Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the fallout of Ukraine’s missile defense shortage, a possible deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and how SpaceX debris crashed into the moon.
Kyiv’s Diminishing Arsenal
Russian forces launched an onslaught of missiles and drones at Kyiv and its surrounding area on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, injuring around 44 others, and damaging key infrastructure for major retailers. Although Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept nearly 90 percent of the 115 incoming drones, they failed to down a single one of the 24 ballistic missiles and four cruise missiles.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the fallout of Ukraine’s missile defense shortage, a possible deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and how SpaceX debris crashed into the moon.
Kyiv’s Diminishing Arsenal
Russian forces launched an onslaught of missiles and drones at Kyiv and its surrounding area on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, injuring around 44 others, and damaging key infrastructure for major retailers. Although Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept nearly 90 percent of the 115 incoming drones, they failed to down a single one of the 24 ballistic missiles and four cruise missiles.
“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X. “It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.”
For months, Zelensky has warned of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S. Patriot missiles, which are the only weapons in Kyiv’s inventory that can reliably intercept Russian ballistic missiles. With the onset of the Iran war in February, the United States has stopped providing Ukraine with these essential weapons, instead keeping the highly sought after resource for its own use.
But now, even the United States may be running out. Last week, a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the number of U.S. Patriots in stock has dropped by around 65 percent since the start of the Iran conflict. The Defense Department has requested $67 billion in supplemental funding from Congress to address this shortfall; some of these missiles take years to manufacture and deliver.
During last month’s NATO leaders’ summit, U.S. President Donald Trump tried to appease Zelensky’s appeals for aid by agreeing to give Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors. But on Friday, Trump denied having done so. “It is a hard thing to give away that kind of technology,” Trump said, warning that “those people you give the technology, they could someday turn on you.” Hours later, Russian ballistic missiles killed at least nine people and injured roughly 28 others in Kyiv.
Zelensky has since shifted his attention to other potential suppliers. On Wednesday, he spoke separately with NATO chief Mark Rutte and British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting about new avenues to secure missile interceptors. He also convened his national security council to brainstorm ways to bolster anti-ballistic technologies.
“Our partners do have the missiles,” Zelensky wrote on X. “It is important that the necessary political decisions on supplies and the acceleration of production processes are ultimately made.”
But these efforts may prove to be too little, too late. European countries have failed to fast-track large-scale interceptor production over the past five years and have prioritized what technology is available for their own protection. Over the past year, NATO members have accused Russian and Ukrainian forces of launching stray drones, missiles, and aircraft into the airspaces of Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, among others. That includes a suspected Russian drone incursion at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport on Wednesday, which authorities believe was carrying an explosive when it collided with a cargo plane.
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What We’re Following
Back in business? Tehran and Muscat are close to finalizing a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Wednesday. The agreement would include the creation of a temporary safe route for commercial shipping to help alleviate the global energy crisis. But this will only occur if “certain third parties do not obstruct the process,” Baghaei added, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
Trump has similarly foreshadowed that a deal to reopen the strait could be reached as soon as this week. “It could happen. Tomorrow or the next day,” Trump said late Tuesday. “A lot of progress has been made.” Regional sources told Axios that the 60-day framework under discussion would require inbound ships to pass through Iranian waters and outbound traffic to go through Omani territory until the median lane is cleared of all mines.
Iran and Oman sit on opposite sides of the strategic waterway, and for weeks, Tehran has only expressed interest in working with Muscat to come up with a solution for the thoroughfare. However, on Tuesday, Qatar confirmed that U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in indirect talks, and Axios reported that the current proposal does not allow Tehran to charge tolls during the 60-day period.
Lunar collision. Part of a SpaceX rocket unintentionally crashed into the moon on Wednesday. Experts maintain that the collision posed no danger to Earth and could lead to some minor scientific discoveries. However, the high-speed impact also highlighted growing concerns about the vast quantity of leftover hardware floating in lower-Earth orbit. According to NASA, more than 100 million particles of space debris larger than 1 millimeter in diameter are circling Earth, largely from satellite explosions and collisions; SpaceX makes up roughly 60 percent of all working satellites.
Such debris usually falls back into Earth’s atmosphere, but a mixture of solar activity and gravitational forces instead put this SpaceX material on track to hit the moon. Wednesday’s incident saw a school bus-sized section of a Falcon 9 rocket stage, weighing 4 metric tons, hit near the moon’s Einstein Crater at 5,400 miles per hour. Lunar collisions are rare, though China, Russia, India, Israel, and the United States have all (intentionally or otherwise) fired payloads that have struck the moon.
These incidents could pose a threat to NASA’s Artemis mission, which aims to build a lunar base and send astronauts to the moon by the end of the decade. Space debris risks hitting these assets and undermining Washington’s multibillion-dollar program.
Han Kuang drills. Taiwan on Wednesday kicked off its annual 10-day Han Kuang military exercise aimed at countering threats from China. “Our core belief and ultimate operational goal are to ensure their full-scale invasion fails,” Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters. Beijing does not recognize the island’s sovereignty and has never ruled out the use of force to seize control.
Taipei fears that Chinese forces will try to paralyze the country’s command-and-control centers, logistics hubs, strategic ports, and defense infrastructure. To combat these concerns, this year’s live-fire drills will involve 20,000 reservists, include fighter jet dispersals and emergency naval deployments, and incorporate a “backbrief” approach to promote better coordination between junior and senior officers. For the first time, the exercise will also slow down mobile internet speeds to test how residents might communicate if bandwidth became limited.
Beijing has not commented on Taipei’s Han Kuang event. However, on Tuesday, Chinese troops launched joint combat readiness patrols that included the deployment of 21 warplanes and nine warships near Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry.
Odds and Ends
A small organ in Germany’s medieval Burchardi Church has played the world’s slowest composition for nearly 25 years, with some notes (or silences) lasting months if not longer. On Wednesday, the music took a rare turn, with the addition of an A4 pipe creating a rare chord change. Listeners who missed the shift will have to wait until Oct. 5, 2027, for the next evolution. The piece, titled “ORGAN²/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible),” is expected to conclude on Sept. 4, 2640. For those who have high hopes about their lifespan, tickets are already on sale for $3,045.
