Air Strikes Research Articles

Kurdistan under new attacks

The Turkish November 19, 2022, attack on Rojava dubbed Operation Claw-Sword was reputedly launched in retaliation for the earlier November 13 bomb attack on Istanbul’s sleek shopping district known as Istiklal Street that killed six people and wounded at least 80 more. Although it made no sense for the Kurds to attack Istanbul and thus invite new Turkish wrath, Turkey quickly blamed the PKK and its kin Syrian Democratic Forces/Democratic Union Party/Peoples’ Defense Units (SDF/PYD/YPG) in Rojava for the atrocity despite their quick denial. On November 22, Turkey escalated these air strikes by hitting an SDF/PYD/YPG military base adjacent to the main US military base in northeastern Syria housing some of the approximately 900 remaining few but strategically important troops the United States still maintains in Syria. No U.S. casualties were reported. However, a Pentagon spokesman declared that the Turkish airstrike had “directly threatened” U.S. troops stationed in the area. Thus, there is the danger of disastrous miscalculations that could lead to Turkish clashes with the United States. Although there is no credible evidence about who perpetrated the original bombing in Istanbul, one might speculate that some rogue Turkish intelligence element carried out a false flag operation to win support for Erdogan’s upcoming reelection scheduled for June 18, 2023. The PKK and SDF/PYD/YPG have accused Turkey of having used such attacks as a pretext for invasions in the past. General Mazloum Abdi (aka Mazlum Kobane), the SDF commander, claimed the reputed bomber, Ahlam Al-Bashir, was related to ISIS jihadists via her brothers and past husbands, some of whom were killed in battles against Kurdish forces. Also possible is a reputed rogue PKK element, such as the so-called Kurdistan Falcons/Hawks blamed in the past for similar violent atrocities. A jihadist group might also be responsible. Meanwhile, the midterm elections in the United States paradoxically both strengthened and weakened U.S. president Joseph Biden’s hand in all this.

МАРКЕТИНГ ПІД ЧАС ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ: ПОБУДОВА КАНАЛІВ КОМУНІКАЦІЇ ТА ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ БІЗНЕСУ

The article examines the peculiarities of managing marketing communication strategies of enterprises in the conditions of armed conflicts and martial law in Ukraine. The challenges presented to the management of enterprises during wartime are outlined, including: blackouts, air strikes and attacks on industrial enterprises and critical infrastructure facilities, the opening of communications, the Internet, population migration in the Americas and beyond, loss production capacity, problems with logistics and communication chains with customers and suppliers. It has been established that marketing is the central concept of enterprise management, which enables and develops the connection between the company and the outside world. It is noted that marketing is aimed at obtaining accurate, sufficient and happy information about the processes and events taking place in the environment of the enterprise, including the involvement of external factors in its activities. The impact of marketing research and the application of their results in the process of developing marketing programs and management solutions is determined. The consequences of the migration of people fleeing military operations for Ukrainian business and the economy of the country that hosts forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian business, are determined. It is analyzed how the armed conflicts themselves can affect every aspect of the process of preparing marketing strategies, communication complex, segmentation strategies, advertising, public relations, etc. It is established that every actor in the market, including businesses, consumers, dealers, traders and distributors, tries to try to adapt and develop the right strategy to live in the market. The above is really a place and a special feature of the activities of marketing specialists, which refer to the appropriate strategies and opportunities to support a full-fledged trade and maintain the level of profit. It has been proven that since February 24, 2022, after the start of a full- scale invasion of the Russian Federation, business has undergone significant transformations and needs new approaches to managing all processes from production planning to building marketing communications with consumers and state authorities, as well as international partners. It was noted that armed conflicts are the cause of instability and negative consequences not only for the economy of Ukraine and business owners, but also for the economies of European countries that provide constant support to Ukraine.

