Did you know that foreign investors are quietly funding lawsuits in American courts through a practice called third-party litigation funding? Shadowy overseas funders are paying to sue American companies in our courts, and they don't pay a dime in U.S. taxes if there is an award or settlement. They profit tax-free from our legal system, while U.S. companies are tied up in court and American families pay the price to the tune of $5,000 a year.
But there is a solution. A new proposal before Congress would close this loophole and ensure these foreign investors pay taxes, just like the actual plaintiffs have to. It's a common sense move that discourages frivolous and abusive lawsuits and redirects resources back into American jobs, innovation, and growth. Only President Trump and congressional Republicans can deliver this win for America.
and hold these foreign investors accountable. Contact your lawmakers today and demand they take a stand to end foreign-funded litigation abuse. If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial-grade products and next-day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand.
Welcome to the World in 10. In an increasingly uncertain world, this is The Times' daily podcast dedicated to global security. Today with me, Laura Cook and Tom Noonan. Over the weekend, Ukraine launched an audacious drone attack deep inside Russian territory.
For the last year and a half, President Volodymyr Zelensky has personally overseen Operation Spider's Web, a secret plan to destroy Russia's strategic bombers. Hundreds of drones produced in Ukraine were smuggled across the Russian border in lorries and then kept at secret locations.
They were launched from containers with remote-controlled lids to target Russian airfields. That includes in Belaya, 2,600 miles away from the front line in Ukraine, in Siberia, near the Russian border with Mongolia.
Ukraine's intelligence service, the SBU, says 41 long-range bombers were destroyed, 34% of Russia's fleet. To help verify those claims and work out what happens next is our guest today, The Times' world affairs editor, Catherine Philp. Catherine, you're in Kiev right now. Just give us a sense of the drama of this attack. How did information about it spread?
Yeah. So firstly, the night before this operation actually took place, we had a very heavy night of bombardment. It was probably the heaviest Russian aerial bombardment of the entire war. So that's the background to what was to happen the next day.
So on Sunday, the first report started coming in from Russian telegram channels, which are an invaluable source of information about a lot of what's going on, videos of apparent strikes. So you saw at first plumes of smoke coming out from what were then said to be airfields. So all these reports start popping up all over the place.
and a lot of chatter in Russia about what's going on, what's happening. It was only later that the Ukrainians clarified exactly what had happened. And so the SBU at first said that they had hit 41 of these aircraft, which are the long-range strategic bombers that Russia uses, mostly to launch cruise missile strikes on Ukraine.
Critically, these are also nuclear capable bombers. Today, Monday, they have clarified that 13 of those bombers were completely destroyed and another number of them damaged.
Now, it's reasonable to think that that damage could be fairly severe if you look at the video that was released by the Ukrainian security services themselves. It's fairly evident that certainly from the footage released, some of that damage is fairly severe. And if not destroyed, then damaged planes will not be flying again anytime soon.
Catherine, what impact will this have on Russia's warfighting ability? I mean, will it have a difference on the battlefield or, I suppose, above it? Yeah, I don't think it will have very much effect on the battlefield. You don't see many of these kind of missile strikes being carried out along that front line.
What these long-range bombers were primarily used for was to strike Ukrainian cities. So to terrorize civilians, to hit civilian infrastructure. Their daily work really was against parts of Ukraine that are a long way from the front line and so effectively are civilian targets. So I think it's something more strategic than tactical.
You could read into what happened last night to suggest that Russia's short-term ability to launch long-range missiles on Ukraine
Ukrainian cities has been impacted because most of what was thrown at Ukraine last night were drones and not missiles. I think there were only four missiles. And if you compare that to the night before when it was the heaviest bombardment of the war. So there's that. But again, not a massive impact on the battlefields.
This is strategic. It happened, obviously, the night before these peace talks were due to happen in Istanbul. It's a message to Russia, you're not safe. So if you really think about this, this is no longer just about Ukraine. So when Russia threatens the West in general and NATO with its nuclear arsenal,
Ukraine has just hit perhaps a third of the aircraft that are capable of carrying those nuclear warheads. These are not aircraft that are in production anymore.
There's no prospect of most of them being replaced. So essentially what Ukraine is saying is, OK, you can keep throwing manpower at the front line. You may have many millions more people to throw at the front line. You may have much more artillery than us, but the cost of continuing this war could be too great for you.
