Author: openjargon

• Scammers pretending to be Trea Turner stole thousands from a 70-year-old Parkinson's patient.
• The scammers convinced her to send $50,000 in total.
• The woman had posted online defending the famous shortstop's playing.

A 70-year-old Parkinson's patient says someone pretending to be an American baseball superstar stole thousands of dollars from her.

Scammers will often impersonate someone close to their victim to gain their trust in what is known as an "imposter scam." In some cases, the criminals will pretend to be a famous person whom they think their potential victim may be a fan of.

These messages are often obviously fake. Some are so bad they've inspired popular memes.

But others are a little more sophisticated.

The woman told FOX 29 in Pennsylvania that the scammer pretending to be Trea Turner reached out to her after she defended criticism of his playing on social media. She was originally skeptical when he asked to move the conversation to Google Chat, but the scammers were "relentless" and "convincing," she said.

"I'm thinking, 'Something's not right here,'" she told the outlet. "He said, 'Oh, I love you.' What? I'm 70-years-old, I have varicose veins older than this guy."

The criminal eventually claimed that Turner was having marital trouble and he needed money from the woman to help with his properties, according to FOX. By the end, she had sent them nearly $50,000.

"I was gullible. I believed him," she told the outlet. "I should've known better but, I just, I overlooked it."

The Towamencin Township Police Department, which is investigating the case, did not return a request for comment from Business Insider. The department told CBS it believes the scammer may be located outside the United States.

The best way to avoid these imposter scams is to take caution if someone claiming to be a public figure reaches out to you and avoid posting on celebrity's social media pages, according to the AARP.

Trea Turner and the Phillies did not immediately return Business a request for comment from Business Insider on Saturday.

A Phillies spokesperson told FOX the organization will not comment on the case because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

• A new research paper found that various AI systems have learned the art of deception. 
• Deception is the "systematic inducement of false beliefs."
• This poses several risks for society, from fraud to election tampering.

AI can boost productivity by helping us code, write, and synthesize vast amounts of data. It can now also deceive us.

A range of AI systems have learned techniques to systematically induce "false beliefs in others to accomplish some outcome other than the truth," according to a new research paper.

The paper focused on two types of AI systems: special-use systems like Meta's CICERO, which are designed to complete a specific task, and general-purpose systems like OpenAI's GPT-4, which are trained to perform a diverse range of tasks.

While these systems are trained to be honest, they often learn deceptive tricks through their training because they can be more effective than taking the high road.

"Generally speaking, we think AI deception arises because a deception-based strategy turned out to be the best way to perform well at the given AI's training task. Deception helps them achieve their goals," the paper's first author Peter S. Park, an AI existential safety postdoctoral fellow at MIT, told Cell Press.

Meta's CICERO is "an expert liar"

AI systems trained to "win games that have a social element" are especially likely to deceive.

Meta's CICERO, for example, was developed to play the game Diplomacy — a classic strategy game that requires players to build and break alliances.

Meta said it trained CICERO to be "largely honest and helpful to its speaking partners," but the study found that CICERO "turned out to be an expert liar." It made commitments it never intended to keep, betrayed allies, and told outright lies.

GPT-4 can convince you it has impaired vision

Even general-purpose systems like GPT-4 can manipulate humans.

In a study cited by the paper, GPT-4 manipulated a TaskRabbit worker by pretending to have a vision impairment.

In the study, GPT-4 was tasked with hiring a human to solve a CAPTCHA test. The model also received hints from a human evaluator every time it got stuck, but it was never prompted to lie. When the human it was tasked to hire questioned its identity, GPT-4 came up with the excuse of having vision impairment to explain why it needed help.

The tactic worked. The human responded to GPT-4 by immediately solving the test.

Research also shows that course-correcting deceptive models isn't easy.

In a study from January co-authored by Anthropic, the maker of Claude, researchers found that once AI models learn the tricks of deception, it's hard for safety training techniques to reverse them.

They concluded that not only can a model learn to exhibit deceptive behavior, once it does, standard safety training techniques could "fail to remove such deception" and "create a false impression of safety."

The dangers deceptive AI models pose are "increasingly serious"

The paper calls for policymakers to advocate for stronger AI regulation since deceptive AI systems can pose significant risks to democracy.