Communication and technological solutions regarding the construction of shelter objects at underground railway stations in fractured and water-logged rocks

The purpose of the work is to substantiate the choice of locations of underground shelter objects for the people protection during the warlike situation and methods and facilities for ensuring their stability and isolation, and to develop a combined supporting scheme taking into account mining and geological conditions. It is proposed to arrange the shelter objects in the vicinity of the boarding platforms of the underground railway stations connecting them with the passages, means for walking downstairs and upstairs and a transport network and providing areas for the long-term stay of people, areas for sleeping and eating, shower room, medical, shopping and other necessary blocks. The shelter should be connected to the networks of the underground railway station - electricity supply, water supply and drainage, ventilation and air conditioning. Sleeping areas should be built in the form of individual compartments and arranged in several tiers along the walls of the shelter object. This arrangement of underground objects will make it possible to create a single complex (the shelter object and subway station), reduce the total cost of the shelter construction, speed up the evacuation of people in the event of natural or man-made disasters or air strikes, and ensure a long-term comfortable stay for people. Load on supporting and parameters of roof-bolting systems were calculated for three categories of stability, which correspond to the conditions of the construction of underground railways in the Ukrainian crystalline shield. An algorithm for calculating parameters of the strengthened insulating-reinforcing protection system was built, which takes into account three types of support - rock-bolt structure, insulating-reinforcing rock-polymer layer and tubing. The developed technological solutions for the construction of underground objects assumes pre-bolting of their vaulted part according to a scheme which strengthens the interaction between the rows of bolts, improves the condition of the roof of the object, and ensures protection of the roadway and unsecured part near it during construction of the roadway. The rock-polymer layer protects the tubing against metal corrosion and leaching of concrete under the influence of groundwater, and, due to the high adhesiveness of the polymer resin, also binds the rock-bolt structure, the insulating-reinforcing rock-polymer layer and the tubing into a single reinforced system, which distributes the load around the object's perimeter. The use of modern elastic polymer resins in the protection system will contribute to resisting the alternating loads that spread in the soil during surface explosions, and ensures long-term stability and waterproofing of shelter object. The results of the research can be used in the development of scientific prerequisites for the improvement of methods and means of construction of underground shelter objects in order to ensure the safety of their operation in case of emergency situations. Keywords: underground structures, underground railway station, support, bolts, polymer resins.

Zaštita škola u zonama sukoba u pojasu Gaze prema međunarodnom humanitarnom pravu

The paper has discussed the violation against education facilities in Gaza Strip from the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) perspective 1 , explaining the challenges and the impact of armed conflict on education rights. The paper will identify those violations and will propose methodologies to improve the adoption of the IHL against them. Moreover, it will discuss the policies to decrease the impact of those violations and propose techniques to respond to the threats against children's rights within the war duration. It will be analyzed the applied IHL in the protection of the education system in Gaza Strip from the attack which happened in 2021 by exploring the efficiency of the IHL impartially. In this research, a qualitative approach has been adopted as a primary source in exploring how educational institutions should be protected within IHL (which should be respected) during attacks. As per the descriptive study, the research will investigate the importance of protecting children's educational institutions in armed conflict situations. The assessment of child protection was considered in the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in May 2021. The main source of data has been collected using different media such as Telephone-based semi-structured interviews, E-mail correspondence, documentary review, and agencies working in child protection in Gaza Strip; in addition, other secondary sources have been considered, such as desk review, reliable journalism, and published academic research. Continuous military operations throughout Gaza Strip compose dramatic challenges to getting highly qualified education in a safe environment for children. The air strikes and rocket attacks prevented 637,1952 students from being in school in a safe environment (Jeanne, 2008). Other reports addressed that Israeli airstrikes destroyed over 184 schools in 2021 3and caused partial or severe damage to others. As addressed in other reports, the students and the academic staff have suffered from different cases of depression and expressed their fears of asymmetric warfare in addition to being under blockage (OCHA, May 2021). Regarding the laws governing educational facilities and institutions' protection, IHL still has some space for improvement that can be addressed and applied in the future to enhance them (Adam, 2011). It is known that numerous kid fatalities and schools suffered partial or total destruction as a result of military activities. On the same, it is documented that the levels of violence against educational organizations and schools hit unheard-of levels in the last ten years.

