news

The second thing I’ve been thinking about a lot is that I’ve felt that the Russians have learned to counter our drone systems, and I’m seriously concerned about this, because in the past few days—the past few weeks, I’ve seen a lot of signs of this, when I see that the number of losses among our drone pilots has increased. Are these ambushes? These are complex measures, unfortunately. And I’ve been thinking about how we need to resist, yes—what we need to do to reduce this impact, because earlier it was only guided bombs, and now it’s “Molniya”, it’s fiber optics, it’s operations with many methods of attack and winged shoot-downs. This story—they're working on a broad scale.

And it really troubles me internally, because I keep thinking about what I can do here to improve the situation over there—to reduce this gap between Kyiv and the front line. That’s the main thing.

And the losses really, if we’re speaking about the brigades specifically, have skyrocketed. They’ve skyrocketed just over the last couple of weeks. We were also just recently at one of the brigades. This happens constantly—you might spend two hours with a brigade and you get the message that there are “200s”, there are “300s”, and of course, this greatly, greatly affects both what’s happening on the front and the overall condition of our military.

What I see now is—they’ve learned to counter our UAVs, and their success is getting better and better, unfortunately, and this is happening in several directions. First, it’s situational awareness on the battlefield. Second, it’s targeting the positions they detect—they’re striking identified positions. I’ve even heard in some brigades—“Let’s change our shifts not every three or six hours, but let’s stay on rotation for a month and then rotate out,” because today, the act of repositioning is very difficult and has deep consequences, including from the effects of the Russian enemy.

Again—three months ago they worked only with guided bombs. Now they’re using both “Molniya” and guided bombs, and now there’s fiber optics that were working three months ago in the Kursk direction, and now they’ve moved—to Kurakhove, to the Kostyantynivka area, and to Pokrovsk.

Three months ago there was no fiber optics at all in Pokrovsk. Two months ago there were just isolated strands hanging somewhere in Pokrovsk, and now—it’s daily operations—again, daily operations. And this is the problem that—I keep thinking about it constantly, and it’s more important to me than the Istanbul track, Ankara... and from what I understand, they’ve basically created an equivalent of our drone forces—that is, a separate branch of troops that focuses solely on countering drones. And in my view, we really, really need to consider—just like we have counter-battery units in artillery, we need counter-UAV units, positions that handle that, because their drones are taking out a major part of our armed forces—honestly.

And we don’t have a separate structure in our armed forces that works against drones on their side. There are specific initiatives at the level of individual units, some companies or battalions—but it’s not a systematic effort.

Latin America mourns the death of the Tupamaro guerrilla who became a world symbol of political coherence and honesty. Former Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica passed away this Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at the age of 89 at his farm in Rincón del Cerro, Montevideo, after battling a terminal phase of esophageal cancer. He was accompanied by his wife, Lucía Topolansky

Although Jose Mujica withdrew from electoral politics, he remained active in the grassroots work of the Popular Participation Movement, continuing to serve as a prominent figure for the Latin American left until the end of his life. This iconic leader governed Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. In his youth, during the 1960s and 1970s, Mujica was part of the National Liberation Movement–Tupamaros, a guerrilla group remembered for its daring operations in urban resistance against the dictatorship.

He spent approximately 13 years in prison. Mujica was captured multiple times and imprisoned from the early 1970s until 1985, during Uruguay’s civic-military dictatorship. He endured harsh conditions, spending most of his incarceration in solitary confinement. Once released, he became involved in party politics. As president, Mujica became a global reference point for his extremely austere lifestyle and his commitment to fighting poverty and promoting social equality.

“Pepe Mujica was a Tupamaro, a leftist, and anti-imperialist. He was the Uruguayan president who legalized abortion, marijuana, and gay marriage. His political impact on human civilization was so positive, and he remains an icon of freedom and dignity for Latin America.”

Early Steps Toward an Unwavering Social Commitment

Born in Montevideo in 1935, Mujica spent much of his youth working in the countryside. In the 1960s, he became interested in agricultural and social issues, which led him to active political engagement. This occurred as Uruguay’s economy began to stagnate, hitting the middle and lower classes the hardest.

In 1962, Mujica left the National Party and joined the Tupamaros, an urban guerrilla movement with a Marxist orientation inspired by the Cuban Revolution. There, he met Lucia Topolansky, who would become a legislator, vice president and his lifelong partner. Mujica participated in guerrilla actions and was imprisoned multiple times, the last being in 1972 at the beginning of the dictatorship. He spent most of his confinement in solitary isolation until his release in 1985, when democracy was restored in Uruguay. That experience deeply shaped his later focus on dialogue and social peace.

