AI Tool For Wounded Troops With No Nearby Medic Being Built By Ukraine, US

If there is no medic around, take a photo of the wound with the app and get AI-provided advice on how to treat it. JL

Kelsey Baker reports in Business Insider:

For years, troops relied on handwritten cards and bulky manuals for battlefield medical guidance. Now, Ukrainian and US developers are building and testing AI tools to help when there isn't a medic nearby and evacuation isn't an option. "As the tactical environment limits the ability to move, then we have to provide care wherever we are." The app uses Google's Gemini platform to guide a user through a trauma response. A soldier can photograph an injury, answer follow-up questions, and immediately receive relevant tactical combat casualty care protocol. 

Why Russia's Bombing of Kyiv Is Not Breaking Ukraine

Among the most enduring images of WWII are photos of Londoners enduring the Blitz on subway platforms. Post-war analyses reveal that bombing of civilians in the UK, Germany and Japan tended to harden attitudes, not weaken them. The same occurred in US bombing of Vietnam.

As Russia's failures on the battlefield are compounded by rising casualties and declining advances, the Kremlin's targeting of civilians is also having an effect the reverse of that intended. In part, because of innate human stubbornness and resentment of bullying, but also because Russia does not have the resources to effectively bomb into submission a country the size of Ukraine. JL

Bogdan Maftei reports in The Erudite Elders:

Russia is elevating attacks on civilians into the central strategy of the war. The intent is to drag the eyes of the world onto these strikes and divert them from its failure in over four years of fighting. Ukraine is now taking more ground than Russia as the Kremlin's forces absorb the highest casualty rates of the war for a shrinking return. And, Ukraine is hitting Russia's economy at scale. Moscow cannot win this war in the conventional sense. Russia wants the world to read its fury as strength. The honest reading is the reverse. Bombing civilians failed in Britain, Germany and Japan in WWII, and in Vietnam. In a country the size of Ukraine, on an average day, more people are killed in road accidents than by Russian bombs.  When a power resorting to a military strategy that has never once succeeded, at the very moment its every other effort is breaking down, you are looking at a country lashing out to grab whatever it can before the window closes. 

Official Ukrainian Drone-Assault Units Are Beating Russian Units On Battlefield

This is no longer an experiment or localized unit adaptation. Ukraine's official drone assault units combine aerial recon and strike drones with ground drones and infantry to create a new type of offensive unit that is proving its effectiveness in the hottest sectors of the front like Lyman, Kharkiv and Kupiansk.

The units employing this doctrine and the tactics devolving from it are specialized; they plan and train to use this new combined arms approach, making the drone use even more effective as well as making the infantry involved more specialized in ways that traditional units have been. JL

Decimus reports in Daily Kos:

Ukraine has officially integrated aerial drones, ground robots, and infantry into unified “drone-assault units”. This combines the reconnaissance and strike capabilities of unmanned systems with the tactical judgment and skills of human soldiers,  producing combined human-machine assaults where drones conduct reconnaissance, suppression, and direct strikes, allowing infantry to secure and hold captured ground with reduced casualties. The tactic involves aerial recon drones identifying targets and safe routes, followed by UGVs pinning down defenders with machine-gun suppressive fire, and FPV drones delivering precision munitions. Infantry then moves in to consolidate gains. “A UGV armed with a machine gun is more intimidating than an infantryman. Soldiers understand how to fight another human. A machine advancing toward your position while pouring fire onto it creates both a physical and psychological effect.”

Drone-Infantry Combined Arms Assaults Have Driven Russians From Lyman

Ukraine's 3rd Corps, using an emerging offensive doctrine based on the coordinated use of infantry preceded by aerial and ground drones, has driven Russian forces from the Lyman area, securing that sector and disrupting the Kremlin's attempts to assault Ukraine's Fortress Belt.

The Ukrainians have overcome the Russians manpower advantage by surveilling Russian positions with drones and then focusing increasingly lethal drone attacks on Russian troops. So far, the Russians have not yet found a counter to these tactics. JL

Stefan Korshak reports in the Kyiv Post:

The Ukrainian battle successes to the north of the fortress city of Lyman have been the result of months of small-scale infantry assaults densely covered by strike and observation drones to rout Russian defenders from positions, pushing back Kremlin forces up to 15 kilometers (9 miles). It paints a consistent picture of successful offensive operations accompanied by heavy Russian casualties due to drone strikes. The Ukrainian advance to the east of the city cutting supply roads had formed “pockets of tactically enclosed Russian units. It is now too late” for Russia to salvage the situation, because Ukrainian advances have bitten too deeply into formerly Russian-controlled territory for Russian forces to take them back without prohibitive losses. 

More Investors Are Hunting For AI-Proof Assets Like Pro Sports To Reduce Risk

Pro wrestling as a serious hard asset investment alternative to AI? If you have to ask, you clearly don't get it. 

For those who haven't been paying attention, the price of sports franchises around the world have been skyrocketing. And much of the money is coming from tech wealth like that of Jeff Bezos, Vinod Khosla and others who are looking to diversify risk. That diversification works in two ways. First, these 'experiential assets' cannot be replaced by new AI and second, it takes some capital out of the chase for already questionable AI returns, investing it out of tech. That young people may find AI-generated imagery more exciting than the real thing is, itself, a risk, but there will presumably be just as much greater-fool-theory and FOMO money seeking these opportunities as those gorging on AI. JL

Kate Clark reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Investors are looking for opportunities insulated from the AI boom, including businesses built around human experiences that ChatGPT can’t replace. Jeff Bezos is participating in a deal to buy stake in the Liverpool Football Club in the U.K., alongside Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Others are acquiring the LA Lakers, the San Francisco Giants, the Minnesota Timberwolves and a group led by venture capitalist and OpenAI backer Vinod Khosla is acquiring the Seattle Seahawks. These legendary teams are scarce assets with durable fan bases, predictable media-rights revenue and can provide investors with significant tax advantages. The hunt for AI-proof businesses has extended beyond sports and entertainment to hard assets like manufacturing and power. “We’re looking for where technology personalizes the experience and optimizes the experience but doesn’t replace the experience. While it’s a counter bet against AI, it’s part of the rise of AI.”

Kremlin's Summer Offensive Lost Momentum Without Breaking Ukraine's Defense

The implication is that Russia's summer offensive was stymied by Ukraine's surprising counterattacking tactics but also by the weight of its own leadership and logistical failures, which continue to undermine the Kremlin's repeatedly delayed deadlines. JL

Mezha Media reports:

The Russian army’s summer offensive campaign in 2026 failed to deliver the strategic breakthrough the Kremlin expected. After a sharp increase in the intensity of fighting at the beginning of summer, the pace of advance began to slow, while the area of captured territory has barely grown for the second consecutive month. Heavy losses did not provide the Russian army with proportional progress deeper into Ukraine’s defenses. This may indicate the gradual depletion of its offensive potential. "The summer offensive did not gain operational momentum, and there was no breakthrough of Ukraine’s defenses."

By End of 2026, Russian Troop Advantage Will Be Offset By Ukraine Ground Drones

Ukraine's commanders see increasing evidence that Russia's manpower advantage will be offset by Ukraine's ground drones and that this transformation may happen as soon as the end of this year. 

The Kremlin's strategy - which may soon include a far broader conscription of Russian citizens - has been predicated on its larger population. But severe losses in Ukraine coupled with other demographic challenges have given Ukraine the opportunity to offset that disparity by using technological innovation to counter the Kremlin's plans. And those new technologies are coming online sooner than expected. JL

Raj K reports in Medium:

Brigadier General Andriy Biletski, commander of Ukraine's 3rd Corps, now believes that by the end of 2026, unmanned infantry will account for approximately 30% of total ground forces, and possibly up to 80% in the long-term. This change is completely different from Russia’s strategy. Russia tried to overcome the threat of drones with a large number of human soldiers. They believed that with so many soldiers, Ukraine would quickly become exhausted. But the war dragged on. Russia lost thousands of soldiers and wasted resources, but gained no major advantage. 167 Ukrainian units have fully included these UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) in their systems.