АНАЛІЗ НАСЛІДКІВ ВІЙНИ ДЛЯ ЕКОНОМІКИ УКРАЇНИ

The purposeful destruction and destruction of important large industrial, infrastructural, and logistical facilities of civilian and military importance has become one of the key tactical goals of military aggression by the Russian Federation in relation to Ukraine, which is manifested in the constant massive rocket and air strikes on these objects, persistent attempts to seize industrial cities in the east of the country. This tactic of the occupiers is aimed at quick undermining the country's economic potential and depriving it of its ability to resist aggression effectively and for a long time. In addition, it pursues the goal of creating a humanitarian disaster, since enterprises whose activities are directly related to the livelihood of civilians are subject to destruction the population of cities and the country in general. Ukraine's economy has suffered significant losses since the beginning of the war. The article analyzes losses by sector of the Ukrainian economy after a year of full-scale invasion. The structure of losses by the most affected regions of Ukraine was studied. The amount of necessary funds for restoration and reconstruction by economic sectors and regions of the country was analyzed. The main actions of the government of Ukraine to restore the economy and the need to achieve the goals are considered. Ways of cooperation with international partners to cover general assessment needs in the process of recovery of Ukraine's economy were explored, the role of international financial organizations was considered. Attention was drawn to the fact that private sector investments will play a decisive role in overcoming the consequences of the war and post-war reconstruction. The development of relevant priority sectors and industries should take place with the active participation of the state on the basis of implementation concepts of modern state entrepreneurship. Based on the listed strategic priorities of the country's development, sectoral priorities should be determined for the anticipatory development of certain branches and industries with providing appropriate state aid both for research and development and for the organization of production.

Air Target Threat Assessment: A Kernel Extreme Learning Machine Based on a Multistrategy Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm

Air strikes are among the main means of attack in modern warfare. To improve air defense capabilities and aid military decision‐making, threat assessment models have been introduced. As the parameters of the kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) model need to be set individually, this study proposes a parameter learning strategy based on a multistrategy improved sparrow search algorithm (MISSA). First, a reasonable threat assessment model was established based on the capability and situation factors of air targets. Second, the sparrow search algorithm was improved in terms of population position initialization and position update strategy, incorporating tent chaos reverse learning, nonlinear inertia weights, a global search strategy, and adaptive t‐distribution. The effectiveness of the MISSA strategy was verified using nine common benchmark functions. The results show that the proposed MISSA finds an effective balance between global and local searches. Moreover, when the MISSA is applied to solve the tuning problem of KELM, the values of mean absolute percentage error, mean square error, root mean square error, and mean absolute error for MISSA–KELM in the air target threat assessment problem are 2.013 × 10−2, 1.282 × 10−4, 1.132 × 10−2, and 8.316 × 10−3, respectively, all of which are higher than that of the other metaheuristic algorithms (e.g., ACWOA‐KELM and HGWO‐KELM). Therefore, the method proposed in this study can be used as a parameter‐tuning tool for KELM, enabling KELM to perform better in practical applications.

The Literature Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Industry

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) originated in the 1920 s of the 20th century and was used for air strikes on the battlefield. In the following decades, unmanned aerial vehicles were developed and used for military activities many times. At present, the energy supply types of mainstream unmanned aerial vehicles are divided into three types: battery power supply, liquid fuel power supply and hybrid oil and electricity power supply. However, the current mainstream unmanned aerial vehicle energy supply system still has disadvantages, so in the future, the development direction of unmanned aerial vehicles must be the lack of improving unmanned aerial vehicle Systems, and innovation is achieved in unmanned aerial vehicle technology with new technology. The commercial and military development of drones depends on new technology, this paper aims to review the current situation of unmanned aerial vehicle industry and predict the future development trend and direction of unmanned aerial vehicle industry in combination with the current situation.