So as you say, it's a strategic success more than a tactical one. But you've also spoken about the videos Ukraine has shared and the message it wants to send. Do you think this is more significant as a strategic military operation or as propaganda, as giving Russia a bloody nose symbolically? Yeah, I think it's strategic and symbolic. And both those things are important because you have someone like President Trump said yesterday
You have no cards. There's been lots of memes going around on Ukrainian social media showing President Zelensky dealing many cards in the shape of these drones. You've had memes of that wooden Trojan horse with masses of drones swarming out from the belly of the Trojan horse.
It's showing very, very clearly that Zelensky does have cards and that Ukraine is still in this fight. And I think we've seen some reactions out of some of the meetings this morning with Ukraine's European allies in Istanbul ahead of this, where they very much underlined that point that Ukraine is still in this fight and it's not.
necessarily losing. It may not be winning, but it's not perhaps losing in the very more dramatic way that, you know, the Trump White House has suggested it is. So I think it's very important to say this is not merely symbolic at all. It is an actual strategic blow and a blow to Russia's military capabilities, not only to threaten Ukraine, but to threaten the rest of Europe.
How has Russia reacted to this, Catherine? And I suppose, what do we expect them to do next? Well, they've called them acts of terrorism, which is an interesting reworking of the term because obviously these were purely military targets. I mean, look, we've seen...
We've seen President Trump get very annoyed with Vladimir Putin for continuing to strike Ukraine while these peace talks are meant to be happening. But that's been primarily when they've struck civilian targets. And I think there's a lot of sort of watching and waiting as to how Washington will react to this because they weren't informed in advance. Now, you can probably sympathize with Ukraine for not doing that.
because there are grave doubts even amongst some American allies about the kind of intelligence sharing and whether the Trump White House literally might tip off the Russians to this.
this. But secondly, they didn't have to because these were all domestically produced weapons. So they were showing that they can do this on their own, that they didn't require a Western buy-in, that these are weapons that they've made themselves. And so that this was executed without any Western backing.
And I imagine heads will roll in Russia over this because there is a great deal of criticism going around about how on earth intelligence missed this happening and how Ukraine was able to get these drones right up to these bases.
Now, the question will be whether Russia looks at this longer term and believes that this attack has changed anything for it and whether there is anything in it for Moscow to actually seriously enter negotiations rather than drag it out. Because Moscow's position really has always been that it believes it can win this war.
war militarily, that there is a military solution and it can wear Ukraine down. What we don't know is whether that calculus has changed because of this attack and whether they now, you know, whether they're looking kind of down the barrel of the potential that their entire fleet of strategic bombers could potentially be wiped out. And again, that has implications far beyond Ukraine.
and for Russia's standing as a military power in the world. Catherine, thank you. That is The Times' World Affairs Editor, Catherine Philp.
Now, drone attacks are obviously a signature of Russia's offensive strategy in Ukraine. So defending against them is another vital part of Kyiv's warfighting strategy. Last Thursday, we spoke to Catherine's colleague, The Times' correspondent Maxim Tucker, who's been meeting soldiers on the front line who are trying to intercept them before they can do any damage. That episode is called Inside Ukraine's Plan to Jam and Destroy Putin's Drones. Do go back and listen.
That's it from us. Thank you for taking 10 minutes to stay on top of the world with the help of The Times. We'll see you tomorrow.
Did you know that foreign investors are quietly funding lawsuits in American courts through a practice called third-party litigation funding? Shadowy overseas funders are paying to sue American companies in our courts, and they don't pay a dime in U.S. taxes if there is an award or settlement. They profit tax-free from our legal system, while U.S. companies are tied up in court and American families pay the price to the tune of $5,000 a year.
But there is a solution. A new proposal before Congress would close this loophole and ensure these foreign investors pay taxes, just like the actual plaintiffs have to. It's a common sense move that discourages frivolous and abusive lawsuits and redirects resources back into American jobs, innovation, and growth. Only President Trump and congressional Republicans can deliver this win for America.
and hold these foreign investors accountable. Contact your lawmakers today and demand they take a stand to end foreign-funded litigation abuse. If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial-grade products and next-day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand.
through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.