilities are numerous, and what the US does next will likely
00:34:39come down to Iran's response in the Strait of Hormuz. We may also see the US introduce something far more
00:34:45expensive to the Iran war. The message has gone out from Victoria to Quebec. Canada is making a major
00:34:53change. So often looked at, unfairly or otherwise, as a military also ran that relied on the US for
00:35:01protection, so it could maintain a strange sort of pacifism, Canada is now preparing for the war
00:35:06that everybody fears. There can be no more budgetary restrictions. Canada must rearm, rebuild, and make
00:35:13sure that it's ready for a fight against a Russian threat that is creeping closer to directly affecting
00:35:18NATO. A new military dawn has come to Canada, and it's sending signals that indicate it's ready to fight.
00:35:24On July 6th, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke ahead of the NATO summit,
00:35:29where he met with dozens of other leaders of NATO member nations to discuss what the
00:35:34group should do about the difficult geopolitical situation that Putin's non-stop aggression has
00:35:39created. Carney had a clear message. In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada must do more
00:35:46to defend ourselves, secure our sovereignty, and support our allies. Canada's Prime Minister declared,
00:35:52before adding, that the decades of foreign policy decisions that saw Canada's military shaped by
00:35:57the assumptions that it would always be backed by its most powerful partner are over. The assumptions
00:36:02that shape decades of Canadian defense and foreign policy have been upended. History is back with a
00:36:07vengeance. The last line is scarily true. Putin has brought the horrors of the Cold War era back into
00:36:14focus after three decades with his Ukraine invasion, and the fear now is that he will soon expand his
00:36:19aggression into a war that envelops Europe and perhaps the rest of the world. What we see here is a
00:36:25complete turnaround in Canadian policy being announced by Carney. For decades, Canada has been seen as one
00:36:31of NATO's weakest links, the Wall Street Journal reports. The outlet has a point. The nation has a
00:36:36long history of coming nowhere close to meeting NATO's defense spending target of 2% of a member's gross
00:36:42domestic product or GDP. As recently as 2025, Canada was only spending 1.37% of its GDP on defense,
00:36:50and it has regularly fallen below the NATO target since it was created in 2006. That has changed in
00:36:572026 and we will be exploring how soon. But Carney's declaration is far more than bluster from a nation
00:37:03that has always had the potential to be a major military power. It is a statement of intent, a signal
00:37:09to any potential enemy who is listening that Canada is bringing an end to its days of coasting by and
00:37:13relying on its position in NATO and is getting ready to develop into a powerful fighting force of its
00:37:19own that is ready for any war that comes its way. Make no mistake about it, Carney wants Putin to
00:37:24know
00:37:24that Canada is waking up. He is signaling a new approach that AFCEA International describes with
00:37:30three phases. Rebuild, rearm and reduce reliance. Amidst an announcement that Canada is gearing up to
00:37:37commit $81 billion to modernize its army via a vehicle it has named the Defense Industry Strategy.
00:37:43Carney has said that the rules-based order of the past is fading away and Canada needs to be ready
00:37:49for
00:37:49whatever comes next. To ensure that it is, Canada has created the Defense Investment Agency or DIA to
00:37:56oversee its new strategy and that agency is focusing on five pillars that will result in Canada roaring
00:38:02back to prominence as a key member of NATO. Those pillars fall under the three phases that AFCEA
00:38:08mentions and they are renewing Canada's relationships with industry partners, prioritizing the domestic
00:38:13production of weapons, investing in military innovation, working with domestic partners and
00:38:18securing supply chains to remove bottlenecks that could impact Canada's ability to defend itself.
00:38:23Those are the basics but it goes so much deeper than that. Let's start with the rebuilding aspect.
00:38:29To become the military force that it needs to be, to stand a chance of competing with Russia or any
00:38:33other enemy, Canada needs to strengthen its military. That starts with recruitment and this is an area
00:38:39where Canada has started to shine. Politico says that there is a huge shift taking place inside Canada
00:38:44as the nation's people embrace Carney's call for a stronger military. That shift has resulted in a rising
00:38:50number of Canadians, particularly from the younger generations, enrolling in the Canadian Army. The past year,
00:38:56up to the summer of 2026 has seen a 13% increase in enrolments, fuelled in part by Canada offering
00:39:0220% pay increases to its soldiers and promising better social services and military housing for
00:39:07those who enlist. Canada didn't necessarily have a weak military before. Global firepower ranks the
00:39:13country as the 28th most powerful among 145 that it assesses each year. However, for a nation of about
00:39:2040 million, 63,500 strong active military was always a bit of a sore point. That simply isn't a large
00:39:27enough military from a manpower perspective, especially compared to the US, and Canadians are
00:39:32quickly realizing it. Politico reports that 63% of Canadians now believe that the country needs to
00:39:37spend more on its defense than it already does, especially in the wake of tensions rising with the
00:39:42US that will be getting to soon. The BBC adds that the rate of service members who are leaving the
00:39:47Canadian military is also on the decline to go along with the higher recruitment rate.
00:39:51All of this is vital to the rebuilding portion of Canada's transformation. To strengthen the military,
00:39:57you must first have the will of the people. Canada seems to have that, which gives it a strong
00:40:01foundation on which to build. And build is what Canada is doing. Canada has created a 58-page
00:40:07strategy document to outline its upcoming spending commitments from now until 2035.
00:40:13These commitments include $180 billion dedicated to procurement and $290 billion to be plunged into
00:40:20the country's defense infrastructure. In other words, the literal building of the weapons and defenses
00:40:25that Canada needs if it is going to stand a chance in any upcoming war. On top of that, Euromiden
00:40:30Press reports that Canada is launching new measures that will enable it to combat the hybrid warfare threat
00:40:35posed by nations like Russia. According to Canada's outgoing ambassador to Ukraine, Natalka Smots,
00:40:41Canada has created two programs alongside its partners to counter the hybrid threat.
00:40:46The first is an academy that will give Canada a flow of analysts and ensure that information
00:40:50sharing occurs between the nation and its defense partners. The second is a fund that will be used to
00:40:56support the victims of hybrid attacks, particularly organizations and individuals that may not have the
00:41:01capacity to resist the type of hybrid warfare tactics that Russia uses, such as hacking.
00:41:06Again, it's all foundational work that is critical to the rebuild. But alongside building, Canada must
00:41:11do the crucial thing that all militaries have to do if they are to be respected by the types of
00:41:16powers
00:41:16that wish to threaten them – rearm. More manpower and new programs are all well and good,
00:41:21but they don't mean much against the larger Russian military. What will grab Putin's attention,
00:41:26along with the attention of any other enemy of Canada is weapons – and lots of them.