Substantiating the Need to Cover Atomic Energy Objects from Air Strikes

The article deals with one of the nuclear terrorism problem aspects, namely the attempts to implement “nuclear” blackmail by individual states. The possible destructive aircrafts impact to objects using atomic energy is considered. An express assessment of the guided air bomb strike result on the reinforced concrete object structure was carried out.

Kill Class by Nomi Stone

Reviewed by: Kill Class by Nomi Stone Amalie Flynn (bio) kill class Nomi Stone Tupelo Press https://www.tupelopress.org/product/kill-class/ 87 pages; Print, $19.95 Kill Class is a collection of poetry about Pineland. Pineland stretches across North Carolina. It is where soldiers train by pretending to be at war— Each character lanterns awake—now cue the theater ("Pineland, in the Empire") Pineland is a fake town with a fake barbershop, a fake school, a fake mosque, fake wounds that are really adhesives. Stone's poems grow boldly out of her experience as an anthropologist in this fictional but real space. They operate as knife, each one serrated. Slice open simulacrum and expose raw fruit inside. _______ The soldiers are training but also acting—Cue the soldiers.("Police Station / Jail Room")Iraqis are hired to role-play—Yusufcompared it to camping …Laith pretendedto die …Omar pretendedto be a bad guy("Motel Six After the War Game") _______ [End Page 44] I read Kill Class in August. Another president said we are leaving Afghanistan. This country where my husband deployed. Where America was at war for decades. Before Iraq and after. Leaving Afghanistan was footage of Afghans at the airport, grasping planes taking off, confused stampedes, women and children behind barricades faces stretched in scream. Gunshots. A suicide bomber bombing, bodies dead strewn in the sun. How Afghans who went to the embassy and said I worked for America and please are dead now. _______ Kill Class is about war but also Iraq. How the role players in Pineland are Iraqi. Afghanistan is not Iraq. But America is America. And America's GWOT spans decades and countries and car bombs and boots on ground, vehicle-borne IEDs and air strikes and how many bodies blown up— To start the story again, press play. ("Crying Room") How America at war keeps rebooting. _______ Stone understands war as repetition. Multiple poems in Kill Class have the same titles. The repetition is Stone's intentional loop. Because war is a game but also not. How America keeps pressing try again. Or how Stone urges us to try again to find human connection. _______ You just bought a ticket to the show.("The Camera Burned a Hole") The game is war. There are rules of engagement— At the beginning of the game, the soldiers are told half-truths. They must stabilize who to trust and why before night takes the stage. [End Page 45] ("Quadrant")Here is the backstory— menplay war, overthrow their owngovernments. America enters by parachute("A Black Sun") The object is to crush the enemy, to find out who it is. But distinctions are blurred— Someof the people over there are good /others evil / others circumstantiallybad / some only wantcash / some just wanttheir family not to die.The game says figure out whichare which.("War Game: Plug and Play") _______ This is war out-of-a-box. How— At a military technology fair in Orlando,you can purchase a village in a box.Just add people: live inside it for a time.("Quadrant") This is America's military-industrial complex— Iraqi role-players whisperingin collapsible housesmade for daily wreckage.("Soldiers Parachuting into the War Games") [End Page 46] Stone exposes war as technological. And technology can make us less human. _______ A soldier tells Stone how to weaponize civilians— He tells me: in the occupied land we are the arm, theyare the weapon. The weaponin this case is a person. Choose a personwho knows who is bad. Make themslice open the skin of their country: only theycan identify the enemy.("Human Technology") _______ Stone's poems expose displacement and disconnection and dehumanization— Input: saya kind word to the villager / outputvillager soaked clean of prior formsof place.("Soldiers Parachuting into the War Games") Kill Class is about us, how we dehumanize our enemies in war. Dehumanize civilians caught in war. Dehumanize the displaced who flee war. How we disconnect from our shared humanity. _______ War is like that. A constant loop— Wait. Begin Again.Reverse loop. Enter the stage.The war...

