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The hi-tech drone costs nearly $30 million
Yemen’s Houthis on Saturday damaged an oil tanker and downed another MQ-9 Reaper drone of the US as they promised more attacks in support of the Palestinians facing Israel’s genocidal military operation in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis had previously shot down two MQ-9 combat drones in the course of the Gaza war.

The Iran-aligned group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in his latest televised video address early on Saturday that “British oil ship Andromeda Star” was targeted in the Red Sea with naval missiles and was directly hit.

The US military confirmed that the group fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Red Sea at multiple targets and damaged MV Andromeda Star. The vessel was recently sold to a company registered in the Seychelles, Reuters reported.

“MV Andromeda Star reports minor damage, but is continuing its voyage,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X, adding there were no injuries or damage reported by the maritime military coalition led by the US that is deployed in the area to counter attacks from Yemen.

The Houthi military spokesman also said its air defence forces in Yemen also shot down an MQ-9 Reaper attack drone of the US military with a missile in the airspace of the Saada governorate “while it was carrying out hostile missions”.

The US military did not comment on the drone, but US broadcaster CBS News confirmed that an MQ-9, which costs about $30m, “crashed” inside Yemen early on Friday and said an investigation is under way.

This is the third US attack drone shot down by the Houthis since the start of the war on Gaza, with the first brought down in November, followed by another in February.

The Yemeni group made no comments about further attacks on vessels in its nearby waterways, but the US military said the anti-ship missiles fired by the Houthis also targeted MV MAISHA, an Antigua/Barbados-flagged, Liberia-operated vessel. It reported no damage.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also confirmed two attacks on a vessel – which appears to be MV Andromeda Star – some 14 nautical miles (26km) southwest of al-Mukha (Mocha) in Yemen.

It said a first explosion happened “in close proximity” to the vessel and a second attack, consisting of what is believed to be two missiles, damaged the vessel.

The Houthi military had reported targeting “Israeli ship MSC Darwin” in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, adding that it launched a number of missiles and drones at targets in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat.

On Thursday, the group had launched an attack on the US-flagged, owned and operated Maersk Yorktown, along with Israeli-linked ship MSC Veracruz, with US and UK warships defending.

The reinvigorated military activity by the Yemeni group comes after weeks of a relative lull when the number of attacks had dropped.

But the group’s leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, in a speech on Friday rejected the notion that the decreased attacks are related to weakened military capabilities and promised that more attacks will be coming.

He also told large numbers of demonstrators in the capital, Sanaa, and elsewhere in a televised address that “a new theatre of confrontation” has opened up as the Houthis are now targeting ships in the Indian Ocean as well.

Source: https://www.daily-sun.com/post/745492
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-835649
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/01/740118/Yemeni-air-defense-units-shoot-down-US-MQ-9-Reaper-drone-over-Ma’rib-province

(Bloomberg) -- Russia stopped sending gas to Europe via Ukraine, shutting off a route that’s operated for five decades after Kyiv refused to allow any transit that funds Moscow’s war machine.

Both sides confirmed the halt on Wednesday after a key transit deal expired. The stoppage means a number of central European countries that have relied on the flows will be forced to source more expensive gas elsewhere, adding to pressure on supplies at a time when the region is depleting winter storage at the fastest pace in years.

Ukraine has been a key avenue for gas deliveries into Europe, even during the past three years of war. While the route accounts for just 5% of the region’s needs, countries are still reeling from the aftershocks of an energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The looming cutoff recently helped drive up gas prices in a market that’s up more than 50% year-on-year.

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC halted supplies on New Year’s Day after the five-year transit deal expired, citing a lack of “technical and legal opportunities” for shipments amid “repeated and explicit refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements.”

The stop was confirmed by the Energy Ministry in Kyiv, which said Russian flows across its territory ceased as of 7 a.m. local time. Slovakia’s network operator also confirmed it wasn’t receiving gas.

The end of the deal has highlighted the European Union’s continued reliance on Russian piped gas and shipments of liquefied fuel, despite a plan to wean itself off supplies from Moscow. Several countries have sought an alternative arrangement, but months of political wrangling have failed to produce an agreement.

Slovakia, Hungary

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has set a political objective to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027, and has said the end of transit will have little impact on regional energy markets. Still, countries such as Slovakia and Hungary have waged an increasingly bitter campaign to keep the fuel flowing.

“We knew that the transit agreement would not be renewed,” said Jonathan Stern, a distinguished research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “The question is whether anybody in Europe — but especially the Slovaks, who will be hit the hardest by this — will be successful in making an agreement” to continue receiving some gas.

Europe is also facing an increasingly tight global gas market. Benchmark prices closed 2024 at the highest price in more than a year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected any arrangement that would ultimately send money to Russian coffers while the war continues. Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened Ukraine with a possible electricity cutoff, raising questions about broader energy security in the region.

In a last-ditch effort over the weekend, Fico urged the EU to address the looming halt of supplies via Ukraine, saying the economic effect on the bloc would outweigh the impact on Russia. He estimated European consumers could face as much as €50 billion ($52 billion) in extra gas prices every year and a further €70 billion in higher electricity costs.

Slovakia and some other central European states have favored discounted gas from the east, and in recent months, key companies from the region have raced to build support for an alternative to the Russia-Ukraine deal.

‘Expected Situation’

“The stop of flow via Ukraine on Jan. 1 is the expected situation and the EU is prepared for it,” a European Commission spokesperson said. The commission, the EU’s executive, has been working with member states for more than a year to prepare for such a scenario, she said.

The bloc has diversified its supplies since 2022, turning increasingly to imports of liquefied natural gas, notably from the US. There are “various options” for regulating gas transit to central and eastern Europe, including through another pipeline route and LNG terminals, the German Economy Ministry said Tuesday.

Officials from Poland, which assumes the rotating presidency of the EU on Wednesday, said the nation is in close contact with the commission and “ready to coordinate further steps with member states, if needed as from Jan. 1.”

Disputes between Moscow and Kyiv have previously disrupted gas shipments to European customers in winter months.

In 2009, Russian flows via Ukraine to Europe stopped for almost two weeks, with more than 20 nations affected during freezing temperatures, until the two nations signed a deal ending their dispute. A shorter disruption occurred in 2006. The expiring agreement, set in 2019, was also a result of last-minute negotiations.

However, the war makes a quick resolution unlikely for now. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week indicated there was no time left to conclude an agreement before the end of the year. Separately, he said a lawsuit from Ukraine’s Naftogaz — alleging that Gazprom hasn’t fully paid for transit services — is another barrier.

Some European nations have also warned against ideas that would brand Gazprom’s fuel as non-Russian. Energy companies in the region have previously floated options such as taking ownership of the fuel when it enters Ukraine, or resorting to a complex swap involving Azerbaijan’s energy company Socar as a mediator.

Russia still supplies gas to nations such as Serbia and Hungary via another pipeline, TurkStream, which bypasses Ukraine. But that link isn’t sufficient to fully compensate for the loss of the Ukraine route. Another pathway, across Poland, is now closed. The Nord Stream pipeline linking Germany to Russia was damaged in explosions in 2022, and the newer Nord Stream 2 link has never been authorized by Berlin.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-ukraine-end-five-decades-085414682.html