Latest news with #Finland-based
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Finland backs space tech ICEYE firm with R&D funding
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Finland's business promotion agency has granted research and development funding to satellite and defence technology company ICEYE , the two entities said on Thursday, in what marks another step in European efforts to support the booming owned ICEYE has grown rapidly in recent years and says its fleet of 48 Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites providing near real-time imaging is now the largest, counting Ukraine, NATO and Japan among its agency, Business Finland , said it has assigned 41.1 million euros ($47.2 million) to the Finland-based company's 250-million-euro ($287 million) investment programme to strengthen its position as a global pioneer in space and defence technology."It will strengthen the entire space and defence sector and have a wide-ranging positive impact across the whole ecosystem," head of Business Finland Lassi Noponen said in a the Ukraine war raging next to its borders and global security threats on the rise, the European Union has embarked on a 800 billion euro programme to shore up its defence, with tech startups expected to play a significant satellite constellation works by bouncing a radar beam off the surface of the Earth from approximately 550 km (342 miles) in space to build a detailed picture of the ground, regardless of weather conditions or daylight, the company said."We have clearly ended up being in the right place at the right time with this technology. There is a great need to develop such sovereign capability," ICEYE chief of strategy Pekka Laurila addition to data, ICEYE also sells radar imaging satellites, as many countries are increasingly keen on having their own capacity to be able to monitor around the clock what happens on the CEO Rafal Modrzewski said the increased interest in space was driven both by technological advances and the Ukraine war that highlighted the importance of satellite technologies."This technology will be critical for national security," he told Reuters in a recent 250 million-euro investment programme will allow it to expand its satellite manufacturing capabilities, develop new sensors and upgrade its satellite platforms, the company said.
Cision Canada
4 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
First Nordic Launches Phase 1 Diamond Drill Program at High-Priority Nippas Target
TORONTO, June 17, 2025 /CNW/ - First Nordic Metals Corp. (" FNM" or the " Company") (TSXV: FNM) (FNSE: FNMC SDB) (OTCQB: FNMCF) (FRA: HEG0) is pleased to announce the commencement of a 5,000-meter ("m") Phase 1 diamond drill program at its 100%-owned Nippas target, part of the Company's Storjuktan land package in northern Sweden's Gold Line greenstone belt. Phase 1 will consist of up to 26 diamond drill holes to test two of three identified structural corridors at Nippas. Drilling is being carried out by Finland-based Comadev Oy and is designed to build on promising results from recent base-of-till / top-of-bedrock ("BoT/ToB") drilling. The third corridor identified to date is in an area dominated by bogs and will be tested in the winter after freeze-up. Based on the success of this program, FNM plans to complete up to an additional 5,000 m of drilling at Nippas through 2025. Taj Singh, CEO of FNM, comments:"The commencement of drilling at Nippas marks another important milestone for our team and reflects the systematic, data-driven approach we take across our portfolio. With promising BoT/ToB and geochemical indicators, Nippas has the potential to become a cornerstone discovery within the Storjuktan land package and the broader Gold Line belt. This program is designed to advance our understanding of the target and lay the groundwork needed to unlock its full potential." Nippas Phase 1 Drill Program Details Target 1: A 2.2 km-long Au-As-Cu-Zn-Mo surface till anomaly coincident with strongly elevated ToB results (up to 2.66 ppm Au). The anomaly is located along a geophysical trend interpreted as a sheared contact between two lithological units. Target 1 will be initially tested with up to 3,600 m of diamond drilling in 16 holes over 1.4 km strike of identified structural feature, as shown in Figure 1. Target 2: A parallel 2.0 km Au-As-Cu-Zn-Mo anomalous surface till trend, coincident with elevated gold in bedrock and glacial till. This trend is interpreted to be the sheared boundary between metasediments and a large granite intrusion. Target 2 will be tested with up to 1,400 m of drilling in 10 holes over a 1.3 km strike of the identified structural feature, shown below in Figure 1. This focused Phase 1 program is designed to confirm the presence of mineralized shear corridors, define their geometry and scale, and establish a robust geological model for further expansion. As the Company awaits assay results from the Aida drill program, the Phase 1 program at Nippas ensures continued exploration activity and efficient use of the drill rig. Results from Nippas will also support broader geological understanding across the Storjuktan land package and inform future drill campaigns. About the Nippas Target The Nippas project is located within the Storjuktan project area along the Gold Line belt in northern Sweden. Pathfinder element signatures and magnetic geophysical trends are coincident with sheared contacts between metasediment, metavolcanic, and granitic lithologies. Three sub-parallel structural trends have been identified, with a combined strike length of over 5.2 km. These trends are situated within a regional flexure and coincide with several interpreted second-order splay structures along the margin of a large granite intrusion. About the Storjuktan Project The Storjuktan project is a large, early-stage project strategically positioned north of the Company's resource-stage Barsele project. It consists of seven contiguous licenses covering 30,000 ha located in the northern portion of the Gold Line belt. The Storjuktan project contains over 60 km of the regional Gold Line structural corridor. All mineralization discovered to date shows a spatial relationship to this structural corridor, occurring mainly on second- and third-order splay structures. The Project contains over 60 km of the regionally significant "Gold Line" structure which can be traced for over 200 km in regional geophysics data. The Gold Line was first recognized in the late 1970s as a large arsenic-in-soil anomaly formed by a regional fault. All mineralization discovered to date shows a spatial relationship to this structural corridor, occurring either in the main shear corridor or on perpendicular structures within a few km of the main structures. The geology of the Storjuktan project consists of a sequence of inverted basin sediments and mafic volcanic rocks intruded by small syn-kinematic granitic intrusions within a broad, anastomosing high strain structural corridor. The rocks are regionally metamorphosed to amphibolite facies and gold mineralization is associated with intense biotite, and calc-silicate alteration assemblages and sulphide minerals pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and minor other sulphides. These lithological sequences are highly prospective for orogenic gold deposits. ABOUT FIRST NORDIC METALS First Nordic Metals Corp. is a Canadian-based gold exploration company, consolidating assets in Sweden and Finland, with a vision to create Europe's next gold camp. The Company's flagship asset is the Barsele gold project in northern Sweden, a joint venture project with senior gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. Immediately surrounding the Barsele project, FNM is 100%-owner of a district-scale license position comprised of two additional projects (Paubäcken, Storjuktan), which combined with Barsele, total approximately 100,000 hectares on the Gold Line greenstone belt. Additionally, in northern Finland, FNM is the 100%-owner of a district-scale position covering the entire underexplored Oijärvi greenstone belt, including the Kylmäkangas deposit, the largest known gold occurrence on this belt. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Taj Singh, CPA CEO & Director Qualified Person Benjamin Gelber, P. Geo., Exploration Head of FNM, is the Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, and takes responsibility for the technical disclosure contained within this news release. For further information contact: Marie Macdonald Investor Relations 604-687-8566 [email protected] Follow First Nordic Metals: Twitter: @fnmetals Youtube: @firstnordicmetalscorp LinkedIn: @firstnordicmetals Facebook: @FirstNordicMetals Instagram: @firstnordicmetals Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's intentions, beliefs, or current expectations about and targets for the Company's and the group's future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, anticipated growth, strategies and opportunities and the markets in which the Company and the group operates and includes, statements with respect to (i) the NBU Acquisition, (ii) issuance of Shares thereunder, and (iii) receipt of TSXV approval of the NBU Acquisition. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "may", "plan", "estimate", "will", "should", "could", "aim" or "might", or, in each case, their negative, or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that they will materialize or that the assumptions on which it is based are correct. Because these statements are based on assumptions or estimates and are subject to risks and uncertainties, the actual results or outcome could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies, and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this news release are free from errors and readers of this news release should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this news release. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements that are expressly or implicitly contained herein speak only as of the date of this news release and are subject to change without notice. Neither the Company nor anyone else undertake to review, update, confirm or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this news release, unless it is required by law or Nasdaq First North Growth Market Rulebook for Issuers of Shares.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Russia's summer offensive in Ukraine gains ground with new tactics
'It's a kind of renaissance of the cavalry, but with internal combustion engines,' said Col. Viktor Kevliuk, a Ukrainian army reservist and an analyst at Ukraine's Center for Defense Strategies, a think tank. The fighting is intensifying even as ceasefire talks have mostly stalled. The most recent round of negotiations, held this month in Istanbul, yielded little result beyond an agreement to exchange prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers. The exchange continued Saturday, with Ukraine saying that it had received 1,200 bodies and that more prisoners had been returned. Advertisement Here are the areas where the front is moving. Sumy In recent months, Russian troops have captured at least a dozen villages in the Sumy region. The advance is tiny but in frequent steps, with small assault groups, often just two or three Russian soldiers, who probe Ukrainian positions in waves. Advertisement 'Where the last surviving infantry is holding out, the next assault group arrives to build on any success,' Kevliuk said. Ukraine has one defensive advantage. The terrain is full of ravines, so movement is only possible on roads, according to Andrii, an intelligence officer with an air assault brigade operating near the city of Sumy, who asked to be identified only by his first name in keeping with military protocol. The city is home to more than 200,000 civilians, including many displaced from fighting along the border, and is now under growing threat as Russia advances. Russian forces overran it in their initial invasion in 2022, but Ukraine recaptured it later that year. Pasi Paroinen, a military analyst with Finland-based Black Bird Group, said Russian forces were seizing high ground north of Sumy and pushing toward dense forests that dominate the city's northern and northeastern approaches. If Russia captures four villages -- Khotyn, Yunakivka, Pysarivka and Kyyanytsia -- that would threaten the city itself. If the battles shift into the forests, commanders warn, it could require additional infantry reinforcements from Ukraine, as drone surveillance becomes less effective through the leaves. Kostyantynivka Kostyantynivka, a Ukrainian operations hub, will likely become Russia's main effort in the coming months, with other fronts serving the supporting role of preventing Ukraine from sending reinforcements to this fight, Paroinen said. The first step is to try to isolate Kostyantynivka from multiple directions, in a 'semi-encirclement,' he said, isolating Ukrainian units while maintaining a narrow, hazardous corridor for retreat. The idea would be to advance eastward across the T-0504 road; northward from Toretsk; and westward from the hilltop town of Chasiv Yar. Advertisement This would not be easy. Russian forces have been trying to capture Chasiv Yar for two years, since the nearby city of Bakhmut fell in the spring of 2023. So long as Chasiv Yar remains contested, Russia's advance to Kostyantynivka will be slowed. Also, to the south, Russian forces are bogged down in urban fighting in Toretsk. In some areas near Kostyantynivka, Russia has a manpower advantage of up to 20-to-1, Ukrainian commanders in the area say. 'Our task is to block their actions,' said Capt. Filatov, a commander deployed along the line. His soldiers regularly engage in close-range combat while slowly retreating, he said. A unit of a few dozen hundred typically repels 10 to 15 assaults per week, with as many as four in a single day, he said. At the same time, front-line airstrikes have intensified, even after Ukraine's destruction of at least a dozen Russian strategic bombers. At the start of May, Russia was carrying out 11 airstrikes a day. That pace has picked up to 17 in June, said Lt. Col. Dmytro Zaporizhets, spokesperson for Ukraine's Luhansk Operational Tactical Group. Throughout the Donbas -- parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions -- Russian has concentrated drone units and is targeting roads, threatening supply lines. Analysts say Russian advances in the Donbas follow a systematic pattern. The troops first isolate Ukrainian positions, targeting logistics and reinforcements with drones; then pound them with artillery and aerial bombs; then attack in small units, often on motorcycles. Then they repeat the process farther down the line. Pokrovsk West of Kostyantynivka lies Pokrovsk, also in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are also pressing forward with superior manpower, said Sr. Lt. Vasyl Yemelianov, an artillery commander in the area. Advertisement Russian forces are closing in on Pokrovsk from several directions, similar to their semi-encirclement strategy around Kostyantynivka. Still, the city remains in Ukrainian hands, while Russian efforts have recently shifted farther west, with some troops crossing the administrative border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. But the front, here and elsewhere, remains fluid, with Russian forces looking for weaknesses and Ukrainian troops scrambling to hold defensive lines. This article originally appeared in
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Russian forces expand fighting to new region of eastern Ukraine
Still, both goals are likely to further widen the battlefield in a war now grinding through its fourth year. An officer with the call sign 'Barbarossa' from Ukraine's 72nd Brigade, which is currently fighting off Russian assaults into Dnipropetrovsk, said that Russia had accumulated 'a lot of forces' in the area, and that he expected them to push deeper into the region. Advertisement Like other officers quoted in this article, he asked to be identified by his first name or call sign only, in keeping with military protocol. Advertisement Russia's Defense Ministry first claimed on Sunday that some of its forces had reached the administrative border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk and were 'continuing their offensive.' Ukraine's top military command has so far denied that Russian troops have entered Dnipropetrovsk. The Ukrainian officers said Russian forces had advanced, at most, along a few tree lines into Dnipropetrovsk and had yet to capture any settlement. Whether they can secure their advance, capitalize on the breach and push deeper into the region remains to be seen. Still, by pushing into Dnipropetrovsk, Russian forces are taking the fight to a region that many Ukrainians thought would remain untouched by ground fighting. Dnipropetrovsk is one of Ukraine's largest regions, with a major industrial base and about 3 million residents. Those people include many who fled there from cities under attack in Donetsk, meaning the Russian advance could force some to flee for a second time. Russia's push also comes amid cease-fire talks that are taking place even as both sides have tried to demonstrate that they have the ability to keep fighting. Should Russia capture a sizable portion of the Dnipropetrovsk region, it could complicate Ukraine's position in any negotiations to trade land. Controlling the border area between Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk would also give Russia a stronger foothold to complete its takeover of Donetsk, around 70 percent of which it already controls. In particular, it would facilitate an assault on Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk it has so far failed to capture. The advance also highlights Russia's momentum on the battlefield. Last month, Russia captured over 200 square miles of territory in Ukraine, more than double its gains in April and the second-highest monthly advance since the first year of the war, according to the Black Bird Group, a Finland-based research organization tracking battlefield developments. Advertisement Months of slow but steady gains lie behind the push into Dnipropetrovsk. It took Russian forces a year of grinding combat to advance roughly 30 miles and finally cross into the region. Along the way, Russian forces captured town after town, shifting tactics from the meat-grinder approach seen in the brutal battle for Bakhmut to a more adaptive strategy, using small assault squads to look for weaknesses and punch through Ukrainian lines. 'The enemy uses small-group tactics — two to four, sometimes six soldiers, moving from tree line to tree line or building to building,' said Barbarossa, from Ukraine's 72nd Brigade. The Russian advance is reflected in the retreat of medics from Ukraine's 33rd Mechanized Brigade, who treat wounded soldiers at so-called stabilization points, small field hospitals typically set up several miles behind the front line. Since the fall, the medics have relocated their stabilization point westward four times. They crossed into Dnipropetrovsk late last year, setting up in a building in Novopavlivka, near the administrative border between the two regions. As Russian forces advanced in recent weeks, the medics were forced to move deeper into Dnipropetrovsk, according to soldiers from the 33rd Brigade. The building they were using in Novopavlivka, which a New York Times team visited this year, was later heavily damaged in a Russian strike. Viktor, a Ukrainian army officer fighting in the area, said he expected Russian forces to try to capture Novopavlivka, which sits on strategically advantageous high ground, before pushing north toward Mezhova, the main town in the area. Securing that stretch of land, he said, would allow Russia to carve out a roughly 6-mile-deep buffer zone to protect its flanks in neighboring Donetsk, and set the stage for a new assault on Pokrovsk. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As Russia inches closer to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, new Ukrainian region might soon be at war
Moscow said its troops had crossed into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and were conducting offensive operations in the region, a claim Kyiv quickly denied as 'Russian disinformation.' Russian troops have been pushing toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast for months, trying to solidify the southern flank to capture Pokrovsk and the remaining parts of the adjacent Donetsk Oblast. Western military experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent said it was clear that Russian troops would eventually penetrate the southeastern region. But they didn't expect either side to throw 'a significant amount of forces' in this sector, as the capture of Donetsk Oblast remains Moscow's main objective. Emil Kastehelmi, an analyst at the Finland-based Black Bird Group, confirmed that geolocation shows Russian troops entered Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in recent days. Russian troops will likely advance 'at least somewhat' deeper in the coming months, though it won't change the overall dynamic of the front line, he added. Kastehelmi believes that Russian troops could try advancing northwest from the southern flank of Pokrovsk to encircle the city that is already penetrated from the southern and eastern sides. 'The Russians probably have understood that if they want to make a proper encirclement threat, they need to widen the flanks and then continue operations near Pokrovsk,' Kastehelmi told the Kyiv Independent. The Russian Defense Ministry said on June 8 that its troops were pushing forward in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — a region adjacent to Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts but have thus not seen combat actions. It added that the Russian military's 90th Guards Tank Division units had reached the western border of Donetsk Oblast and were thrusting forward into the industrial Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The Ukrainian military immediately denied the claim, saying that the fighting continued inside Donetsk Oblast, calling Russia's claims 'disinformation.' The Ukrainian monitoring project DeepState has put the proximity of Russian troops to the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast border at about two kilometers, yet painting that distance between the regional border and the alleged position of Russian troops as no man's land. The Kyiv Independent requested a comment to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces but has not heard back in time of publication. Even if militarily not as significant, the Russian penetration into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast would mean yet another Ukrainian region would be now a warzone. It could also help strengthen the Russian negotiation position as the U.S. continues to push both sides to hold peace talks to end the war at all costs. "If they [russians] find a weak spot, they will try to exploit it.' Russia had begun its long-expected offensive in April but has only made limited gains since then, besides opening a new front in the northeastern Sumy Oblast by occupying a number of border villages there. Kastehelmi from the Black Bird Group said that the Ukrainian defense of Pokrovsk would be compromised if Russian troops are able to widen their flanks, which would enable them to bring their support elements forward. 'It can mean that they may be able in the summer to threaten the remaining supply routes to the city in a way which makes it even more dangerous for Ukrainian units,' Kastehelmi said. Kastehelmi added that it would be 'an operational success' for Moscow if it is able to first expand its flank westward toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and then begin attacking northward, while also building on the eastern flank. But he stressed that Russian troops have not been the best at coordinating attacks, even if it looks 'doable' on paper. Jakub Janovsky, a Prague-based military analyst at the Oryx open-source project tracking Ukrainian and Russian equipment losses, said that it likely won't make 'any difference' if Russian troops advanced a kilometer or two into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He added that Russia appears to be continuing to rely heavily on small infantry group assaults, either on foot or motorcycles, thus decreasing the use of Soviet-era BMP fighting vehicles or tanks. 'It seems more likely that Russia will focus on Donetsk Oblast,' Janovsky told the Kyiv Independent. 'But it's entirely possible that if they find a weak spot, they will try to exploit it.' Read also: Inside Russia, calls for peace come with conditions — and Kremlin talking points We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
