Tag: News

• The Israeli Air Force achieved an unmatched air combat victory in the 1982 Lebanon War.
• The battle, known as Operation Mole Cricket 19, saw over 60 enemy aircraft eliminated without a single Israeli loss.
• Israel's aircraft, weapons, training, and strategic adaptations led to the historic win.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) accomplished a feat unmatched in modern military aviation in June 1982, shooting down over 60 Syrian combat aircraft in the largest air battle of the jet age and destroying 29 of 30 surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries without losing a single one of its fighter jets.

Operation Mole Cricket 19, as the famous engagement was designated, was aimed at destroying the Syrian SAMs positioned in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. The operation took place during the first week of the 1982 Lebanon War that saw Israel and its Lebanese allies face off against Syria, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and their allies in Lebanon.

The battle, which marked the first time a Soviet SAM battery was destroyed by a Western aircraft, had such an effect that the Soviet Union, whose aircraft Syria primarily used, sent military officials to investigate how Soviet aircraft and SAMs were defeated.

Many different factors came together to produce the stunning air combat victory.

Better aircraft, weapons, and training

At the time, the Syrian Air Force was mostly flying the outdated MiG-21, which had been introduced in 1959, and some Su-20 and MiG-23 export models. The MiG-21 fared well during the Vietnam War against American F-4s, but by 1982, it was significantly outclassed by the fourth-generation fighters of the IAF.

The IAF was primarily flying the recently introduced air superiority F-15 and F-16s fighters that would form the strike arm of the operation. It also had a smaller contingent of F-4s and Israeli-made Kfir jets that took on auxiliary roles.

The F-15 and F-16s were more maneuverable and could accelerate faster than Syria's jets. They had better radars that allowed them to fire missiles outside the detection range of the Syrian radars. The fourth-generation Israeli jets were also made much more lethal by the AIM-9L Sidewinder missile that could be fired from any angle. The Sidewinder accounted for most of the kills.

In contrast, Syrian jets used older K-13 missiles that had a much shorter operational range than Israel's AIM-9L. And the MiG-21s' warning systems could only pick up incoming missiles approaching from their nose and tail, leaving them otherwise "blind."

Furthermore, Israeli pilots and ground crews had significant combat experience. They had been practicing attacks against SAMs, and Israeli pilots had been flying over Beqaa Valley for some years becoming familiar with the area.

In contrast, Syrian SAM crews performed horribly. They hadn't moved their SAM batteries in months, allowing the IAF to pinpoint their locations before the battle, and they had placed them in vulnerable locations. On the day of the fight, the Syrians used smoke to conceal their batteries rather than camouflaging them, which, instead, made their locations more visible to Israeli jets. They also deployed the mobile SAM systems in a fixed configuration.

But Israel's technological edge and the training its personnel had received weren't the only deciding factors, and the IAF had to learn from past mistakes to achieve victory.

Adapting to win

During the Yom Kippur War nine years before, Egyptian SAM batteries shot down 42 Israeli aircraft, 14% of the IAF's fleet, in the conflict's first two days. The loss led the IAF to recognize the importance of suppressing and destroying enemy air defenses.

For Operation Mole Cricket 19, it used UAVs to identify the Syrian batteries' radar signatures months before the battle. Day of, Israel used UAVs to mimic the radio signature of Israeli jets, thereby tricking the Syrian batteries into activating their radars to take them down. This allowed Israeli jets, with targeting assistance from UAVs, to destroy the SAMs using anti-radiation missiles.

Additionally, Israel had superior Command, Control, and Communications (C3) capabilities.

Israel boosted its own C3 abilities with Grumman E-2C Hawkeye airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft. Operation Mole Cricket 19 ­was the first time modern AWACS were used in combat, assisting Israeli fighters with targeting and battlefield control.

And it actively degraded Syrian C3 capabilities by employing aircraft with jammers to disrupt Syrian radar and communications. This further reduced the effectiveness of the SAF's older aircraft by preventing them from receiving targeting assistance and battlefield updates from the ground.

Highlighting the effectiveness of Israel's tactic, a Western observer, cited by a RAND Corporation report on the battle, said, "I watched a group of Syrian fighter planes fly figure-eights. They just flew around and around and obviously had no idea what to do next."

Lastly, Israel protected its own communications by equipping its fighters with electronic countermeasure pods and developed a variable frequency radio system to prevent Syrian forces from identifying and jamming it.

The outcome of the battle was a total Israeli victory, and due to its one-sided outcome, Operation Mole Cricket 19 came to be known as the "Beqaa Valley Turkey Shoot."

IAF would go on to destroy approximately 20 more Syrian jets in the days following the operation, bringing the total to more than 80. Though it lost no jets during the operation, it suffered losses later, but those only amounted to one F-4, one old A-4 Skyhawk, and two helicopters during the entire conflict.

• Ukrainian pilots fly dangerous "wild weasel" missions to suppress Russian air defenses.
• Advanced US-supplied missiles have played a critical role in these missions.
• The arrival of F-16 fighter jets will help level out Russia's air superiority.

Pilots in Ukraine's Soviet-era airforce, a fraction of the size of Russia's, are using a tactic first developed by the US Air Force to contest the skies above the 600-mile frontline.

Videos in recent months appear to show Ukrainian pilots conducting so-called "wild weasel" missions.