00:41:31But before we dig into the rearming aspect of Canada's new approach to defense,
00:41:35this is a reminder that you are watching the military show. We make videos that examine how
00:41:39power moves and the changing geopolitical dynamics that affect us all. If you're new here,
00:41:44hit subscribe and ring the notification bell to see more of our daily videos.
00:41:50Let's talk spending. We touched on how Canada has lagged behind NATO's other members with its spending for
00:41:55years and how 2026 is the first time in a long time that the nation has hit NATO's spending target.
00:42:02More is coming. The Wall Street Journal says that Canada's 2025 defense budget has promised
00:42:07$60 billion of extra spending up to 2030 to strengthen the country's armed forces.
00:42:12Canada has also agreed to hit NATO's new target of 5% of GDP spending by 2035, which will be
00:42:18achieved
00:42:19by spending 3.5% of GDP on defense and another 1.5% on critical defense and security
00:42:25related investments, such as the hybrid warfare counter programs we mentioned earlier.
00:42:30There are some who criticize a perceived lack of transparency in the Canadian government's
00:42:34defense spending plans, though Canada's finance minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne,
00:42:39has said that more details will be provided as Canada moves forward. We have no reason to doubt
00:42:43Champagne. And we also have plenty of indications of where Canada is going to be spending much of its
00:42:48money when it comes to the rearming portion of the plan. For one thing, Canada is looking to tie
00:42:53itself strongly into Europe's defense plans. In December 2025, Canada managed to reach a final
00:42:59agreement to join the European Union's Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, program. That $171
00:43:05billion program is described by Politico as a loan-for-weapons scheme, and it will give Canada
00:43:10access to jointly financed projects and allow Canadian companies to bid for work under the SAFE program.
00:43:16In other words, the program feeds into several of the pillars of Canada's new defense plan,
00:43:20including the strengthening of relationships with existing partners and the development of Canada's
00:43:25internal defense manufacturing sector. But that's just the start. When it comes to outright spending
00:43:31on new weapons, Canada has been on a bit of a spree as of late. The headline so far came
00:43:36on July 6th.
00:43:37That's when the news broke that Canada has agreed to purchase 12 submarines from Germany in what the
00:43:42BBC calls the largest ever deal of its kind. This deal sees Canada confront a key naval problem,
00:43:48which is that only one in four existing submarines is actually seaworthy, and it will also feed into
00:43:54that all-important pillar of Canada building up its own defense manufacturing capacity. The deal,
00:43:59which has been agreed but not yet formalized, has seen Canada choose TKMS as its supplier of the
00:44:04submarines. That company specializes in building non-nuclear submarines, so Canada won't be investing in
00:44:10absolutely top-of-the-line submersibles. But that's not what matters. What does matter is that Canada is
00:44:16investing at all after years of letting its navy struggle along with inadequate submarines.
00:44:21Once completed, these 12 submarines will give Canada the ability to have three subs operating
00:44:26at any given time, affording room for maintenance and upkeep of the other submarines. Oh, and the
00:44:31subs will have under-ice capabilities. For a country that expects conflict with Russia in the Arctic
00:44:37region, that is vital. The deal is still in the early stages, and we don't yet know how much Canada
00:44:42is
00:44:43going to spend or when it will receive the submarines. But 12 subs don't come cheap, and continuing with
00:44:49the spending spree, there are other deals that show us how Canada is actively rearming its military.
00:44:54The Wall Street Journal says that June saw Canada sign a $1.76 billion deal with Australia to buy an
00:45:00over-the-horizon radar system that is also likely to become key to the nation's plans for defending its
00:45:06interests in the Arctic region. There are also suggestions that Canada may be considering purchasing
00:45:11Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, following a visit to Canada by Sweden's royal family. That rumour comes
00:45:17in the wake of Canada putting a deal to buy 88 F-35s from the US on ice in 2025
00:45:22due to those political
00:45:23tensions that we've been mentioning. There's more. In March, it was reported that Canada has agreed to
00:45:29a $307 million deal with Colt to purchase 30,000 new army rifles, all of which will be made in
00:45:35Canada.
00:45:36That deal comes with the option of buying 35,000 more rifles, and it will see Canada replace rifles
00:45:41that it's been using for 35 years. Out with the old and in with the new, and all with the
00:45:46side helping
00:45:47of boosting Canada's domestic manufacturing once more. On top of all of this, and despite the tensions
00:45:52with the US, Canada confirmed in June that it will be purchasing 26 HIMARS rocket launchers in a $2.6
00:45:59billion deal, which also includes munitions, training, support, and spare parts. What we're
00:46:05seeing here is Canada following through on its investment talk, and this is just the beginning.
00:46:102026 is the year that Canada finally started to meet its NATO obligations, and it will only be spending
00:46:15more from here. New subs, fighter jets, rifles, radars, and rocket launchers are all going to bolster
00:46:21and modernize a military that has been stagnant for too long. Over the next few months and years, we expect
00:46:27to
00:46:27hear a lot more about Canada spending billions of dollars on new weapons. With that, we come to the
00:46:32last of Canada's three R's, Reliance. Specifically, this is all about something that we've touched on
00:46:37several times already. Canada is trying to decouple its defense from the US as much as it can so that
00:46:43it can stand on its own two feet. This doesn't mean there will be an outright break in US-Canada
00:46:48relations. Canada wouldn't be buying HIMARS launchers if there was. However, nobody can deny that the
00:46:54diplomatic situation between the two North American nations has been a bit of a roller coaster since
00:46:59US President Donald Trump came to office, and that shake-up has shown Canada that it can't always
00:47:04assume that the US will be ready and willing to fight to defend its neighbor to the north should
00:47:08the need arise. The relationship that once seemed rock solid was shown to be more fragile than anybody
00:47:13expected mere days after Trump became president. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canada in
00:47:19February 2025, claiming that Canada needs to do more to combat illegal immigration and fentanyl getting
00:47:25over the border. The following months saw Trump start talking about annexing Canada. Jokingly or otherwise,
00:47:31Trump's statements had plenty of people worried. Carney has spoken about a geopolitical rupture.
00:47:37And even with its increased spending, Canada has come under criticism from the Pentagon.
00:47:42In May, Elbridge Colby, who is the Pentagon's Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy,
00:47:46delivered a scathing indictment of Canada, claiming that the nation has
00:47:50failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. Based on everything that we've talked
00:47:55about in this video, that is demonstrably false, and that doesn't help relations either.