Assessment of Avian Biodiversity and Bird strikes to Aircrafts at Bacha Khan International Airport, Peshawar KP, Pakistan

Birds inside or outside the airport is big threat to the aircraft. The main objective of this study was toidentify hazards of bird species, population density and richness of birds around BACHA KHANINTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. The methods being used were point count/vantage point method for thepopulation estimation. The Study was based upon two sites (Site A Airport Premises) spreading over anarea of 30 acres and (Site B which is within Airport) spreading over an area of 7.5 Acres. Total Samplingpoints (Observation Points) were 120 and every sampling point was visited for 15-20 minutes and birdswere counted for three to five minutes in a fixed radius. Transact line method spreading over 500 meterswas used to analyze the data. Birds were observed every 100 meters. Primary and Secondary data wascollected using questionnaire. The study identified the reasons for Bird Air strikes at the Airport and exploredpossible mitigation measures of avian hazards in Peshawar airport premises. This data will be useful forthe aviation authorities in preparing managed bird control program. In this study hypothesis were given incomparison with other attractants tree attracts more birds in Peshawar Airport. Averages of 30 specieswere observed in Site A and 15 in Site B monthly respectively. The highest Relative Abundance observed atSite A was of House Crow species which is 16.8463612% and in Site B Kite species with relative abundance21.4953271%. The Highest number of Bird strike occurred at Runway followed by strikes outside the fencewith reference to Bird strike report 2021-22. Pigeon and Doves were observed in Flight over the airportpremises. 36 Bird’s diversity observed around airport in rainfall and cloud cover assessed through Shannondiversity index as 3.024 which indicate good diversity of birds in the study area which might be a potentialthreat to the aircraft? The study revealed that effective management plan should also be taken intoconsideration. The Population density of Site A outside the airport premises (30 Acres) is 24.13/Acre andfor Site B within Airport which is 7.5 Acres is 14.2/Acre respectively.

Civil war and death in Yemen: Analysis of SMART survey and ACLED data, 2012-2019.

Conflict in Yemen has displaced millions and destroyed health infrastructure, resulting in the world's largest humanitarian disaster. The objective of this paper is to examine mortality in Yemen to determine whether it has increased significantly since the conflict began in 2015 compared to the preceding period. We analysed 91 household surveys using the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions methodology, covering 2,864 clusters undertaken from 2012-2019, and deaths from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project database covering the conflict period 2015-2019. We used a Poisson-Gamma model to estimate pre-conflict (μp, baseline value) and conflict period (μc) mean death rates using household survey data from 2012-2019. To analyse changes in the distribution of deaths and estimate nationwide excess deaths, we applied pre- and post-conflict death rates to total population numbers. Further, we tested for association between excess death and security levels by governorate. The national estimated crude death rate/10,000 in the conflict period was 0.20 (95% CI: 0.17, 0.24), which is meaningfully higher than the estimated baseline rate of 0.19 (95% CI: 0.17, 0.22). Applying the conflict period rate to the Yemeni population, we estimated 168,212 excess deaths that occurred between 2015 and 2019. There was an 17.8% increase in overall deaths above the baseline during the conflict period. A large share (67.2%) of the excess deaths were due to combat-related violence. At the governorate level, posterior crude death rate varied across the country, ranging from 0.03 to 0.63 per 10,000 per day. Hajjah, Ibb, and Al Jawf governorates presented the highest total excess deaths. Insecurity level was not statistically associated with excess deaths. The health situation in Yemen was poor before the crisis in 2015. During the conflict, intentional violence from air and ground strikes were responsible for more deaths than indirect or non-violent causes. The provision of humanitarian aid by foreign agencies may have helped contain increases in indirect deaths from the conflict.

Inadvertent Radiation Exposures in Combat Zones: Risk of Contamination and Radiobiologic Consequences.