The strategy involves jet pilots luring enemy antiaircraft defenses into targeting them with their radars. The radar waves are then traced back to their source, and the Ukrainian pilots retaliate with weapons like the US-made AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) before the Russians van lock onto them with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).

Since mid-2022, the US has supplied Ukraine with HARMs, which have provided Ukrainian pilots with Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (DEAD) capabilities.

The US Air Force pioneered SEAD tactics in the Vietnam War. So-called wild weasel aircraft were tasked with destroying enemy air defense radars to clear the way for attack aircraft to fly through.

The wild weasels had radar receivers to locate enemy air defenses and were initially armed with bombs and later special missiles that could target radar.

The term "wild weasel" originated from Project Wild Weasel. This US Air Force anti-SAM strategy used direct attacks to suppress enemy air defenses, according to the National Museum of the US Air Force.

These missions, originally called "Project Ferret" — a reference to the small predatory mammal that enters its prey's den to kill it — were renamed Project Wild Weasel so as not to be confused with the code-name "Ferret" that was used during World War II for radar countermeasures bombers.

HARM is the latest of these air-to-surface missiles: a projectile of around 770 pounds, with a range of some 90 miles. These missiles can locate and strike enemy radar even after the radar systems have been turned off.

HARM has been used in wars in Libya, Iraq, and former Yugoslavia, The Economist previously reported.

This experience is being put to use in Ukraine.

"Ukraine clearly is learning from Western military thought," Frederik Mertens, a Strategic Analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told Business Insider. "Ukraine is putting great emphasis on SEAD and DEAD missions."

These missions can be "very dangerous," especially for wild weasels, he said. But the Russian air defenses are a "key target."

"This game is worth the candle," Mertens said.

But, he added Ukraine's tactics "go far beyond the classic wild weasel missions of Anti-Radiation Missile equipped aircraft."

From special forces raids to land-launched missiles like GMLRS and ATACMS as well as UAVs of all sorts, "Ukrainians use all weapons, troops, and systems they have at their disposal to suppress and destroy Russian air defenses," Mertens said.

Adapting Western weapons for use in Ukraine

The difficulty of adapting HARM for Ukraine is due to the incompatibility of old Soviet-era jets, such as the MIG-29 and the Su-27 fighters, with modern Western technology.

Last month, US Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante told reporters at a Washington DC conference that Ukraine had been using iPads in an attempt to make Ukrainian jets compatible with Western weapons.

He described how Ukraine's aging fighter planes could now take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft as they were "basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. They're flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him," he said.

Since making the necessary adaptations, Ukrainian pilots have fired hundreds of HARMs at Russian air defense radar systems. However, their technique has changed, Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower & Technology at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told BI.

"While they initially achieved a number of successful kills against Russian SAM systems and radars when first introduced; Russian SAM operators quickly adapted their tactics," Bronk said.

Now, HARM launches serve "a suppressive rather than a destructive purpose."

When launched, "the missiles force Russian SAM operators to turn off their radars and relocate to avoid being hit by them," Bronk said. "This leaves a short window within which other strike systems like HIMARS rockets or Storm Shadow missiles can get through to nearby targets with much less risk of being intercepted by the Russian SAMs."

Awaiting F-16s

While modified Soviet-era fighter jets allow Ukrainians to use HARM missiles, the modifications do not allow Ukrainians to make the most of all their features.

"It doesn't have all the capabilities that it would on an F-16," Gen. James Hecker, commander of United States Air Forces in Europe, said previously during a roundtable at the Air Force Association's Air, Space Cyber conference.

Therefore, the delivery of F-16s will be crucial for increasing Ukrainian air superiority.

Earlier this week, the Netherlands announced plans to start delivering its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine this autumn, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said during a press briefing in Vilnius.

Denmark previously said it would begin transferring its aircraft in the summer,

"Dealing with Russian GBAD [Ground Based Air Defense] will be crucial to enable future Ukrainian air strikes once the F-16 fighters arrive," Mertens told BI.

While the delivery of such a small number of F-16s should not be overestimated, Mertens believes they could significantly impact Crimea.

"Crimea is vulnerable: the Russians have relatively limited maneuver space on the Peninsula, resupply is dependent on the Kerch bridge, and here Putin has a lot to lose both politically and militarily," he said.

"If a limited number of fighters can have a real impact, it is here."

• The European leg of Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour kicked off on Thursday.
• The Eras tour is the first concert tour to gross over $1 billion, estimates showed.
• She's crossing the Atlantic at a time when several of the continent's economies are struggling.

The European leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour kicked off in Paris on Thursday.

Last summer, the "Tortured Poets Department" singer's concerts helped boost the US economy, driving up spending on everything from restaurants to hotels across the country.

Estimates showed that the Eras tour is the first concert tour to gross over $1 billion.

In 2023, the research firm QuestionPro estimated that the Eras Tour would boost US consumer spending by an eye-popping $4.6 billion.

Meanwhile, key business figurers ranging from Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to policymakers at the Federal Reserve have noted the positive impact Swift's concerts have had on business.

Economists have even coined new phrases like "Swiftonomics" and "funflation" to refer to the idea that in the aftermath of the pandemic, Americans are more willing to splash the cash on live events that might lead to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Now, after quick pit stops in Singapore — where Swift's big-money shows made the country mountains of money and sparked concert envy among its Southeast Asian neighbors — and Australia, Swift is set to embark on an 18-city European tour.

She could be set to give the continent's economy a similar boost.