After his release, Mujica entered electoral politics. Alongside other former guerrillas, he co-founded the Popular Participation Movement, which became a faction within the Broad Front, a left-wing coalition founded in the 1970s. Mujica was elected to the legislature in 1995 and became a senator in 1999. In these roles, he contributed to the legalization of informal labor and improvements in social security for urban workers and farmers. From 2005 to 2008, he served as minister of agriculture during the administration of Tabare Vazquez. His impeccable reputation and enduring popularity propelled him to the presidency in 2010.

Mujica’s Latin American Dimension

During his presidency from 2010 to 2015, Mujica implemented social inclusion and welfare policies. A key example of his progressive outlook was the passage of the Equal Marriage Act in 2013.

His “Together Plan” focused on improving housing conditions for the poorest families, while the “Equity Plan” continued financial support for households with children in vulnerable situations.

Although Mujica was unable to carry out a major educational reform, the Uruguayan economy continued to grow, and poverty declined steadily during his administration.

He diversified Uruguay’s productive matrix without abandoning agricultural investment, strengthening the country’s position as a food exporter. One of his most groundbreaking initiatives was the 2013 legalization of the production, sale, and consumption of cannabis—a global first.

Internationally, Mujica sought diplomatic balance and promoted dialogue as a means of resolving geopolitical conflicts. Under his leadership, Uruguay solidified its role in regional organizations such as the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

A Politician Who Shone Through Simplicity

After completing his presidential term, Mujica remained active in both international and national politics, while his image became amplified by his charisma and wisdom. At various forums and institutional settings, he continued to passionately advocate against imperialism and for the self-determination of peoples.

Known for his austere lifestyle and concern for environmental issues, Mujica frequently urged world leaders and citizens alike to adopt a more humane and less consumerist mindset—one that aimed for sustainable development for future generations.

“We have invented a mountain of superfluous needs. Shopping for new, discarding the old… That’s a waste of our lives! When I buy something, or you, we’re not paying with money. We’re paying with the time from our lives we had to spend to earn that money,” he said.

Mujica returned to his Senate seat from 2015 to 2018. Later, he continued to influence public discourse as an active commentator on political and economic developments. In April, he announced his intention to step away from the public spotlight due to being diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

Nevertheless, to the extent that his health allowed, Mujica remained politically active as a committed grassroots member of Uruguayan left. He participated in several campaign rallies during the election that brought Broad Front candidate Yamandu Orsi to the presidency.

“To live in accordance with how one thinks, that’s what I call having dignity. That’s how I try to live. And I don’t say that others should do it, but I do believe that if politicians lived like the majority, they would be respected,” said Mujica, a man who donated most of his presidential salary, drove an old Volkswagen Beetle, and lived in a modest farmhouse—choices that made his words resonate far beyond Uruguay.

The Constitutional Court, however, made it clear that the Constitution does not allow discontinuous reelection. On Wednesday, the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP) established that presidential reelection can only occur once continuously and without the possibility of a third term.

The court ruling clarifies the Bolivian Constitution’s Article 168, which establishes that the president and vice president can be reelected “only once continuously,” and which left doubts about whether discontinuous reelection was permitted. The TCP’s interpretation also applies to those seeking reelection as national legislators, governors, mayors, regional assembly members, and municipal councilors.

As a result of the Constitutional Court ruling, the historic leader of the Bolivian left, Evo Morales, would not be eligible to run in the August 17 elections, as he had previously served as president three times: 2006-2009, 2010-2014, and 2015-2019.

“Bolivian election candidate Andrónico Rodriguez advocates for unity after Arce’s resignation and criticizes the MAS’s disputes.” On Tuesday, President Luis Arce renounced his reelection bid and challenged Morales to follow the same path with the goal of “closing ranks” around the most popular leftist candidate. Arce asked Senate President Andronico Rodriguez, who a couple of weeks ago decided to distance himself from Morales and run for the Bolivian presidency on his own, to join the unity of the leftist popular bloc.

In response, Morales rejected Arce’s challenge and reaffirmed his intention to seek the Bolivian presidency again. “Only the people can ask me to decline my candidacy. We have no personal ambitions. We will obey the people’s mandate to save Bolivia again. We will never renounce our revolutionary consciousness. With the strength of the people, we remain standing,” he said.

“Once again, we call on the brothers and sisters who have distanced themselves to return to their families and to the cradle of the true revolution so that we, together and united, can triumph at the polls and rebuild the destroyed homeland,” Morales stressed.

“We have already demonstrated that we know how to govern while guaranteeing stability and economic growth. With us, there has never been a shortage of fuel or dollars. For 14 years, we maintained a single exchange rate, distributed the state’s wealth to the people through public works projects and bonds, and defended our natural resources against the voracity of the Empire and its transnational corporations,” he concluded.