00:48:00The US has also announced that it's pausing its participation in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense
00:48:05so it can reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense. It seems that the word
00:48:11permanent was just a suggestion. This advisory board on continental security has existed since
00:48:161940 and the US pausing, albeit not pulling out, is another signal that Canada has taken very
00:48:22seriously. Canada isn't just getting ready for war, it's preparing for a potential future where
00:48:28the partnership it has shared with the US for so long may not be enough if Canada ever comes under
00:48:33attack. So what we see in all of this is Canada sending out signals of its own. Despite the criticisms,
00:48:39Canada is investing. Its military is becoming stronger by the month, as Canada gears up for a war that it
00:48:44hopes will never come, but for which it needs to be ready. But who would that war be with? Do
00:48:49we
00:48:50even need to ask the question? The debate in Canada is turning from if a war with Russia might start
00:48:55to
00:48:55when. Let's be clear here, Putin isn't likely to send soldiers storming into Canada, at least not for
00:49:01a long time. Whatever war is coming beyond Ukraine will be fought in Europe at least first. But Canada is
00:49:07a member of NATO, just like many of the European nations that are in Putin's crossheads. The odds are that
00:49:12if
00:49:12Putin invades a country like Poland and acts aggressively on the territory of the Baltic or
00:49:16Nordic states, Canada will be called upon to offer its support. Plus there's the Arctic factor that we
00:49:22mentioned earlier. As northern shipping routes start to open up, Russia and Canada both want to stake
00:49:28their claims. That's going to create points of friction and Canada needs to be ready to hold its own
00:49:33so that Russia doesn't run all over the nation. It's also worth noting that Canada has deployed around
00:49:382,000 soldiers under Operation Reassurance in Latvia and any attack on those soldiers would
00:49:43be considered an attack on Canada itself. Russia has also been loud in its condemnations of Canada
00:49:49in recent weeks, only adding to the geopolitical tension that worries Carney and company. On June 10th,
00:49:55Russia called Canada a warmonger and threatened an appropriate response after Canada signed a drone
00:50:01production deal with Ukraine. These types of Russian threats are par for the course when any nation
00:50:06does something that Putin doesn't like. But the fact that Putin is willing to threaten Canada so
00:50:11directly shows that Russia's leader isn't worried about the US response that would have typically
00:50:15followed such an attempt to intimidate. The full base nature of a state far from being peace-loving
00:50:21has been revealed, but rather a warmonger seeking by any means necessary to further fuel this bloody
00:50:26conflict. We reserve the right to provide an appropriate response, blared Russian foreign ministry
00:50:31spokesperson Maria Zakharova after the deal was made. In short, Canada is right to be getting ready
00:50:37for a fight. Russia seems to be intent on starting one. Coming back to the NATO issue,
00:50:42Canada also needs to be prepared to throw its weight around if Putin invades a NATO member in Europe.
00:50:47Russia has been provoking the Baltic and Nordic states along with Poland in late June and early July.
00:50:53Poland has even received a warning from the US that Russia is planning something big,
00:50:57from a drone attack to a ground incursion in the coming weeks. Some inside NATO, including Germany's
00:51:03army chief Christian Freuding, also believe that Russia will be ready to attack a NATO member by the
00:51:08end of the decade, not before. If that happens, Article 5 will be triggered and Canada will be compelled to
00:51:14come to the aid of the invaded state. In the past, Canada wouldn't have been ready, but that's changing.
00:51:20Canada is now preparing to play its part in the war that everybody fears is coming,
00:51:24and those preparations have only just begun.
00:51:28The wars of the 21st century aren't merely fought on physical front lines and battlefields,
00:51:34they're also fought in cyberspace. Dedicated armies of elite hackers and cyber warfare commands
00:51:40carry out an array of offensive and defensive digital operations, from espionage to infrastructure
00:51:45disruption and information warfare against their enemies. Many of the world's major powers engage in
00:51:52these activities, including the United States, China, Israel and the United Kingdom. The vast majority
00:51:58of these nations, however, have strict limits and rules in regard to how they recruit, train and
00:52:03deploy their hacking talents. Russia, however, follows no such rules or moral codes. Its Federal Security
00:52:10Service, FSB, actively enlist the worst of the worst, recruiting criminal hackers to its ranks,
00:52:16rather than sending them to jail. Scammers, carders, malware developers, ransomware operators. Hacking
00:52:23groups that find exploits in company networks to breach their defenses and illegally steal trade
00:52:29secrets and sensitive data. These are the kinds of people that Vladimir Putin described as artists
00:52:35during the 2017 edition of Russia's annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, stating,
00:52:42They're like artists. If they're in a good mood, they get up in the morning and begin painting
00:52:46their pictures. Hackers are the same. They wake up in the morning, they read about some development
00:52:51and international affairs, and if they have a patriotic mindset, then they try to make their
00:52:55own contribution, the way they consider right, into the fight against those who have bad things to say
00:53:00about Russia. Interestingly, during that very same speech, Putin also claimed that Russia was not
00:53:06engaged in hacking on the state level, and we're not going to. On the contrary, we're trying to fight
00:53:12against it inside the country. But, like a lot of the things that come out of Putin's mouth, this was
00:53:18of course a blatant lie. Even if the Kremlin does its best to cover up its illicit actions, there are
00:53:23literally reams of evidence to prove that it doesn't merely engage in state-sponsored hacking, but has no
00:53:29qualms whatsoever when it comes to hiring hackers who have a proven track record of illegal and wholly
00:53:34immoral activities. This isn't how most countries conduct their cyber warfare operations. In the
00:53:40US, for example, cyber security experts can apply for roles as government hackers with agencies like
00:53:46the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency or the Department of Homeland Security.
00:53:52The application process is complex, involving detailed background checks and challenging exams to
00:53:58separate the best from the rest. In China, meanwhile, the government often prefers to rely on
00:54:04headhunting to find the most talented individuals from the country's leading IT firms. Even in
00:54:09countries that may be considered somewhat less scrupulous and more corrupt, like Iran and North Korea,
00:54:15there are clear procedures in place. The military may play a role in recruiting and training gifted
00:54:20IT experts, for example, or child prodigies may be offered positions at elite science and technology
00:54:26schools and placed on intensive computer programming courses. The methods vary, but there are at least
00:54:32always certain rules in place. In Russia, however, it seems that there's only one rule that really
00:54:38matters. Don't do anything against the state. As long as hackers obey that rule, focusing their
00:54:43efforts on targeting entities in other countries around the world, rather than Russian banks,
00:54:48businesses, or the Kremlin itself, then they're effectively allowed to do whatever they want and
00:54:53get away with it, with some even being rewarded with FSB positions and perks. This is more or less how
00:54:59it's
00:54:59been for decades, dating all the way back to the early days of the internet. In the 1990s, for example,
00:55:05Russia already had quite a broad hacking community, and many Russian hackers might have been described
00:55:10as rebels or free spirit. Many were anti-establishment, similar to hackers in other countries across the
00:55:16globe, and eager to use their unique sets of skills to promote the free movement of information.