Planeloads of American fans have followed her across the Atlantic, The Associated Press reported on Thursday, which is likely to fuel an uplift in spending.

When Beyoncé came to Sweden's capital, Stockholm, last summer, economists noted that her fans had spent so much on hotels and meals that they'd triggered a slight bump in inflation. This summer, the city is expecting 10,000 extra concertgoers to fly over from the US to see Swift.

Hotel booking statistics also help to capture the sense of how in-demand Eras Tour tickets are.

By August 2023, hotels in Cardiff and Liverpool in the UK — where Swift will be stopping in June — had already reached occupancy levels of more than 50% for her tour dates, hotel research firm STR reported, with rooms in Cardiff going for $230 more than they typically do.

In December, vacation rental data firm AirDNA found that demand for short-term rentals during Swift's tour dates in Vienna, Austria, and Warsaw, Poland, had already surged by around 2,000%.

The economies of Europe arguably need that boost in spending even more than the US did. The ongoing war in Ukraine has hammered the continent, with one country where Swift will play — Ireland — which was in a technical recession as of late last year — and several others, including the UK, having only just exited a period of negative growth.

Perhaps that means it's the perfect time to welcome back Miss Americana.

• Caitlin J., a 42-year-old TV producer, lives in a one-bedroom bomb shelter in Southern California.
• She's living in the underground bunker to save up enough money to buy a condo by next year.
• She said that living in the bunker has challenges, but they're worth it to save $2,000 a month.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Caitlin J., 42, about her experience living in a Southern California bomb shelter. She has requested to have her last name and exact location omitted for privacy reasons, but her identity has been verified by Business Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm from Long Beach originally. But I work in entertainment, so I move around a lot.

After living on the East Coast for a while, I moved back to Southern California this year. Upon returning, I found myself thinking, "I'd love to save some money and buy a condo, but how am I going to do this?"

In most Southern California neighborhoods, home prices typically start in the high five to seven figures. The real-estate market is pretty competitive, too. My brother was searching for a home for four years and got outbid every single time.

I have a really good job, and I could easily afford an apartment. But in my mind, it seems ridiculously wasteful to spend $3,000 a month on something I don't own.

I knew that a friend of mine had purchased a house complete with a bomb shelter in its backyard about two years ago, and she wasn't keen on maintaining the rear part of her property.

I met with her and suggested a solution: If she allowed me to rent the bomb shelter at a very discounted rate, I would ensure its upkeep.

I've been living in the bunker for about 25 days now. She's only charging me $500 a month, and there are no utilities.

It's a steal. You can't even rent an apartment for less than $1,800 in the area.

I may live in a bunker, but I'm not a doomsday prepper

Everyone keeps asking me if I have a secret or if I'm a doomsday prepper. My family also thinks I'm nuts — but this wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've done.

I'm not being coerced, nor am I being kidnapped. Honestly, I'm just renting from a friend!

The bomb shelter occupies about three-quarters of an acre and spans 1,100 square feet.

Essentially, it's divided into two wings, each equipped with its own kitchen — a full-size refrigerator and microwave included. There is no oven.

One side features the main bedroom with a shower and toilet, resembling a small bathroom area. On the other side, you'll find another shower and two toilets. I believe it's designed to sleep around 22 people.

The bunker is equipped with generators and its own air filtration system. Despite being underground, it has heating and air conditioning.

It really never gets hot though. Even when it's 100 degrees outside, it stays a cool 70 degrees below ground. It's incredibly convenient.

It doesn't have windows, so there's no natural sunlight. However, there are two exits, which is the legal requirement for a rental in California. I keep those doors open, allowing sunlight to filter down both staircases.

I also purchased a $20 light from Amazon for the bedroom area. Every morning, it turns on like the sun, gradually changing shades throughout the day.

I had to downsize to fit everything in the bunker

Before moving into the bunker, I lived in a three-bedroom house. Knowing that everything wouldn't fit, I decided to put most of my stuff in a storage unit that I rent for $450 each month.

I only brought in what I feel like I need — my clothes, bathroom essentials, and a few home furnishings. There's already a bed, couches, and tables here, so there's no need for much more.

I've lived in cities my whole life, so I went from being surrounded by noise to absolute silence.

The first couple of nights in the bomb shelter, I slept for like 12 hours. I remember thinking, "This is not good. I have a job." I started putting on rain sounds from my phone, just to have background noise.

The silence has been nice, though.

I work on various television shows, all from my computer with internet access in the bunker. It's been great because there aren't many distractions. I don't hear police sirens or anything. It's really quiet, which allows me to focus.

Living on someone else's property is not so bad. I enter the property through the back gate, so I almost never see my friend unless I ask her to hang out or she invites me over. It's a really good roommate situation.

I always get asked what would happen if I got locked in the bunker, which is funny because it's not in a parking lot — it's in a backyard. If something were to happen, I'd call my friend or the police.

Living in a bunker is similar to living in an RV

I have a lot of friends who live in different cities all over the United States. Everyone is faced with the same problem right now: interest rates have made buying homes unaffordable.

I've had a lot of friends start living in RVs to save up for a down payment. I feel like my situation is similar to theirs.

So far, it's working. I'm probably saving about $2,000 a month living in the bunker.

My end goal is to rent this bunker for about a year and then buy a condo or a small house somewhere in Southern California. Depending on what I find and if interest rates come down, it could be a little shorter or a little longer.

Before the pandemic, homeownership felt like it was out of reach — and now it feels like it's even further out of reach for new homebuyers.

I hope that states will implement more first-time homebuyer programs in the future because, right now, everyone's just scrambling to find affordable housing.

• The US Marines are testing rifle-equipped robot dogs, The War Zone reported.
• The robotic dog was made by Ghost Robotics. Onyx Industries supplied the rifle system.
• The Marine Forces Special Operations Command said it was "not fielding this capability at this time."

The US Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is testing rifle-equipped "robot dogs," according to a report in The War Zone.

The systems are based on the Vision 60 quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicle (Q-UGV) — a midsize, "all-weather ground drone" developed by the Philadelphia-based firm Ghost Robotics.

The Department of Defense has been testing the Q-UGV for several years, using its AI and data analysis capabilities to detect potential threats to military assets.

But MARSOC now appears to be evaluating the addition of offensive capabilities to the machine.

The special forces command unit has two robot dogs equipped with Onyx Industries' SENTRY remote weapon system — one with a 7.62×39 mm caliber rifle and the other with a 6.5 mm Creedmoor caliber rifle, Eric Shell, a business development manager at Onyx Industries, told The War Zone.

He said that MARSOC used the systems in "tunnel work" and "perimeter security," but he declined to say where.

A video posted to Onyx's LinkedIn account shows one of the rifle-equipped machines in action.

MARSOC said in a statement to The War Zone following the initial report that the Q-UGV was being tested "as one of many pieces of technology in ground robotics evaluation."

"MARSOC is not fielding this capability at this time. Weapons are just one of many potential payloads for this piece of technology, and others may include ISR or EW payloads," it continued. "MARSOC is aware of and follows all DoD policy on autonomous weapons, and comments by Onyx Industries may be more indicative of their current or future offerings."

Business Insider has reached out to Onyx Industries and MARSOC for comment.

The 112-lb Vision 60 drone has a top speed of 10 feet per second and can cover up to 10 km, or around 6.2 miles, per Ghost Robotics. It has a maximum payload of about 22 pounds and can operate at full power for three hours, the company adds on its website.

The drone is powered by an Nvidia Xavier chip, and it can be assembled or disassembled in just 15 minutes, per the site.

In a 2022 test of the Vision 60 by the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, participants found the drone controls easy and its software "intuitive."

They added that they were impressed with its ability "to recover after a fall and return to a neutral standing position."

However, the participants noted that the drone struggled to remain upright on slippery surfaces and highlighted an issue with selecting the correct operational modes for different terrains.

• US F-16s will have a big impact in helping Ukraine reclaim Crimea, an analyst told BI.
• The first F-16s are expected to be in Ukraine within weeks, according to reports on Friday.
• Crimea holds great symbolic significance. Retaking it would be a major blow to Putin.

The delivery of US-made F-16s could play a crucial role in Ukraine's attempts to take back occupied Crimea, a defense expert told Business Insider.

Frederik Mertens, a Strategic Analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told BI that by striking Russian ground-based air defense (GBAD) systems, Ukraine is "preparing the ground" for future air strikes once F-16 fighters arrive.

The first F-16s are expected to be in Ukraine within weeks, according to reports on Friday.

Denmark previously said it would begin transferring its aircraft in the summer. Norway and Belgium have also pledged F-16s to Ukraine. Denmark, the US, the UK, France and Romania are helping train Ukrainian pilots.

"We should be careful not to overestimate the impact of the limited number of F-16 fighters," Mertens said, adding that "the land front is vast, and there are a lot of Russians to kill."

But Crimea was "vulnerable," especially when it comes to attacks from F-16 fighters, he said.

"The Russians have relatively limited maneuver space on the peninsula, resupply is dependent on the Kerch bridge, and here, Putin has a lot to lose both politically and militarily," he said.

"If a limited number of fighters can have a real impact, it is here — and above the Black Sea that becomes fully accessible once the GBAD on the Crimea are dealt with."

Despite facing a series of tough setbacks on the Eastern front, where the latest reports say Russian forces have launched a new front to capture Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Ukraine has repeatedly embarrassed Russian forces in and around the Crimean peninsula.

With advanced US weapons, Ukraine's ambition to cut off the territory from mainland Russia and put it in a military stranglehold becomes more likely.

In addition to the F-16s, long-range ATACMS provided by the US to Ukraine have the potential to make Crimea "militarily worthless" to Russia, according to one defense analyst.

In April, The New York Times reported that the US had secretly shipped about 100 Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, to Ukraine, which has reportedly already put them to use.

Crimea is now more symbolic than strategic

Ukraine has consistently said it hopes to recapture Crimea, though some commentators have called this a pipe dream, and has damaged Russian forces with a series of successful operations.

Crimea continues to carry considerable emotional value — to Putin, who considers its 2014 annexation as one of his greatest achievements — and to Ukraine, which sees it as a detested symbol of Russian occupation.

Throughout the war, Ukraine has sunk ships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, bombed the port of Sevastopol, and targeted the strategic Kerch Bridge that connects the peninsula to Russia.

In the latest blow on Monday, Ukraine used an exploding naval drone to destroy a Russian military speedboat in Crimea.

Crimea also serves as a crucial logistics hub and military supply route to occupied southern Ukraine, and it is the launchpad for several Russian missile and drone attacks.

In mid-April, Ukraine claimed to have struck the Dzhankoi military base, in northern Crimea, including a prized S-400 air defense launcher.