As the 2024 presidential election nears, AI can be easily manipulated to spread fake news, generate divisive social media posts, and impersonate candidates through robocalls and deepfake videos, the paper noted. It also makes it easier for terrorist groups to spread propaganda and recruit new members.

The paper's potential solutions include subjecting deceptive models to more "robust risk-assessment requirements," implementing laws that require AI systems and their outputs to be clearly distinguished from humans and their outputs, and investing in tools to mitigate deception.

"We as a society need as much time as we can get to prepare for the more advanced deception of future AI products and open-source models," Park told Cell Press. "As the deceptive capabilities of AI systems become more advanced, the dangers they pose to society will become increasingly serious."

• Trump could face a $100 million tax bill after the IRS said he tried to write off the same losses twice.
• The losses are tied to the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
• The IRS conducted a "high-level legal review" before it began their inquiry, the Times reported.

Former President Donald Trump could face a $100 million tax bill after the IRS said he twice sought to write off the same losses on his struggling 92-story Chicago skyscraper, according to a New York Times and ProPublica report.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago, built on the site of the former Chicago Sun-Times headquarters, opened during the Great Recession in 2009. The vast condo-hotel project was saddled with cost overruns, according to the report.

In the IRS inquiry, acquired by The Times and ProPublica, the agency said Trump tried to claim tax benefits from financial losses associated with the project and that he practically wrote off those losses twice.

Trump's first tax write-off for the Chicago tower came in his 2008 tax return, when sales at the building faltered below expectations. Trump claimed that his share of investment in the structure amounted to what the tax code classified as "worthless" — largely because the debt he incurred on the building demonstrated that he wouldn't profit.

In that year's tax return, Trump noted that he lost up to $651 million on the project, according to The Times and ProPublica.

The Times and ProPublica reported that there weren't any signs that the IRS initially pushed back against Trump's first claim, which surprised tax experts who spoke with the outlets.

Trump and his tax advisors in 2010 tried to obtain additional benefits from the skyscraper project by transitioning the company that owned the building into a new partnership. But Trump wielded the levers of power for both companies. And for the next decade, he used the business move to try to claim $168 million in new losses.

Because of the nature of Trump's claims, the IRS conducted a "high-level legal review" before they began their inquiry, according to the report.

After looking at the inquiry, The Times and ProPublica — and tax experts — concluded that the revision pursued by the IRS would give Trump an updated tax bill exceeding $100 million, excluding any additional penalties.

Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, responded to the report, stating that the company was "confident" in its actions regarding the Chicago skyscraper.

"This matter was settled years ago, only to be brought back to life once my father ran for office," he said in a statement to the Times and ProPublica. "We are confident in our position, which is supported by opinion letters from various tax experts, including the former general counsel of the IRS."

Business Insider reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

News of the IRS inquiry comes during a presidential year in which Trump is set to once again be on the ballot, with his personal finances and the extent of his wealth continuing to be a major point of discussion in the race.

A court ordered Trump, in January, to pay $83.3 million in defamation damages to the writer E. Jean Carroll. (In a separate civil trial last year, a New York jury found the former president liable for the sexual abuse of Carroll.)

And, in February, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties for what the judge said was a scheme by the former president to fraudulently inflate the value of his properties. Prosecutors in April then accepted a $175 million bond from Trump in the civil fraud case, which the ex-president posted to block the larger judgment as he goes through the appeals process.

• A swarm of wasps in the southern Gaza Strip injured twelve IDF soldiers.
• The incident occurred during an ongoing operation by the Gaza Division's Southern Brigade.
• Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv treated the wounded soldiers, with one requiring intensive care.

Twelve IDF soldiers were injured after being attacked by a swarm of wasps in the southern Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel reports.

The military said the incident unfolded on Friday when a tank inadvertently disturbed a nest, prompting the insects to retaliate, per The Times of Israel.

Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer admitted 10 of the wounded soldiers for treatment, with one requiring intensive care, said the report. The hospital said that none of the soldiers' conditions had worsened and that none of their lives were in jeopardy.

While this incident did not prove fatal, attacks by warm swarms can be deadly. A grandfather in Kentucky died after being attacked by a swarm of insects, likely yellow jackets, last year.

The bizarre wasp attack is the latest in a series of accidents and errors that have dogged the IDF's Gaza campaign.

The incident in Gaza transpired amid an ongoing operation led by the Gaza Division's Southern Brigade in the border region opposite the Israeli community of Nirim.