On February 24, 2022, Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine. Missile and air strikes were reported throughout the country, shortly followed by a large ground invasion from multiple directions. Four major theaters developed: the Kyiv offensive, the Northeastern Ukraine offensive, the Eastern Ukraine offensive, and the Southern Ukraine offensive, with continued missile and air strikes far into Western Ukraine. Advancing Russian military units launched an attack and captured the Chernobyl nuclear station. Russian troops dug trenches into the area commonly known as the "Red Forest," violating the established radiation safety measures and threatening security within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The placement of military units in such close proximity to the station also sparked concerns of possible damage occurring to the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor. There are 15 operating nuclear reactors in Ukraine. Each is vulnerable to an attack or sabotage that could precipitate a malfunction and possible release of radioactive isotopes. In this short commentary, we will discuss radiobiologic data obtained after the analysis of historical nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents and emphasize new challenges for nuclear security when NPPs are found and are possible targets within a conflict zone.

Enemies or allies? How NGOs can push the military towards transparency around the use of force

AbstractThis article examines the conditions under which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) gain access to defence administrations when campaigning for transparency around the use of military force. We theorise that gaining access in this traditionally secluded domain is a matter of supply and demand. NGOs can gain access through technical and political information, yet not without demand for these resources, dependent on the politicisation of concerns about the use of force. We focus on the activities of Airwars, an international NGO, and its campaign in the Netherlands (2015–20) to foster transparency about civilian casualties caused by Dutch airstrikes. Our analysis shows that their credible information about air strikes led to access to the defence administration and allowed them to effectively advocate for transparency, mediated by the politicisation of the issue through parliamentary and media attention. Our findings contribute both to the literature on NGO advocacy and to the field of civil-military relations.

Acute Post Trauma Stress Syndrome (PSS) versus Chronic PSS after Armed Operations in Bosna, Yemen versus Lebanon and Syria

Post Trauma Stress Syndrome has two forms, acute and chronic; depending on the interval and duration of stress, since this is a typically reactive psychosocial disorder with vegetative medical symptomatology evoked by acute or chronic stress. The aim of this three cohort comparative study is to compare the position of PTSS between: victims of bombing in Yemen (air strikes only); combined war operations in Ukraine; and combined operations in Syria, and chronic military unrests in Lebanon

The war in Ukraine through the prism of foreign media

On February 24, 2022, Russian President Putin launched a large-scale unprovoked war against Ukraine, destroying Ukrainian cities and towns using artillery systems of volley fire, air strikes and missile attacks. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defense units and the entire people of Ukraine rose up to fight against the barbaric invaders.
 The article examines the statements and assessments of well-known Western politicians, military, scientists and analysts on the barbaric nature of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the nature, course and possible options for further development and end of hostilities, world community's sanctions against the aggressor. Based on foreign media reports, it has been proven that the plan of Russian dictator Putin, aimed at the so-called "demilitarization" and "denazification" failed in the early days of the war. It is substantiated that in the future, without achieving their goal, the Russian invaders will try to wipe out peaceful cities and villages, destroy civilian population, infrastructure, and unleash the genocide of the Ukrainian nation. It is convincingly proved that Ukraine will win.

The Efficacy of Airpower in Counterinsurgency

Since 2001, the United States has relied upon air strikes in its global counterterrorism campaign against insurgencies throughout the world. With advances in air strike technology, public opinion growing increasingly intolerant of deployments of ground forces abroad, and the proliferation of terrorist groups around the world, the use of air strikes appears to be the future of US counterterrorism policy. This study tests the efficacy of air strikes as a counterinsurgency tool by geocoordinating US air strike data and merging it with three major databases on conflict events to assess whether air strikes influence the rate of insurgent attacks. Our analysis reveals that air strikes reduce insurgents’ capacity to carry out attacks over the long term. At the same time, air strikes carry a short-term, provocative effect on insurgent attacks when they result in civilian fatalities. Finally, there is some evidence that air strikes increase attack attempts, but these attempts are not always successful, nor directed toward government forces.

Human insecurity and child deaths in conflict: evidence for improved response in Yemen.