Last year, in July, a series of massive explosions roared through a Russian ammunition storage facility on the peninsula, forcing thousands of residents of nearby areas to flee.

The Kerch bridge, which connects the peninsula to Russia, has also been significantly damaged twice by Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.

The first explosion, in October 2022, saw the bridge's road section collapse and a subsequent attack in July 2023 using sea drones appears to have targeted its support struts.

There are signs that these attacks are forcing Russia to rethink its use of the peninsula and the Kerch bridge.

In an examination earlier this month of Maxar satellite images by open-source intelligence agency Molfar, analysts said that between February and mid-April, they saw no Russian freight trains carrying military equipment on the Kerch Bridge.

"This may indicate a reluctance on Russia's part to transport military cargo via the bridge after previous attacks and the use of alternative routes," Molfar said in its report.

• Ukraine's International Legion was born in 2022, a home for foreigners eager to fight Russia.
• Ukraine said 20,000 signed up, though experts said 4,000 was a more realistic peak figure.
• In 2024, the legion is depleted by years of harsh reality and casualty rates extreme even for Ukraine.

Three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a clarion call for "friends of peace and democracy" to join the fight from abroad.

Zelensky's International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU) was born, echoing the International Brigades that fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

Many answered. Outside Ukraine's embassy in London Business Insider found men lining up to serve.

"If they need to shove a rifle in my hands and put me on the front, then that's what they need to do," said one, a nightclub worker.

"It's better than sitting with my thumb up my ass."

The Legion emerged from these recruits — some with military experience, some without.

It has been deployed across the front lines in some of the war's toughest battles, where any of its members died.

Carl Larson, a US veteran who served in Iraq, spent three months fighting around Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv in the summer of 2022. He told BI his comrades' motivations were mixed.

"Many of us were there for the right reasons, to defend democracy," he said.

"Lots of others," though, "were there for the wrong reasons: adrenaline junkies, people looking for a surrogate family, or because they had personal problems back home."

Studies from in July and September last year by the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) reached a similar conclusion.

Some parleyed their postings into fame on social media, issuing impassioned dispatches from the war zone.

BI's coverage of the International Legion since its inception found that recruits were a mixed bag of qualified veterans, glory-seekers and people trying to give their often chaotic live meaning but totally unsuitable for a military role in a war zone.

In one case, a Legion volunteer from Alabama even defected to Russia.

Some volunteers barely lasted a week. A Russian missile strike in March 2022 hit a base near Lviv being used for foreign fighters.

According to Ukrainian officials, dozens of Ukrainians were killed and more than 100 foreign volunteers injured, ending their campaigns before they began.

Marco Bocchese, assistant professor of international relations at Webster Vienna Private University and an author of the September RUSI study, called the attack a "watershed moment" for many foreign volunteers.

Ukraine originally said 20,000 foreign volunteers had signed up to fight. Bocchese told BI that this figure was "pure propaganda."

In January last year, The Washington Post estimated that the figure was likely closer to 3,000.

Four experts contacted for this report estimated the May 2024 strength of the legion at between 1,000 and 2,000.

Some foreigners have found other homes in the Ukrainian military: in the intelligence services, or in separate Ukrainian units, such as the elite Chosen Company — a reconnaissance and assault unit composed of US and Australian volunteers within the 59th Motorized Brigade.

This video from 2023 shows the Chosen Company at work:

Matteo Pugliese, a researcher at the University of Barcelona who authored the July study, told BI that Ukrainian intelligence coordinates its own branch of foreign volunteers.

"This includes three Russian groups, Belarusian units, the Georgian Legion, and Western veterans with better combat skills," he said.

All told, this might add another 1,000 or 2,000 soldiers, for a total of 3,000-4,000 foreigners fighting in Ukraine.

They are at best a small fraction of Ukraine's 800,000-strong military.

Killed in action

International fighters proved "more expendable than Ukrainian soldiers for high-risk operations," Pugliese said.

Indeed, Larson, who headed a 25-man platoon of legionaries in 2022, said he and his men were a "sacrificial unit."

"We were a speed bump," he said. "If the Russians had come, we could have held them up for maybe an hour."

Larson said that many foreign volunteers, especially those who had fought in places like the deserts of Iraq, struggled to adapt to both the terrain in Ukraine as well as the weapons used there.

"We lost many guys to drones," he said.

The Legion's press service declined to comment on its strength, citing security reasons.

A spokesman, Oleksandr Shahuri, said that more than 100 nationalities had joined up.

A report by Task and Purpose in February of this year concluded that at least 50 of those who died were US citizens, a figure that is likely an undercount.

Of those 50, most had served in the US military, including 20+ Army veterans and 12 ex-Marines.

There was a Green Beret and a Navy SEAL. Some had conventional military careers, others left after getting into trouble.

A US State Department spokesperson said there is no official tally.

"Our ability to verify reports of deaths of US citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited," they said. "In addition, not all US citizen deaths may be reported to US authorities. For these reasons, we are unable to provide a definitive number of all US citizens who have been killed."

The Legion's future

Earlier this year, Zelenskyy issued a decree allowing foreign nationals legally in the country to enter its National Guard. He also proposed legislation making it easier for foreigners defending Ukraine to receive citizenship.

That could prove "very enticing" for some foreign volunteers, Bocchese said. "Many want to make Ukraine their future home."

In some states, fighting for Ukraine means giving up your freedom back home. Austria, Montenegro, Kosovo, and India made it illegal to join up.

"Some will be facing criminal sanctions upon returning home for the fact that they enlisted in a foreign unit," Bocchese said.

For that reason, many hope to gain citizenship and "put roots down," said Larson, the US veteran.

Ukraine's efforts to draft its own men mean the Legion is "no longer decisive or relevant in strategic terms," Pugliese said.

An April 2024 increases payments for Ukrainian volunteers, adds new punishments for draft dodging, and seeks to compel Ukrainian men living abroad to come home.

According to Larson, who continues to help recruiters for the Legion, sign-ups have dwindled by two thirds since the flood of March 2022.

"Half the signups are from Latin America now," he noted, a big shift.

In the fall of 2023, the Legion began admitting Spanish-speaking applicants, many of whom were inadmissible before, Pugliese told BI.

Some had made it in but were mistreated by their officers, he said.

The new Bolivar Battalion, for example, was formed by fighters from Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia and was is led by a Venezuelan anti-government fighter.

Many are former professional soldiers from Colombia, battle-hardened fighting drug cartels and rebel groups in their homeland.

Experienced non-commissioned officers can earn four times as much as back home, or even more, the Associated Press reported.

Latin Americans "have different motivations from typical Western soldiers," Larson told BI.

"They're there for the money."

• Elon Musk told staff on April 15 that Tesla planned to cut more than 10% of its workforce.
• On Monday, Tesla staff entered their fourth straight week of layoff notices.
• Here's everything you need to know about what led to the layoffs and what's happened since.

Elon Musk is going through Tesla like a wrecking ball and heads are rolling left and right.

In April, Musk turned his focus toward Tesla in a way some workers said they hadn't seen since he dropped $44 billion on his Twitter purchase nearly two years ago — selling off a number of his Tesla shares in the process. On April 15, the Tesla CEO sent a late-night companywide email, notifying staff that the automaker planned to slash more than 10% of its workforce.

Since Musk's announcement, the layoffs at Tesla have been ongoing. Several executives at the company have departed and Tesla workers say morale is flagging.

Here's a rundown of what led to the layoffs and what's happened since Tesla kicked off the cuts.

Tesla faces headwinds

Ahead of the layoffs, Tesla's delivery numbers slumped, falling below Wall Street's estimates. Tesla deliveries in the first quarter fell 20% from the previous quarter and more than 8% from the same time the previous year, marking the company's first year-on-year sales decline since 2020.

In a press release, Tesla blamed the decline in deliveries on its production ramp for its refreshed Model 3, an arson attack at its factory near Berlin, and supply-chain issues caused by the Red Sea conflict.

Tesla and other automakers are grappling with slower demand for their EVs. Musk had warned earlier in 2024 that the company was "between two major growth waves" as rising interest rates and economic uncertainty shake the market.

At the same time, Tesla is battling to compete with electric car companies in China — the largest EV market in the world. Chinese company BYD even briefly overtook Tesla to become the world's top seller of electric vehicles in January.

More on the EV slowdown:

• Tesla can't outrun the EV slowdown
• GM and Ford's gas-powered profits and hybrid successes show how hard it will be for Tesla to weather an EV slowdown
• EVs are running out of customers — and some dealers don't want them anymore

The cuts commence

Before Musk notified staff of the mass layoff, workers had been wary of impending cuts.

In February, Bloomberg reported that the carmaker called for managers to begin identifying the most vital roles for the company. At the time, Tesla also delayed some workers' performance reviews, Bloomberg reported. The reviews were later rescheduled, three sources told BI.

The day before the cuts kicked off, rumors circulated within the company that the billionaire planned to eliminate as much as 20% of its workforce. Tesla workers hadn't seen such a deep cut since 2022 when Tesla slashed 10% of its salaried staff.

On April 15, the hammer fell when Musk announced the company was eliminating more than 10% of its employees.

Musk said the layoff resulted from the "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas."

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done," Musk wrote, according to a copy of the memo that was viewed by Business Insider. "This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle."

By the next day, hundreds of workers learned they'd been impacted by the cuts when they were locked out of Tesla's internal systems and received a "Dear Employee" memo to their personal email accounts. Other employees only learned they'd been laid off when their badge didn't work at a Tesla facility on Monday morning.

During Tesla's earnings call on April 23, Musk said Tesla needs to reorganize for its next phase of growth.

"We're not giving up anything that significant that I'm aware of," Musk said during the call.

More on Tesla's first week of layoffs:

• A major Tesla executive left after 18 years at the company amid mass layoffs
• Some Tesla factory workers realized they were laid off when security scanned their badges and sent them back on shuttles, sources say
• Tesla layoffs hit international offices
• Tesla has begun sending out severance info to laid-off workers. Here's how much they're getting.
• Elon Musk apologized for 'incorrectly low' Tesla severance packages
• Tesla tells some laid-off employees their separation agreements are canceled and new ones are on the way
• Tesla sends some laid-off workers new severance offers after Elon Musk said some were 'incorrectly low' the first time

Layoff notices continue to go out in waves

After Tesla started notifying workers who had been laid off on April 16, they didn't stop. Later that week, the cuts hit Tesla's recruiting team. In the weeks that followed, Musk cut Tesla's US advertising team and reportedly chose to slash Tesla's entire Supercharging team, as well as its vehicle programs and new product introduction team.

On May 6, workers at the company entered their fourth straight week of layoff notices as Tesla cut staff from teams that had been previously impacted in the first wave of layoff notices, five sources told BI.

Amid the cuts, several executives have taken leave of the company — from Tesla's former senior director of human resources to its SVP of powertrain and electrical engineering. On Wednesday, Tesla's former head of new product launches said he'd chosen to resign because the layoffs had thrown the company "out of balance."

The resignations and cuts have further consolidated Musk's power at Tesla. The CEO now has 35 direct reports, according to The Information. He also chose to relocate Tesla's second-in-command Tom Zhu back to China.

Meanwhile, as the cuts continue, workers say they're waiting for the billionaire to finally call a cease-fire.

"I keep waiting for Elon to send another email and tell us they're finally done firing people," one current Tesla worker, who requested anonymity to speak on the conditions of their employment, said. "We need some level of closure or a sign that we can stop worrying about losing our jobs."

More on the ongoing layoffs:

• Tesla's layoffs week continues with recruiters the latest to lose their jobs
• Tesla layoffs impacted nearly 12% of its Texas staff
• Tesla's chaotic layoffs leave employees nervous and wondering when the cuts will end
• Tesla sends out another wave of layoff notices as employees enter 4th week of job cuts

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or via the secure-messaging app Signal at 248-894-6012

• A 10-foot-wide house was built on a lot in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
• If the neighborhood had its way, there wouldn't be a house there at all.
• It's being listed for $619,000 and has interest from those who want a low-maintenance lifestyle.

What was once an empty residual lot used as a garden by a neighbor is now a 1,547-square-foot home in Jacksonville Beach, Florida — only 10 feet wide.

The two-story house sits on a 25-foot wide lot (with a lot of depth) and even has space for a garage.

The listing agent, Ryan Wetherhold of Oceanside Real Estate, and builder, John Atkins, regularly build on these leftover lots and anticipated having a little more space for a home.

"What you can do on these smaller lots is you can go in front of a board of adjustment, and they'll allow you to build more than the building code is allowed," Wetherhold told Business Insider.

If the neighborhood had its way, there wouldn't be a house there at all. The neighborhood attended the public hearing voicing concerns — mainly from a next-door neighbor who used the untouched lot as a garden — and persuaded the board to disallow any adjustments.

"And to be honest, the builder almost built this out of spite just because of that fact, 'Oh, you don't think we can build, hold my beer,'" Wetherhold said.

They were stuck building a 10-foot-wide home instead of a 15-foot-wide home, but they still managed to attract buyers. Take a look inside.

Wetherhold said this particular lot was probably plotted back in the mid-1900s.

"We don't create our own subdivisions and build — typically, we build on lots that exist," he said. "In this particular neighborhood, which is typical of beach areas or areas of high density, you'll get some areas of smaller lots."

In the 2000s, a developer built on nearly 90% of the lots in the community, but this was left out.

The lots were all 25 feet wide, according to Wetherhold, but eventually, some owners started to combine lots together, leaving some uneven spacing.

Wetherhold and John Atkins have built narrow homes on these leftover lots before and usually get some grace regarding building codes.

"They'll say, 'OK, you can build within the setbacks, you can build wider, you can build deeper, you can go up front,'" he said. "Typically, it's a fairly straightforward process."

However, due to complaints from some of the neighbors, they had to build the house within the codes they were given.

"What we were left with was to build within the building code, a modern building code that's been revised that's pretty conservative at 35% law coverage and seven-and-a-half-foot setbacks on each side," Wetherhold said. "So it made us build a 10-foot wide house. We had no other choice."

A next-door neighbor had used the plot as a garden and persuaded others to complain about the house being built.

"Had they understood the process better they would've worked with us to help us build a wider home," Wetherhold said. "But their whole idea was once the pot got served, 'We can stop it from being built,' which is counterintuitive because obviously that was not the case.

Because of the building constraints, the home has some interesting features.

While it is only 25 feet wide, the lot is 140 feet deep — deeper than some typical lots in the neighborhood, Wetherhold said.

Another cool feature of the home are the bump-outs — similar to what you would see in an RV.

"You're not supposed to put floor area in them, but you can put seating area — so you're not able to stand on it, but you can do build-in seating," Wetherhold said. "We built a ton of built-in seating because it's narrow anyway. To try to put a couch in a 10-foot-wide house isn't really practical."

The home doesn’t come fully furnished but, some pieces of furniture will stay in the house, like the custom dining room table.

"The builder's son did this really cool dining table that was made from boards from when our pier was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew," Wetherhold said, referring to the 2016 storm that destroyed a pier in Jacksonville Beach and caused damage throughout the Atlantic coast. "He kept all those boards and then made a dining room table front on it, which was a really cool thing."

The house was finished in 2024 and listed in March for $619,000.

Wetherhold said he had a deal lined up within the first week, but it fell through.

Wetherhold originally had a lower price in mind, but once the house started to come together, he thought he could aim higher.

"We thought originally we'd be maybe $450,000 to $500,000, and then as it evolved and we started to see it come to fruition and actually walk through it and finish it out, it really felt better than the way it looked on paper," he said. "Ten feet wide does not sound appealing at all, but once you're inside, the typical room is maybe 12 to 15 feet wide.

Wetherhold said the activity on the house slowed down after the first deal fell through, but after being featured on 'Zillow Gone Wild,' more people became interested — even just to look at it.

"I had an open house the weekend after the 'Zillow Gone Wild,' and it was a three-hour open house, and I probably had 300 people to 400 people — which is just unheard of."

While the neighborhood is filled with homes in the high-six-figure to million-dollar range, Wetherhold said this home was for someone who wants low house matinence.

Wetherhold said the house is perfect for "a person that wants to be in a neighborhood of million-dollar homes but doesn't want a maintenance factor of that and still wants to be in a nice area and pay about half the price."

"And come to find out, we weren't sure if that was a niche that was out there, but sure enough it is," he added.

• A Gen X couple moved 15 times in 25 years, bouncing across Canada and Taiwan. 
• They said Taiwan was much more affordable than Canada, but that they missed their families. 
• The costs of moving took a toll on their finances, but they said it helped them grow as a couple.

Becky Martin and her husband, Craig Schmidt, recently set a record as a couple: They've lived in the same place for nearly five years.

In the roughly 25 years they've been together, they've moved 15 different times across Canada and Taiwan, Martin, 45, told Business Insider via email. It's had a mixed impact on their finances and well-being.

Early on, moving was great for the couple from a financial perspective. In the early 2000s, when they were based in Burlington, Ontario, Martin said they were "drowning" in student loan debt, working intense hours, and struggling to save any money. But then they were presented with an idea.

An old college roommate of Martin's had moved to Taiwan and recommended she do the same to take advantage of the country's lower cost-of-living. They took the leap and paid off roughly $30,000 ($40,000 in Canadian dollars) in combined debt in just one year, Martin said.

However, the couple decided to return to Canada after two years. Several moves and over two decades later, Martin said relocating so often took a significant toll on their finances.

"The financial impact is continually burning through the money you've saved to start again," she said. "It's a vicious cycle. The loss you sustain selling all your possessions for a fraction of the cost, the cost of flights, moving fees, VISAs, first and last month's rent, buying a new vehicle, and furnishings. The result is you never really get ahead."

In recent years, the flexibility of remote work and high housing costs have motivated many Americans to move to areas with lower costs of living. But Business Insider has spoken with several individuals who, for a variety of reasons, came to regret their moves.

Many others have looked at the financial and emotional costs of moving and decided they're not worth it. In 2022, 8.7% of Americans lived in a different residence than they did a year ago, only up slightly from the record low rate of 8.4% in 2021. There are many explanations for this trend, but in recent years, some people have been hesitant to give up their low mortgage rates, childcare support, and current employment. The cost of moving can be a deterrent as well.

Martin and Schmidt shared why they moved so often, how they balanced finances with other priorities, and whether they regretted relocating as much as they did. Business Insider viewed several documents to verify their moves.

Moving to Taiwan was great for their finances — but came with downsides

Martin is a child and youth worker, while Schmidt is a graphic designer. When they lived in Taiwan, they both worked as English teachers. In 2004, after two years in Taiwan, during which they moved three times, the couple decided to return to Canada, in part so they could return to their careers and families.

The couple bounced around to several different residences over the next few years but set out to live a "traditional married life" in which they excelled at their jobs, found a home, had kids, and lived "happily ever after," Martin said.

But they found this dream difficult to accomplish, in part because their finances began to strain again, and debt started piling up.

So in 2009, the couple decided to move back to Taiwan. Martin said they paid off about $33,000 in debt ($45,000 in Canadian dollars) in a year-and-a-half and lived in an apartment with a beautiful view for less than $1,000 a month.

"We knew the job, the culture, the weather, expectations, and how much money we could make and save," she said.

This time, they stayed in Taiwan for over seven years, moving twice during this span. But they eventually found themselves missing family and friends.

"Being over 12,000 kilometers away from people meant that you couldn't share your life with those important to you," Martin said. "With aging parents and some deaths in the family, we decided to move back to Canada for good."

She said the "hidden costs of moving," which included having to say goodbye to meaningful relationships, had become apparent to them.

"Every time we left, our foundation would crumble," she said. "We had to start making a solid foundation if we wanted a solid life."

The best places to live in Asia from a financial perspective

Martin said it took them some time to transition back to Canada and figure out where they wanted to settle down.

They initially moved back to Stratford, Ontario before moving to Kitchener, where they've resided for about the last five years. Martin said Kitchener is close enough to Toronto to enjoy the city but far enough away to avoid the high costs and congestion.

From a financial perspective, Martin said she doesn't think there's a "good place" to live in Canada — you just have to find a way to make it work.

"Canada is expensive and the only cheaper places are far north," she said. "The further north you go, the cheaper it gets, but it's far away from most people, job opportunities, and nicer weather."

Based on Martin's personal research and experience, she said Taiwan is one of the few places in Asia that checks two boxes: low cost of living and relatively high pay.

"Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and big cities in China are all very expensive places to live — you make more but pay more," she said. "If you decide on places like the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India, are all exciting and beautiful places, but pay little. The cost of living is low, but so is your salary."

Martin said the language barrier was one of the main downsides of living in Taiwan. She said Mandarin, a common language in Taiwan, is a very difficult language to learn.

Despite the stress and financial challenges that came with moving so often, Martin said she has "no regrets."

"I've learned so much about myself by starting over again and again," she said. "My relationship with Craig has only gotten stronger and we have a million stories and experiences to talk about and revisit."

Schmidt agreed.

"It strengthened our marriage and gave us opportunities to reinvent ourselves," he said. "Each time we moved, it was for a good reason."

Have you recently moved and are willing to share your story? Reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.