Defense

KYIV, Ukraine — A maximum of 800,000. That’s how many soldiers Ukraine’s military would be authorized to have under the current 20-point peace framework — a 20% cut from the roughly one million currently under arms, but a significant increase over the 600,000 originally proposed. That higher number was a concession Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won after weeks of pushing back.

The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State group militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that the West African’s overstretched military has struggled with for years. U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes in the state of Sokoto were carried out against IS gunmen who were…

President Donald Trump announced Monday the U.S. will build a new generation of “Trump class” battleships, in an effort to advance his vision of building a “Golden Fleet.” Trump, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said construction of two vessels would start “almost immediately,” with the eventual goal of expanding…

The Joint Interagency Task Force 401, established by the Pentagon as the military’s lead counter-drone organization, plans to share data with the Golden Dome missile defense project to defend against threats from larger drones, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of JIATF 401, said at a media roundtable Friday. “Our integrated counter-UAS posture across the homeland has to be tied into…