Since the beginning of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, >23 000 air strikes and >100 000 fatalities have been recorded. Data from Yemen Data Project linked >1300 child fatalities and >900 child injuries to air raids. However, there is little literature on the effect of the protracted armed conflict on the pattern of child mortality using data from small-scale surveys. We aimed to identify the pattern of the death rate for children aged <5 years ('under-5') and its relationship with human insecurity in Yemen. We created a human insecurity index (i.e. severely insecure vs insecure) for the 22 governorates in Yemen from 2015 to 2019, using data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Database. We matched this insecurity index with the corresponding under-5 mortality data from the Complex Emergency Database. We analysed the relationship between the under-5 death rate (U5DR) and the insecurity level using a Bayesian finite mixture model in order to account for unobserved heterogeneity in clustered finite subsets of a population. We extracted 72 surveys and 77.8% (n = 56) were included in this study. The mean of the recall period for mortality was 106 days with a standard deviation of 93 days. We identified two subpopulations: Subpopulation I-high average number of child deaths and Subpopulation II-low average number of child deaths. The log posterior mean of the U5DR is 1.10 (95% credible intervals: 0.36, 1.82) in the severely insecure group in Subpopulation I and 3-fold the estimate in Subpopulation II. However, in Subpopulation II, we found no association between the insecurity level and the U5DR. The pattern of child deaths is crucial in understanding the relationship between human insecurity and the U5DR.

An Intelligent Mission Planning Model for the Air Strike Operations against Islands Based on Neural Network and Simulation

Mission planning of air strike operations is hard because it has to give instructions to a large number of units during a relatively long period of time in an uncertain environment. If some instruction parameters can be calculated by an intelligent agent, better strategies can be found more quickly. In a specific combat scenario of air strike operations against islands, an intelligent model is proposed to improve the performance and flexibility of mission planning. The proposed intelligent mission planning model is based on rule-based decision and uses a fully connected recurrent neural network to calculate some of the decision parameters. The proposed intelligent mission planning model shows better results as compared to rule-based decision making with randomized parameters, and it performs as good as experts in the test set of the specific combat scenario.

Private and public finances during the Russian-Ukrainian war: costs, losses, and reimbursements

The article is devoted to financial, material, and legislative problems in Ukraine caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war. The issues of budget expenditures, financial losses, material losses and their compensation are considered. It is emphasized that the war is an extremely costly event for any country, which has an extremely negative impact primarily on public finances. When talking about Ukraine, we can single out budget expenditures and budget, resource, and material losses. And most importantly, it is about lost human lives that have no financial measurement. Every day, Ukrainian budgets receive less planned revenues than due because of reduced tax revenues, in particular, VAT revenues (for example, in March, VAT revenues amounted to approximately 60% of the target financial performance), personal income tax, single social security tax, customs duty (currently only the western border is open; the northern, southern, and eastern borders are closed or blocked, in connection with which the export-import operations and their payments decreased), and state duty revenues, etc. This is because the purchasing power of citizens has decreased, and the purchasing needs themselves have changed significantly. It is emphasized, that the infrastructural, material, and property losses of Ukraine during the war are enormous (in the worst sense). Losses are calculated and estimated daily. Of course, the figures are still approximate. Also, as long as the war is going on, losses will increase, and after its end, there will be a question of compensation. Compensation payments will be made at the expense of the budget funds, and most of all at the expense of the funds received from the seized or confiscated property of the russian federation and its citizens. There is great doubt that the leadership of the country that started this senseless war, as well as the citizens who support and approve it, will voluntarily agree to make payments or enforce the decisions of any international courts and organizations. Therefore, we must already actively form a real financial basis and basis for compensation for damages. Here, Ukrainian politicians and government officials work closely with their foreign counterparts. After all, it is necessary to determine which property and belonging to which individuals can be transferred to the needs of Ukraine, and in what way. The fact of creating the Trust Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine After the War should be noted positively. Its creation was supported in March 2022 in Brussels at the summits of NATO, the Group of Seven and the EU, which discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine. The World Bank, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries have joined the initiative to create such a fund. From May 2022, the Trust Fund is going to start its work. Economic recovery will largely depend on business recovery. However, the work of many powerful companies — large taxpayers — during martial law has been suspended indefinitely or suspended temporarily and resumed after the transfer of their technical capacities to other regions. Some businesses have lost their property complexes during air strikes and other hostilities (they are destroyed). And for them to become involved in economic recovery, they must be rebuilt first (where possible). The problems of financial and budgetary expenses for the war are considered separately. According to rough estimates, the daily budget costs of fighting cost Ukraine about USD 66 million. If we add additional funding from private funds of individuals and legal entities, the total costs increase significantly. Given the need for increasing funds, government officials are in constant talks with foreign partners, with business representatives about the possibility of obtaining additional financial assistance, new grants and loans, and more. It is noted that in difficult conditions of the war, the state needs additional funding. For this purpose, such finan cial instruments as borrowing — internal and external — are actively used. Ukraine is actively cooperating with the World Bank. In this context borrowings, loans and financial assistance as special financial resources are analysed. Features of public procurement in the war period are considered. Yes, there occurred problems with suppliers (because some of them remained in the occupied territories, some lost their production capacities, some lost workers, etc.), logistical problems (delay or inability to deliver goods, services), growing demand for previously less popular goods. In order to optimize procurement during the war and meet the urgent needs of the state and restore Ukrainian business, the Prozorro State Enterprise, Professional Procurement State Institution and electronic platforms (E-Tender, Zakupki.prom.ua, SmartTender, Public Procurement. Online and Tender-Online) have developed the Prozorro+ Platform.