According to the Sheba Medical Center, some of the troops suffered from allergic reactions from being stung by hundreds of wasps — a situation medical professionals had not previously encountered on such a scale, The Times of Israel said.

The Israeli hospital responded by mobilizing intensive care, anesthesia, toxicology, and ophthalmology to ensure the proper treatment of the affected soldiers.

On October 7, a Hamas-led attack on Israel resulted in 1,143 killed, including 767 civilians and hundreds of soldiers.

Since then, Israel's retaliatory war operations have killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

But the Israeli military has also fallen victim to themselves.

In the wasp incident, the swarm was provoked by a tank rolling over its nest. Other IDF blunders have also led to Israeli casualties and equipment losses.

Instances of friendly fire have killed Israeli hostages and soldiers, including Efrat Katz, who was being captured from her kibbutz on October 7 when an IDF helicopter machine-gunned her kidnappers' car.

A report in Haaretz earlier this week said that 22 IDF soldiers have been killed and 54 have been injured by friendly fire in the conflict so far.

Last week, a US Marine officer said 40% of drones the IDF has shot down were their own.

Business Insider contacted Sheba Medical Center and the IDF for comment.

• A US Marine officer said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been shooting down some of its own drones.
• The officer said the IDF had been taking out 40% of their own UAVs, per The War Zone.
• An IDF spokesperson told BI they had increased "coordination processes" for aerial drones.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been shooting down almost half of their own drones, a US Marine Corps officer has said.

Speaking at the Modern Day Marine exposition last week, Lt. Col. Michael Pruden told attendees that "40% of the UASs … knocked out" by the IDF are cases of "friendly fire," The War Zone reported.

"As Israel's engaging in Gaza, and they're on their front line, they see a small UAS, what are they going to do if it's not identified immediately?" Pruden said. "They're going to shoot it down."

Pruden did not clarify where or when such incidents had occurred, but the implication was that it came from Israel's recent military operations in Gaza, which began after Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel, the report said.

Following the attacks, Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes on the territory, as well as launching a ground offensive. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the operations so far, per the Gaza health ministry.

The Marine Corps told Business Insider that The War Zone report was accurately contextualized but declined to provide additional information.

The self-inflicted drone losses are the latest costly blunder of the IDF's operations in Gaza. Other incidents have included instances of friendly fire, with both Israeli soldiers and hostages reported to have fallen victim to such incidents.

An IDF spokesperson told BI that "there were several incidents in which IDF drones were shot down by troops during combat" at the start of the Gaza conflict.

"These incidents primarily occurred early in the conflict near an event where troops were hit by an enemy drone," they continued. "In the months that followed, these incidents dramatically decreased due to the establishment of coordination processes for flying drones."

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank has said Israel is "one of the world's leading UAV users and manufacturers."

Other IDF mistakes have cost lives rather than just valuable equipment.

In April, two IDF reservists were killed after an Israeli tank shell hit the building where they were staying in an apparent case of mistaken identity, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Another report in Haaretz earlier this week said that 22 IDF soldiers have been killed and 54 have been injured by friendly fire in the conflict so far.

In December, the IDF said it had accidentally killed three Israeli hostages after troops had "mistakenly identified" them as threats.

The IDF said in a statement following the incident that it expressed "deep remorse over the tragic incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences."

Reports have also emerged suggesting that the IDF had likely accidentally killed Israeli citizens during Hamas' attacks on October 7.

An IDF investigation found that 68-year-old Efrat Katz had likely been killed by Israel Air Force helicopter fire as she was being abducted by Hamas gunmen.

• Barron Trump has declined Florida's offer to serve as a Republican National Convention delegate.
• Florida Republicans had chosen Barron to nominate his father, Donald Trump, at the RNC.
• Other Trump children, including Eric and Tiffany, will be delegates.

Barron Trump, 18, has declined Florida's invitation to serve as a delegate at the Republican National Convention (RNC) this summer, Melania Trump's office confirmed to the Daily Mail.

Florida Republicans had selected Barron Trump as a delegate to the RNC in Milwaukee this July, where he would have nominated his father as the presidential nominee.

The former first lady's office expressed her son's regret at not being able to participate in the convention due to undisclosed prior engagements. 

"While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," a spokeswoman for Melania Trump said in a statement first reported by the Daily Mail.