00:55:21Then, however, a major historical event occurred that would change the face of the Russian hacking
00:55:26scene forever. That event was the Second Chechen War. In August 1999, Islamist Mujahideen fighters
00:55:34from Chechnya carried out armed incursions into the Russian Republic of Dagestan to support separatist
00:55:40rebels in the region. They hoped to form a united Dagestan in Chechnya that would operate under an
00:55:45Islamic government and expel all Russians from the area. The Russian government intervened and a brief
00:55:51battle took place, with the sheer weight of the Russian military proving too much for the rebels and
00:55:55separatists to cope with. The conflict could have ended there, but in September 1999,
00:56:01a series of apartment bombings took place in four Russian cities, killing hundreds of civilians.
00:56:06Despite some inconsistencies and mysteries surrounding these events, as well as a distinct
00:56:10lack of proof linking the bombings to the Chechen rebels, the Russian Prime Minister at the time,
00:56:15Vladimir Putin himself, used these incidents as a pretext to begin a full-scale invasion of Chechnya
00:56:21and claim full control of the region. And so began the bloody battle that will last nearly a decade,
00:56:27with tens of thousands of casualties ultimately culminating in Russia establishing control
00:56:32and installing its own government in Chechnya. Naturally, with Russian TV channels showing the
00:56:37aftermath of the apartment bombings and national newspaper headlines blaming these atrocities on
00:56:42Chechen rebels, a large part of the Russian population was outraged and fully supported the
00:56:47Kremlin's military actions. Some even took their support to the next level. A group of hackers,
00:56:53for example, calling themselves the Siberian Network Brigade, decided to begin their own
00:56:58cyber warfare campaign against Chechen forces. Founded by a Tomsk Polytechnic student named Dmitry
00:57:04Alexandrov, the seven-man team used relatively rudimentary hacking techniques to cause chaos on
00:57:10Chechen websites. They mainly relied on distributed denial of service, or DDoS attacks, for example,
00:57:16which involved sending large numbers of requests to a particular website in order to overload its
00:57:21servers and cause it to stop working. They also carried out defacement attacks,
00:57:26which involved gaining administrative access to certain websites and changing their appearance or
00:57:31content. Russian media at the time routinely reported on the group's actions, which included
00:57:36defacing the homepage of the Caucasus Center website, which carried messages from Chechen militants
00:57:41directed at their followers, supporters, and potential recruits. Chechen media, meanwhile,
00:57:47argued that, due to the scale of these attacks, they likely weren't the work of independent amateurs,
00:57:52but a state-sponsored group. Indeed, they even accused the Russian FSB of carrying out the attacks.
00:57:57This was never conclusively proven one way or another, but it was the first major case of Russia's
00:58:03security service being associated in some way with criminal hackers. It certainly wouldn't be the last.
00:58:08Indeed, as the 90s came to an end and the new millennium began, various other Russian hacking
00:58:13groups and lone wolves began to emerge, developing new techniques and tools to make their attacks
00:58:18more effective. Tools like the Masyanya email worm. Released in 2002, this piece of malicious
00:58:25software drew on techniques popularized by the earlier Melissa virus. Hackers named it after the
00:58:30popular Russian animated character Masyanya and distributed it in the form of email attachments.
00:58:36The attachments appeared innocent at first glance, but if any victims clicked them,
00:58:40the machines would become infected and the virus would proliferate by sending a copy of itself to
00:58:45everyone on the victim's contact list. Together, these infected machines became botnets,
00:58:50vast networks of infected devices that cyber criminals can use to carry out the likes of DDOS attacks.
00:58:57And as the Russian hacking community evolved and expanded, new figures emerged to lead the way forward.
00:59:02One of those leaders was Peter Leversov, also known under the moniker Severa, the self-proclaimed spam
00:59:08king of the internet. And that nickname wasn't an exaggeration. Leversov's spam messages impacted
00:59:14countless people around the world. Anyone online with an active email account in the early 2000s likely
00:59:20received at least one, if not hundreds, of spam messages that could be traced back to this man,
00:59:25who owned some of the biggest and most powerful botnets on the planet. Through his various carding
00:59:30and spamming schemes, Severa rose to the very top of the Russian cyber criminal empire and he operated
00:59:36with impunity, even sharing public price lists and ads for his services online. Russian law enforcement
00:59:42must have seen these materials and could have taken action against Severa, but they didn't.
00:59:47But before we explain why, you're watching the military show, and if you haven't subscribed yet,
00:59:53now's the time. Now the reason why the FSB didn't simply put Leversov behind bars is that they
00:59:59realised how useful his talents could be, especially after he formed a hacktivist group known as the
01:00:04Civil Anti-Terror. Originally, this movement was founded as a way to bring disparate groups of hackers
01:00:09together under a common banner, so that they could operate more easily and efficiently coordinate
01:00:15attacks against Chechnya. The likes of random DDoS attacks and repackaged viruses became less
01:00:21effective as time went by and cyber security improved, so Russian hackers needed to become
01:00:26more resourceful in order to deal serious damage to their adversaries. Under Severa's guidance,
01:00:32they mounted an all-out offensive against the Chechens. Then, they started shifting their focus
01:00:36towards other targets that were also enemies of the Kremlin, like Russian opposition parties,
01:00:41countries, independent media sites, non-governmental organisations, and even foreign countries that
01:00:47were seen as critical of how Russia was ruled. For Severa, it didn't seem to matter if he was
01:00:51bombarding political parties or sending get-rich-quick spam messages to random people around the world.
01:00:57It all worked and profited him, one way or another, and the mechanisms involved were largely the same.
01:01:03For years, rumours swirled that Severa must be working in some sort of freelance or contractor
01:01:08capacity for the Russian government, especially in 2007, when his vast botnets were used for a
01:01:14massive cyber attack on Estonia. Years later, politicians from the Nashe movement and the
01:01:19ruling United Russia party admitted to playing a part in this attack, and Severa too owned up to
01:01:24the fact that he'd been working with the party. And the evidence continued to pile up from there.
01:01:29Around the same time as the Estonia attack, a Moscow programmer named Anton Noskov decided to make a
01:01:35copy of Severa's civil anti-terror website to preserve for future generations to analyse.
01:01:41Even when the original site was eventually taken down, Noskov's copy remained.
01:01:46Then, in May 2007, he received a phone call from a man from Russia's National Anti-Terrorist
01:01:52Committee, an offshoot of the FSB, who said that his employers were very interested in collaborating
01:01:56with Severa and asked for his contact information. Noskov wasn't interested in helping, so instead decided
01:02:03to share his story with independent journalists, effectively revealing to the wider world that
01:02:08Russia's premier security agency was actively hiring malicious hackers. And Leveshov was merely
01:02:14the prototype. In the years that followed, many more stories emerged of criminal hacker groups
01:02:18and specific individuals being approached by the FSB, not to be punished for their crimes,
01:02:24but rewarded with secret government deals. While the specifics varied from case to case,
01:02:29many of these stories followed a familiar playbook. Criminal hackers would first gain a name for
01:02:33themselves via their illegal activities, like credit card theft, spam operations, building botnets,
01:02:39hacking major websites, orchestrating DDoS attacks, or distributing malware and viruses.
01:02:45This effectively was their way of proving their capacities. Many then began to shift towards
01:02:50carrying out politically motivated attacks, whether they be attacks on Chechen websites,
01:02:54against NATO nations, against Ukraine, or other targets. This was their way of demonstrating that
01:03:00their ideologies lined up with those of the government. Once the FSB identified hackers who
01:03:05appeared to have exceptional skills and interests that matched their own, they would reach out to them,
01:03:10sometimes offering an informal or covert collaboration, but other times directly recruiting
01:03:15them into the agency's increasingly expansive and powerful hacker army. It was a win-win for all involved.
01:03:22The hackers get the benefit of governmental protection and freedom from prosecution,
01:03:26allowing them to continue carrying out their illicit activities. They also enjoy all the prestige,
01:03:31money and power that comes from working on behalf of the Kremlin. The state, meanwhile,
01:03:36gets to deploy some of the most experienced expert operators in the cyber crime world to do its
01:03:41bidding, with all of their ready-made botnets, malware and criminal infrastructure for carrying out
01:03:46offensive operations and information warfare with their enemies, both domestic and international.
01:03:51And since so much of this is done in secret, the state also maintains a level of plausible deniability.
01:03:57The Kremlin also ultimately retains the power. If ever its hired cyber mercenaries lose their utility,
01:04:04the FSB can easily take action against them, which can include prosecution, imprisonment and public
01:04:09humiliation. Such was the case of Dmitry Dukachev, also known under the alias Forbes. Forbes came from a small
01:04:16town and got into hacking early on in life. He was an avid video game player and hacked into a
01:04:21local
01:04:22internet service provider to gain free internet access. He also had a habit of documenting his
01:04:27exploits, writing blog posts, articles and even sitting down for interviews to share the details of
01:04:32his cyber crime career. In 2002, for example, he started working for a Russian hacking magazine,
01:04:39while also running a carding operation. He regularly boasted about breaking his way into websites and
01:04:44soon moved to Moscow to live a luxurious life on the back of his hacking profits.
01:04:48One night, Forbes and some friends were trying to destroy surveillance cameras in the Russian capital
01:04:53when they were accosted by law enforcement officers. It transpired that one of those officers worked with
01:04:58the FSB and once he started chatting with Forbes, the seeds of a mutually beneficial relationship were sown.
01:05:04In the years that followed, Forbes became an active collaborator of the agency,
01:05:09eventually progressing to the role of an employee with the FSB's Center for Informational Security,
01:05:14where he was tasked with monitoring, finding and hiring other cyber criminals he felt had the skills
01:05:19and mindset needed to support the state's cyber operations. He'd spend his time scouring hacker forums,
01:05:25reading posts of other users, looking for people who were both talented and patriotic,
01:05:29before offering them collaborative deals with the Kremlin. He reportedly did this for over
01:05:34a decade, recruiting an unknown number of criminal hackers during that time.
01:05:38In 2016, however, Forbes appeared to become more of a liability than an asset to the FSB.
01:05:44He was arrested, accused of transferring classified information to the United States,
01:05:49and charged with treason. He maintained his innocence, claiming that he was simply being used
01:05:53as a scapegoat, which is entirely plausible, given Russia's track record, but it wasn't enough to save
01:05:58him from a six-year prison sentence. It would be reasonable to think that Forbes' story should serve
01:06:03as a warning to other hackers who were considering working with the government. In reality, however,
01:06:08it didn't seem to dissuade many of them from accepting FSB deals as and when they were offered.
01:06:13In the decades since Forbes' arrest, there have been numerous recorded instances, and many more surely
01:06:18that are off the record, involving hackers and hacking groups entering unofficial agreements with the
01:06:23Russian government, lending their skills towards operations like interfering in western elections,
01:06:28hacking into Ukrainian websites during the war between the two nations, spreading digital propaganda,
01:06:34stealing sensitive information, and carrying out extortion attacks. There's the infamous Evil
01:06:39Core hacking group, for example, headed up by a man named Maxim Yakubet, who's often described in
01:06:45Russian media as the hacker who stole $100 million and drives a Lamborghini around the streets of Moscow
01:06:51without any risk of being arrested. Why? Because he happens to be married to the daughter of a former
01:06:56high-ranking FSB official who used his influence to not only protect Evil Core from prosecution,
01:07:02but bring it into the agency's fold. Numerous reports allege that the FSB has actively tasked
01:07:07Evil Core with conducting digital espionage and aggressive cyber attacks against NATO nations over the
01:07:13years. In exchange, the group has been allowed to get away with extensive money laundering operations,
01:07:18extortion, ransomware, and large-scale theft. There's also the equally notorious hacktivist
01:07:24group Killnet. Operating primarily via telegram channels, Killnet formed in March 2022 during
01:07:31the opening stages of the war with Ukraine and has gone on to carry out numerous DDoS and cyber
01:07:36attacks on critical infrastructure and government websites in countries that are perceived as allies
01:07:41of Ukraine like Romania, Moldova, Norway, Latvia, the United States, and Germany. There hasn't been any
01:07:48clear concrete proof linking this group, or its enigmatic leader, Killmilk, with the FSB, though
01:07:54many researchers believe that even if Killnet isn't working directly with the security service,
01:07:58it clearly has some level of protection from the Kremlin since their interests so closely align.
01:08:03This is the frightening truth of Russia's cyber warfare strategy. It's not about recruiting talented
01:08:09technology experts via legal channels, headhunting the best of the best in the country's leading IT
01:08:14firms or training white hat hackers at top tech universities. Instead, it's a seedy underground
01:08:21enterprise involving official government agencies mixing with shady criminal groups,
01:08:26brokering deals in the dark that allow hackers to continue spreading viruses and scamming millions
01:08:30of people so long as they do a bit of work for the Kremlin on the side. Like many other
01:08:34aspects of
01:08:35the Kremlin's operations, it's an ugly and heinous way of doing business, but it's exactly what we've
01:08:40come to expect of the Putin regime. As Russia attempts to push deeper into Zaporizhia,
01:08:47it just ran into something it never expected. Not Ukrainian soldiers, not even drones. Colombians
01:08:54were waiting. Highly trained mercenaries who have honed their skills in the jungles of their homeland
01:08:59are in Ukraine. And they just did something amazing. Russians started dying, a position was liberated,
01:09:06but the real story here isn't just what happened in Zaporizhia. It's what's happening in Colombia.
01:09:12There are interesting reasons why so many soldiers from this country are heading into Ukraine.
01:09:17You're going to learn about them in this video. But first we head to Stepnohiersk.
01:09:22Throughout July, Russian paratroopers had slowly but surely started to infiltrate this small
01:09:27settlement. Having been pushed out once before by a brilliant and sweeping liberation strike,
01:09:32those Russian soldiers were desperately trying to grasp onto any territory they could,
01:09:36so their comrades could deliver the good news that Stepnohiersk was under control once more to Putin.
01:09:41The paratroopers were far from controlling the village, but infiltrators are dangerous,
01:09:46and this particular group had started to set up small positions in burned-out buildings and other
01:09:50hidey holes, allowing them to direct fire at Ukrainian forces and set up ambushes to trap them.
01:09:56The infiltrators couldn't be allowed to continue, not just due to the damage they were capable of doing,
01:10:01but because Stepnohiersk is more important than it might seem. This isn't any old village. Stepnohiersk
01:10:07offers access to the E-105 highway and with it a possible route deeper into Zaporizhia. If Russia
01:10:13is able to take control of this village, it may be able to use it as a logistical hub and
01:10:17a launch pad
01:10:18for assaults across the Dnipro River and eventually Zaporizhia itself. Putin's infiltrators had a clear
01:10:24purpose. Ukraine needed to eliminate them. After considering all the options, Ukraine settled on using
01:10:30Tactical Group Revanche for the operation. A unit of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine,
01:10:35this group has been active since the beginning of the war and is believed to be roughly the size of
01:10:40a regiment, meaning it has between 501 and 1,500 members. But what makes Revanche special is who
01:10:45becomes a member. Ukrainian soldiers aren't part of this tactical group. The members come from far and
01:10:51wide to join an international unit. Tactical Group Revanche has already left its mark on the war.
01:10:56From the earliest days of the Russian invasion, the group was deployed to Kyiv and played a key role
01:11:00in halting the initial Russian advance at the Battle of Hostomel. Later, the group liberated
01:11:05Radinska in the Kyiv Oblast and had also seen action in Kharkiv and Chaziv Yar, in addition to
01:11:11fighting close to the Donetsk Fortress Belt. These soldiers are experienced, talented and more than
01:11:16capable of taking on Russian infiltrators. Now, Colombian soldiers from Tactical Group Revanche are in
01:11:23Zaporizhia. And they just ruined the Russian infiltrators in Stepnohiersk.
01:11:27A July 28 telegram post by the group reveals all. After recognizing that Russian infiltrators had
01:11:34managed to penetrate into Stepnohiersk, Tactical Group Revanche took its time. The infiltrators
01:11:39weren't going anywhere. Their jobs were to find somewhere to hold up and then wait for supplies
01:11:44and reinforcements to arrive. Both were a long way from coming, so Revanche members took the opportunity
01:11:49to carry out extensive reconnaissance, taking advantage of every mistake the Russian occupiers
01:11:54made to perfectly pinpoint their positions. Once Revanche knew where the Russians were,
01:11:59the FPV drones were unleashed. Over and over, those drones smashed into the Russian position,
01:12:04making it clear to the paratroopers inside that they had been rumbled.
01:12:08Those paratroopers, already in a sticky situation, would have been confused when they started to hear
01:12:13Spanish on the battlefield. Revanche followed up the drone strikes with a ground assault led by Colombian
01:12:18soldiers. Before that assault, the Russian troops were given the option to surrender now or die in
01:12:23the fight. No response came back from the paratroops, so Ukraine's Colombian soldiers fired grenades into
01:12:29the bunkers and trenches where the Russian soldiers were hiding. The aftermath of one of the battles was
01:12:34caught on camera. We see Ukraine's foreign fighters enter a building, cautiously checking around for
01:12:39signs of paratroopers. One Russian soldier was eliminated in the fight, a second was captured.
01:12:44The operation was precise and lethally effective. It also turned out to be informative. We see from
01:12:50the footage that the captured soldier is already wounded. Wearing a bandage around his head, that
01:12:55soldier is trying to hide in what can best be described as an underground hovel. When he's found,
01:13:00he has his hands raised. The very first thing he says is, I feel really terrible. Do you have any
01:13:05water or something to drink? That right there exposes what Putin puts his soldiers through. There have been
01:13:11stories of a lack of supplies and water provided to infiltrate it in the past. Back in May 2025,
01:13:17Russian soldiers in Kherson were even caught drinking from puddles after the complete collapse
01:13:22of their supply lines left them desperate enough to risk drinking dirty water rather than dying of
01:13:27dehydration. Now we see a clearly injured soldier in Stepnohirsk begging his captors for a drink. The
01:13:34paratrooper gets water along with a cigarette and he is then taken into custody by the Colombian and Ukrainian
01:13:39joint forces. There is also footage of the interrogation that followed. The captured
01:13:44paratrooper reveals everything about who he is and in doing so, exposes what Putin and his cronies are
01:13:50really looking for from a soldier. As a child, he ended up in an orphanage, along with his brother,
01:13:55after their mother snapped because she couldn't control them. That brother is also in the army,
01:14:00fighting in the Kursk direction, the captured soldier reveals. The soldier revealed that before ending
01:14:05up in an orphanage, his father had let him drink vodka from an early age. Dad ended up in prison
01:14:11for
01:14:11assaulting a neighbour and nearly killing him. The soldier dropped out of school after seven years
01:14:16of education, meaning he didn't graduate. He was on his very first mission when he was captured in
01:14:20Stepnohirsk. And when asked about Putin, the soldier reveals what it's really like to be Russian.
01:14:26What's the point of voting anyway? Putin will always win. And when he and his cronies are in office,
01:14:31they look for people like this soldier. Poorly educated, broken homes, desperate for money.
01:14:36If there is a way to exploit, Russia's recruiters jump on it. And all of this was learned because
01:14:42Ukraine deployed a lethal contingent of Colombian soldiers into Stepnohirsk.
01:14:46That brings us to the second big story here, or should we say the big question.
01:14:50What on earth are Colombian soldiers doing fighting in the hellscape of the Ukrainian front lines?
01:14:55The answers are numerous and you'll soon find out that it isn't a case of a handful of Colombian
01:14:59fighters heading into the country. There are thousands. But before we dig deeper into that,
01:15:04this is a reminder that you're watching the military show. If you're getting insight from
01:15:07our channel, then hit subscribe and enable notifications so you see more coverage like
01:15:12this. Colombia is far more important to Ukraine than you may realize. But the two nations certainly
01:15:17aren't allied to the point where Colombia actively supports Ukraine in its battle against Russia.
01:15:22Soldiers from that nation stream into Ukraine to fight alongside people with whom they feel they
01:15:26sense a certain level of kinship. The numbers reveal it. Bogota's City Paper revealed in February
01:15:32that Colombians now make up the largest foreign contingent of soldiers that have entered Ukraine.
01:15:37Tactical Group Revanche is full of them, as are several other units that are fighting on the front.
01:15:41The outlet says that as many as 2,000 Colombian nationals are actively serving in Ukraine's ranks
01:15:46as we speak, and that up to 7,000 have served in total since Putin launched his invasion.
01:15:52Colombians make up about a quarter of all foreign soldiers that Ukraine recruits,
01:15:57the outlet points out. Soldiers from this single nation are also willing to die to support Ukraine.
01:16:02The Atlantic Council reports that an estimated 300 to 550 Colombian soldiers have perished on the
01:16:08front lines, fighting for Ukraine's liberation. The big question still remains, why? This isn't just
01:16:14about the money, though the cash definitely helps. France 24 spoke to one soldier named Dairou,
01:16:20who left Colombia's military after eight years of service. The pay for his work back home is poor,
01:16:25Dairou says. As for Ukraine, the brigade pays for our air tickets, accommodation in Bogota,
01:16:30and does all the paperwork for us to travel legally, he says, adding,
01:16:34When I heard about this, I jumped at the chance. It's what I've been waiting for.
01:16:38Indeed, the money isn't great for a Colombian soldier. Mid-level officers in the country's military
01:16:42earn roughly $1,000 per month while in active service. A rank-and-file soldier gets much less,
01:16:48just $400 per month. Military pensions in Colombia are also not enough to sustain former soldiers.
01:16:54Pay often drops by half, and the few programs that Colombia has in place to help its soldiers
01:16:59transition back into civilian life aren't fit for purpose. Most try to redirect former soldiers
01:17:04into private security work, but that sector is saturated. Job openings are rare, and when they
01:17:09appear, there is a literal army of former soldiers competing for the work. Compare this situation to what
01:17:14Ukraine offers. Beyond all of the initial benefits that Dairou mentions, those who sign up to fight
01:17:19in Ukraine are paid from the moment they begin training. That pay was about $490 for training that
01:17:25can last up to six weeks, which is already equivalent to a full-time wage for a Colombian soldier.
01:17:30But that's just the start. Salaries for soldiers who participate in combat operations for Ukraine
01:17:35range from $3,000 to $5,000 per month, well above the average mid-level officer wage in the Colombian
01:17:41military.
01:17:42Ukraine offers signing bonuses, sometimes as high as $25,000, as well as a $350,000 death benefit
01:17:49delivered to families when a soldier is killed in combat. In June, Ukraine also implemented a
01:17:54pay-as-you-fight system for its frontline forces. Now, soldiers who take part in active combat operations
01:17:59can earn over $10,000 per month, Business Insider reports. Not only is that almost 30 times the average
01:18:06salary in Ukraine, but it's also a level of pay that is far beyond anything that a Colombian soldier could
01:18:11ever expect to get from their own country. The money alone is compelling, but there's more to it than that.
01:18:16For many of the Colombians who are fighting in Ukraine, purpose is as important as cash.
01:18:22Daira makes that very clear when speaking to France 24.
01:18:25We're doing it out of a vocation to serve, he tells the outlet. Plus, it's a noble cause to go
01:18:30and fight
01:18:30under a flag that is not our own, but that of a people that is under attack. It's a bit
01:18:34like if a neighbor
01:18:35broke into my house. That sentiment is far from rare among the thousands of Colombians who head to
01:18:40Ukraine, and it offers a hint toward how these soldiers feel in their own country. Lost, bereft of
01:18:46cause and abandoned. Colombia had long been a nation that needed its soldiers, up until a 2016 peace
01:18:52settlement that left many who were in active service feeling as though their skills were going
01:18:56underused, along with them being underpaid. Colombian soldiers have taken to fighting in other
01:19:01countries, not just Ukraine, but also in Yemen and Sudan, because they feel they have spent a
01:19:06lifetime developing skills that go underutilized by their own nation. On top of that, it's the
01:19:11reintegration issue we touched on earlier. A Colombian soldier who may have up to two decades of
01:19:15experience dealing with counterinsurgency operations in their own country, will be left out in the cold
01:19:20by their government once they retire from their service in their 30s or 40s. The civilian economy has
01:19:25no place for them, outside of the saturated private security sector. That sector accounts for over
01:19:30one percent of Colombia's entire gross domestic product, and it employs hundreds of thousands
01:19:36of people. But that's the entire point. As massive as private security may be in Colombia, the sector
01:19:41is full, jobs are rare, and the other reintegration programs that Colombia has in place are doing a
01:19:46poor job of helping the country's former soldiers find work. Colombia isn't happy about the whole
01:19:51situation. A slew of legal frameworks has been put in place in an attempt to stop former Colombian
01:19:56soldiers from becoming mercenaries for Ukraine or anyone else. Colombia's president Gustavo Petro
01:20:02has even claimed that Colombians are treated as an inferior race by Ukraine soldiers and are deployed
01:20:08like cannon fodder. There seems to be no real evidence for this, as backed by the numbers, which
01:20:13show that no more than 1 14th of the Colombian troops that have entered Ukraine are killed in action.
01:20:18It's also worth noting that Putin himself has claimed that Petro could be a promising partner, suggesting
01:20:23that Colombia's president may have a motivation beyond the safety and well-being of his country's soldiers.
01:20:29Still, Colombia is trying to prevent its soldiers from heading to Ukraine. In December 2025, the
01:20:34country's House of Representatives even voted to ratify the United Nations Convention against
01:20:39mercenaries. That convention has existed since 1989, so it's strange that Colombia only now views what's
01:20:44happening as a problem. However, this law doesn't stop Ukraine from recruiting. Those who fight in
01:20:49Ukraine's international legion or are part of Ukraine's regular assault units aren't classified
01:20:54as mercenaries under this very convention, the Atlantic Council points out. Ultimately, it seems
01:20:59that Petro misses the point. Colombia has thousands of soldiers who feel that their skills aren't being
01:21:04respected, they aren't receiving the compensation that they deserve, and that their country fails to
01:21:09reintegrate them into society once their service ends. So these soldiers find purpose in fighting for
01:21:14Ukraine, and Ukraine has been more than happy to facilitate the arrival of Colombians into its armed
01:21:19forces. It's notable that the first soldiers who joined Ukraine from Latin America did so of their
01:21:23own accord, France 24 notes. It was only after a half-Argentian, half-Ukrainian soldier that the
01:21:29outlet named Nazar helped to pioneer a scheme to bring more over that Ukraine actively started
01:21:34recruiting from the continent. Ukraine will argue that all it does is offer the opportunity. It's up to the
01:21:39soldiers themselves to make the choice. All of this brings us back to the remarkable assault Colombian
01:21:45soldiers carried out in Stepnohirsk, alongside their Ukrainian colleagues. The assault was fruitful,
01:21:51a capture was made, more information was gathered, and Russian infiltrators were forced out of the
01:21:55village. For Ukraine, this is a big win because it means that Russia is now further away from being
01:22:00able to make moves on the Zaporizhia targets they want to hit. However, Stepnohirsk still isn't safe,
01:22:05far from it. This village has been subjected to fighting for much of the Ukraine war,
01:22:08and at one point Russia managed to mostly occupy Stepnohirsk. That situation was reversed in May
01:22:142026 when Ukrainian forces carried out a brilliant operation to liberate Stepnohirsk from the Russian
01:22:19occupiers. A series of assaults pushed Russia's forces back, stabilizing the situation in the
01:22:24village for a time. Russia's positions collapsed as Ukraine conducted a search-and-destroy operation
01:22:29that involved using aerial reconnaissance and precision fire to pin Russian soldiers down,
01:22:35followed by checks inside buildings to kill or capture any soldiers that remained. This operation
01:22:40was much like what we saw Ukraine's Colombian soldiers do in July, only on a much larger scale.
01:22:45It's unknown whether Ukraine utilized any of its Colombian contingent in this stage of the operation.
01:22:50Still, Putin hasn't given up on Stepnohirsk. He can't. The village plays a critical role in his
01:22:55plans for the rest of Zaporizhia. Toward the end of May, Colonel Vladislav Voloshin, who is the
01:23:00spokesman for Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces, revealed that Putin has sent the 7th Air Assault
01:23:05Division in the Stepnohirsk direction with specific orders to claim the village by the end of June.
01:23:09It's likely those are soldiers from this division that Ukraine's Colombian troops captured or killed
01:23:13in July. As for taking Stepnohirsk by June, that obviously hasn't happened. Just another insane and
01:23:19unrealistic deadline created by Putin that he ought to know by now was never going to be reached.
01:23:24As for what's happening in Stepnohirsk right now, we just saw Russia is trying to sneak infiltrators
01:23:30into the village. However, Ukraine is watching and waiting for any chance to take those infiltrators
01:23:35out. And right now, it's not Russia that is advancing in Zaporizhia, it's Ukraine. That's according
01:23:40to the Institute for the Study of War, or ISW. In its July 29th Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment,
01:23:46the ISW said, Ukrainian forces advanced in Western Zaporizhia Oblast on a prior date.
01:23:52Archival geo-located footage, published on July 20th and dated to June 2026, shows Ukrainian forces
01:23:59clearing Russian-occupied buildings in north-eastern Stepnohirsk, west of Orochiv, indicating that
01:24:04Ukrainian forces previously advanced in the area. So it seems that Putin's forces are no closer to
01:24:10capturing Stepnohirsk than they were when Ukraine booted the bulk of those soldiers out in May.
01:24:14Only now, Putin's patsies have a bigger problem on their hands. Well-trained and deadly Colombian
01:24:20soldiers are working alongside Ukraine to keep the village clear. Russian soldiers are dying at
01:24:25the hands of an enemy they never saw coming. And the odds are that many hundreds, if not thousands
01:24:30more Colombian troops will soon find their way into Ukraine. We've given you some insight into the
01:24:34situation in Stepnohirsk right now. But what if you want to learn more about how Ukraine liberated the
01:24:39village in the first place? If that sounds like you, then we have you covered. We reported on the
01:24:43Stepnohirsk liberation when it happened, and we revealed why it was so important. Dramatic
01:24:47battlefield footage and a deeper understanding of what that settlement means in the fight for
01:24:51Zaporizhia await. Check out the video after you've finished here, but before you go,
01:24:56we hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, remember to hit subscribe and enable notifications to be among
01:25:01the first to see the daily videos we publish here on The Military Show. And thank you for watching.
Comments

Recommended

  1. Russia Is About to Lose CRIMEA… And When It Falls NOTHING Can Save Putin | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    2 weeks ago
  2. HUGE Russian Convoy Entered Donetsk… Ukrainian Drones Were WAITING | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    2 weeks ago
  3. Ukraine's Combat DIVERS Just Pulled Off Something So INSANE… Hollywood Couldn't Write This
    The Military Show
    3 weeks ago
  4. This Will Make Your DAY… Russia Is Collapsing From EVERY Direction | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    3 weeks ago
  5. Crimea's Darkest Night Ever… By Morning Russia Had NOTHING Left | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    5 weeks ago
  6. Alert: Hawaii Braces for Tropical System This Weekend
    Buzzline
    2 days ago
  7. Phoebe Gates Knew Phia App Took Credit For Sales It Didn't Drive
    Bloomberg
    3 days ago
  8. Arctic Alert: Major Solar Eclipse Set to Obscure Europe
    Buzzline
    3 days ago
  9. USC Research Connects Protein Intake to Healthy Aging
    Buzzline
    3 days ago
  10. FreightWaves CEO Says Freight Recession Is Over
    Bloomberg
    4 days ago
  11. Ukraine Turned a “FISH NET” Into the Weapon Russia FEARS Most
    The Military Show
    35 minutes ago
  12. UK Just Went NUCLEAR on Russia Over Ukraine
    The Military Show
    4 hours ago
  13. Something DARK Is Happening in RUSSIA... FSB Turns Back Into KGB
    The Military Show
    1 day ago
  14. Putin’s Generals Died in a Moscow Restaurant BOMBING… FEAR Spreads Through Russian Ranks
    The Military Show
    2 days ago
  15. Leaked US Intelligence Reveals Putin’s Next Target
    The Military Show
    2 days ago
  16. Ukraine Unleashed a STRIKE STORM So Vast the Sun DISAPPEARED Over Russia | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    6 weeks ago
  17. Crimea Was Russia's Greatest WEAPON… Ukraine Turned It Into a TRAP | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    6 weeks ago
  18. Russia Is TRAPPED… Can't Win the War… Can't End It… Can't Survive What Comes AFTER
    The Military Show
    2 months ago
  19. MASSIVE Fireball in Putin's BACKYARD… Moscow Thought It Was a NUCLEAR Strike | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    7 weeks ago
  20. Russia Just Lived Through the Most HUMILIATING Week of the Entire War… And It's Not OVER
    The Military Show
    2 months ago
  21. Ukraine Hit Back So HARD… Russia Will Feel This for DECADES | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    2 months ago
  22. What Ukraine Did to Russia This Month… Will Be Taught in Military Academies FOREVER
    The Military Show
    2 months ago
  23. Western Military Secrets So BRUTAL… Russia and China Are in PANIC & Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    3 months ago
  24. Ukraine Just Did Something So DEVASTATING… Even the Kremlin Admits It's OVER | Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    3 months ago
  25. Ukraine Found the Way to WIN This WAR… Russia's Frontlines COLLAPSING Other War Stories
    The Military Show
    3 months ago