Putin's Invasion of Ukraine: What's Religion Got To Do With It?

Summary As of February 24, 2022, as Russian air strikes, missiles, and tanks began pouring into an outmatched Ukraine, the Byzantine calculus of symphonia, of a mutually interdependent church and state, devolved into an unholy alliance joining at the hip a predatory Putin and a sycophantic Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill. Especially over the past decade Patriarch Kyrill has tied the fate of his church to that of his patron Putin, the same tragic mistake made by the same church in its defense of tsarist Russia in its death throes. Since his accession in 2009, and emphatically since Russia’s moves against Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk in 2014, Patriarch Kyrill has sought to enshrine the principle of “Russky mir,” the “Russian World,” which he understands to mean the spiritual and ecclesial union of the Eastern Slavs. Following the demise of Marxism, Russian Orthodoxy emerged as a substitute state ideology, not only giving the Russian Republic a sacred purpose for its existence, but also energizing the dream of the reconstitution of the old Russian/Soviet empire. Presuming an East-West spiritual and moral divide, Putin increasingly sees all things Western, including Catholicism and Protestantism on Russian soil, as a threat to Russian Orthodoxy, which is one of the underpinnings of his regime. In close proximity to notions of the “Russian World” and Orthodox triumphalism is the attendant messianic belief that Patriarch Kyrill and Putin are the world’s last best hope for the preservation of traditional Christian family values, and this in the face of their obscenely lavish lifestyles and out-sized hubris Tragically, the Russian Orthodox Church, far from being a check on Putin’s war against Chechnya, anti-Assad forces in Syria, and now Ukraine, supports the Russian autocrat wholeheartedly. On March 6, 2022, Orthodoxy’s Forgiveness Sunday, in Moscow’s palatial Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kyrill outdid himself going so far as to equate Ukraine with the Prodigal Son. On February 28, 2022, Kyrill declared in vain that a guarantee of “fraternal relations” would be “our united Orthodox Church represented in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by His Beatitude Onuphry.” Yet four days prior, on the very day the Russian invasion began, Metropolitan Onuphry had already boldly condemned Russian aggression. For the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in communion with Moscow a Russian war against Ukrainians is “a repetition of the sin of Cain, who killed his own brother out of envy.” On