Other members of the Trump family, including Don Jr., Eric, Tiffany, and their partners, are delegates for the state of Florida.

Donald and Melania Trump moved their primary residence to Mar-a-Lago in Florida in 2019.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, had senior roles in the previousTrump administration, are notably absent from the RNC delegation.

The Trump family connection at the RNC doesn't stop at Florida delegates. Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was elected co-chair of the RNC in February this year.

Lara Trump, married to Donald Trump's son Eric, was endorsed by her father-in-law before her election and vowed to prioritize the "number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country."

Barron's family has protected his privacy. He is rarely seen at official White House events and often travels separately from his parents. 

The young Trump's upcoming graduation from high school and the process of selecting a college amid campus protests have taken precedence in his decision-making process. 

As he graduates from Oxbridge Academy in suburban West Palm Beach, Barron's role in shaping the Trump dynasty's political narrative remains to be seen, but the Republican presidential candidate trusts his son's advice.

"He is a smart one," Trump said of his youngest, per The Hill.

Donald Trump is getting a day off from his hush-money criminal trial to attend Barron's graduation ceremony.

Melania Trump has been largely absent from her husband's campaign trail and his hush-money criminal trial in New York.

She made a rare public appearance as a guest of honor at a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT+ political faction, at Mar-a-Lago last month.

Business Insider contacted Melania Trump's office for comment.

• Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, has a fortune worth an estimated $153 billion.
• Gates has said he'll one day give most of his wealth to his charity foundation.
• For now, he indulges in a few luxuries, from his car collection to a vast real estate portfolio.

Bill Gates may be the world's fifth-richest person, but he doesn't plan to stay that way forever.

The Microsoft cofounder said in 2022 that he "will move down and eventually off of the list of the world's richest people" as he plans to give "virtually" all of it to his philanthropic organization.

Gates is worth $153 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, and is one of only a handful of moguls to reach centibillionaire status.

Gates has made some lavish purchases over the years: He owns a Washington estate worth $183.5 million, a private airplane, and a luxury car collection. But these indulgences make up only a fraction of his massive fortune, and Gates isn't known to throw his money around.

Gates has also given money to charitable causes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and vowed to give away most of his fortune through the Giving Pledge, which he and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates launched in 2010 along with Warren Buffett.

Here is a look at how Gates spends his billions.

Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, has an estimated net worth of $153 billion.

Gates long held the title as the world's second-richest person until Elon Musk unseated him in November 2020.

Now, Gates is the world's fifth-richest person and part of an exclusive club of centibillionaires — people worth more than $100 billion.

Gates has invested in various stocks and assets and launched a $1 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Energy, with 20 others.

Despite his massive fortune, Gates previously told Ellen DeGeneres that when he became a billionaire at age 31 (which was history's youngest billionaire at the time), he didn't go on a spending spree.

But he has indulged in things over time, he said, like a private plane.

It's been reported that Gates owns a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, which can seat up to 19 people.

Gates also spent a lot on his estate, Xanadu 2.0, in Medina, Washington. It reportedly took him seven years and $63 million to build.

Gates owns at least 12 parcels of land spanning roughly 10.5 acres, purchased for approximately $34 million between 1988 and 2009. All told, the mansion and parcels have a combined assessed value of roughly $183.5 million.

In 2023, the property taxes on Gates' Medina properties added up to $1.3 million.

Gates' estate includes a 60-foot pool — in its own separate, 3,900-square-foot building — with an underwater sound system.

Gates reportedly has paid to import sand from St. Lucia in the Caribbean to the shore surrounding his house.

There's also a 2,100-square-foot library, home to a 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci manuscript that Gates bought at auction for $30 million in 1994.

It's been reported that Gate's house features some display screens on the walls that can show different paintings or photographs. However, there are real paintings on the wall as well — like the Winslow Homer painting Gates purchased for $36 million in 1988.

In addition to the six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, and a home theater for 20 guests, Gates' house has various garages for 23 cars.

Gates is an avid luxury-car collector.

His first big splurge after founding Microsoft was a Porsche 911 supercar, he told DeGeneres. He purchased the car in 1979. He later sold it, and it was auctioned for $80,000.

But that wasn't Gates' last Porsche — he's also added a Porsche 959 to his car collection

Outside of his Washington pad, Gates also has a 20-acre estate in Wellington, Florida.

The estate includes at least two mansions, one 6,668 square feet, and the other 5,716 square feet, on the property. He bought the properties over three years for about $35 million.

His daughter, Jennifer Gates Nassar, is an accomplished equestrian, and he bought the property to support her passion. It serves as the home base of her horseback riding facilities, and the area is a hotspot for many other wealthy equestrians as well.

In California, Gates owns the 228-acre Rancho Paseana, which he purchased for $18 million.

At the time he bought it, the property came with a racetrack, olive orchard, and five barns.

He added to his California real estate portfolio in 2020, dropping $43 million on an oceanfront home in Del Mar, California.

It has a 10-person Jacuzzi and 120 feet of Pacific coastline.

Gates also owns a 6-bedroom home on the grounds of Indian Wells' famous Vintage Club.

There's also another home on the grounds of a country club, Santaluz Club, in San Diego, as well as a Del Mar Country Club home, which is likely now solely owned by either Bill or ex-wife Melinda French Gates following their divorce, though it isn't apparent which one.

Gates has also bought property at the Yellowstone Club in Montana.

The main house is 6,993 square feet, with 8 full baths, 8 bedrooms, a sauna, and a home theater, according to property records. It's likely either he or French Gates owns the home following their divorce.

He also reportedly spent $9 million on a 492-acre Wyoming ranch in 2009 that Buffalo Bill named after his oldest daughter, though he is no longer affiliated with this property.

Gates is one of the largest private landowners in the country, with more than 250,000 acres, much of it farmland, according to The Land Report.

He's made numerous investments through his personal investment firm, Cascade, including partial ownership of Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A deal announced in 2021 brought his ownership stake in the Four Seasons hotel chain to roughly 71.25%.

In 2013, Gates and several unnamed buyers paid $161 million for the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.

Gates also takes luxurious vacations.

While Gates said in 2019 that he "didn't believe in" taking weekends or vacations during much of his time at Microsoft, he's been on some splashy trips.

In 2014, he treated his family to a Mediterranean vacation on board the 439-foot superyacht Serene, which he chartered for $5 million a week. It included a helicopter.

He's also traveled to Australia, Croatia, Belize, and the Amazon in Brazil.

He previously said that he likes to play tennis and go skiing. He's also been spotted spectating at tennis matches.

But Gates' downtime isn't always so adventurous. He's an avid reader. He's also an "avid bridge player," as he told Reddit in a 2013 AMA.

But Gates' splurges are only a fraction of his massive fortune.

Gates is known for his philanthropy.

"I have no use for money," Bill Gates told The Telegraph in 2013. But he often speaks of his philanthropic giving and healthcare investments.

A grant from Bill and Melinda led to the creation in 2003 of Amyris, a synthetic biology company that originally produced precursors to malaria drugs and hydrocarbon-based biofuel but also uses the technology for things like fragrances, skincare, and sweeteners. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.

In November 2017, Gates invested $50 million into Alzheimer's research.

He continued these efforts in 2018 by investing $30 million with a group of investors into the Diagnostics Accelerator, a "venture philanthropy" fund to diagnose Alzheimer's earlier.

Gates is frequently named among the most generous philanthropists in the US by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Gates has vowed to give away most of his fortune through the Giving Pledge, which he helped launch in 2010.

Gates and his former wife have pledged about $2 billion to defeat malaria, donated more than $50 million to fight Ebola, and pledged $38 million to a Japanese pharmaceutical company working to create a low-cost polio vaccine.

During the pandemic, their foundation announced a 5-year, $1.6 billion commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to deliver vaccines in the world's poorest countries.

The Gates Foundation also gives toward education through its $1.6 billion initiative the Gates Millennium Scholars Program.

The foundation has made $77.6 billion in grant payments from its inception through Q4 2023, and Bill and Melinda's total giving to the foundation during that time period totals $59.5 billion.

Its 2024 budget is $8.6 billion, and the foundation is targeting a $9 billion yearly budget by 2026.

When it comes to the future of his fortune, Gates has said he's leaving $10 million to each of his children, a fraction of his net worth.

He reiterated in July 2022 that he plans to give virtually all his wealth to his and French Gates' organization, stating that he'll eventually fall off the list of the world's richest figures.

• Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil refineries in recent months.
• The Biden Administration has criticized the strikes, warning of global energy price rises.
• However, some experts say Ukraine should continue the attacks. Here's why.

Ukraine has been ramping up attacks on Russian oil refineries in recent months as it seeks to hamper Russian export revenues and curtail fuel supplies to Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces.

In one of the latest attacks, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga region, setting it on fire, the RIA state news agency reported on Friday, per Reuters.

Ukraine also hit Gazprom's Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery, one of Russia's largest oil refineries, earlier this week, Radiy Khabirov, the head of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, said in a post on Telegram.

However, the Biden Administration has previously slammed such tactics, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying in April that it risked impacting global energy markets and urging Ukraine to shift its focus onto military targets.

"Those attacks could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation," Austin said. "Quite frankly, I think Ukraine is better served by going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight."

But some experts believe such criticism is misguided.

Writing for Foreign Affairs magazine, Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and Sam Winter-Levy, a doctoral candidate in political science at Princeton University, argued that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining facilities would not lead to spikes in global energy prices.

The experts said that Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries would only hinder Russia's ability to turn its oil into refined products such as gasoline and would not impact the volume of oil it can extract or export.

"In fact, with less domestic refining capacity, Russia will be forced to export more of its crude oil, not less, pushing global prices down rather than up," they added.

And such strikes will likely continue to affect those within Russia, where prices for refined products like gas or diesel are soaring — meaning Ukraine's attacks are achieving the aims of failed Western economic sanctions, they continued.

The West has attempted to impose a number of sanctions on Russia to limit its income from energy, with the US and the UK banning Russian oil and gas and G7 leaders agreeing to set a price cap on Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel.

But Russia has largely managed to get around such measures, with its Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, saying in December last year that Russia had shifted almost all of its oil exports to China and India.

Russia's oil revenue in April more than doubled year on year, Bloomberg reported, highlighting its success in rediverting operations.

Its total oil and gas revenue for the month hit 1.23 trillion rubles, up almost 90% from April last year, per the report.

Reuters reported in April that Russia also appeared to be able to quickly repair some of the key refining facilities affected by Ukrainian strikes, reducing impacted capacity to roughly 10% from nearly 14% at the end of March, per the agency's calculations.

Ukraine has since launched a series of new attacks on refining sites, however, and it is as yet unclear how these have affected Russia's repair efforts.

• In early May, reports circulated that Russia had accidentally bombed its own territory in Belgorod.
• It's not the first time Russian forces have made such an error.
• UK intelligence said such instances highlight Russia's struggles to employ munitions on intended targets.

There have been numerous reports over the last year of incidents of Russian aircraft accidentally dropping bombs and missiles on Russian civilian areas around border regions with Ukraine.

Belgorod, a region of Russia close to the besieged northeastern Ukrainian territory of Kharkiv, has borne the brunt of the apparent errors.

Earlier this month, reports circulated that a Russian 1,100-lb FAB-500 bomb fell on a civilian area of Belgorod on May 4. Thirty houses were damaged, and five people were injured.

In April, the Russian independent Telegram channel Astra reported that a Russian Kh-59 missile was dropped on Belgorod city center after it "abnormally" fell around 57 miles from the border with Ukraine. The post said there were "no casualties."

A similar incident is also thought to have occurred in January, when two FAB-250 bombs struck the Belgorod region after being inadvertently released from Russian aircraft, Astra reported, prompting authorities to evacuate roughly 150 residents, per the report.

Such incidents appear to be becoming increasingly common, with Astra reporting that "at least 21 aerial bombs" had accidentally been dropped by Russian forces on Russian or Russian-occupied territory between March and April 2024.

In an update on the conflict on Saturday, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the instances highlighted "Russia's continued inability to successfully employ their munitions on intended targets."

"Such errors have destructive and lethal consequences for the Russian population," the department continued.

The MoD has previously said that such mistakes were likely due to a combination of "poor procedures when arming the aircraft prior to sorties" and "poor execution by aircrew during missions."

It noted that increasing reports of such incidents likely pointed to fatigued troops and poor training.

It comes as Russia launched an offensive on Ukraine's Kharkiv region on Friday as it seeks to make the most of its personnel and materiel advantages over Ukraine before further US aid arrives.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank said in an update on the conflict that the offensive operation around Kharkiv had "limited operational objectives" but aimed "to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine."