Russia’s Shadow Fleet Turns to Nets and Rubber Tires for Makeshift Drone Armor

sis Notching wins from Washington, the Russian leader is talking with foreign leaders and could return to diplomatic center stage with possible summit meetings./ Listen · 5:38 min/ Share full article/ A person in a dark suit and red tie looks toward the viewer, with other people and an ornate gold wall in the background./ President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during a Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on Thursday./ By Paul Sonne/ Reporting from Berlin/ Nov. 1, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET/ He took a rare call from the Finnish and Norwegian leaders. He hosted Qatar’s emir and Iran’s president at a forum of gas-exporting countries./ And he squired African heads of state around a Moscow exhibition, advising them to control social media networks in their own nations, or risk mass protests like those that have gripped France. There, he promoted Russia’s answer to Starlink, but said Russia was in close contact with Elon Musk, whom he called “a brilliant man.”/ President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia engaged in a frenzy of diplomatic activity in the Russian capital this past week that underscored how, nearly five years into his war against Ukraine, he is thwarting Western attempts to isolate him and muscling his way back to center stage in global affairs./ Mr. Putin has been winning praise, high-level meeting invitations and concessions from the United States, even while escalating the war and showing no intention of compromising. The news that the Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on Russia’s flagship government investment fund came after President Trump agreed to import Russian diesel fuel and the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, praised Mr. Putin as a humanitarian./ “In the Kremlin, I think they are really celebrating,” said Stefan Meister, a Russia analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He added, “No matter what they are doing or not doing, they are getting things they didn’t even expect.”/ Mr. Putin is slated to travel to Shenzhen, China, in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where a possible trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping of China and Mr. Trump would put Russia on apparently equal footing with the two global superpowers. He could then go to Miami in December for the Group of 20 summit, should he accept an invitation that Mr. Trump extended, to the dismay of some U.S. allies./ As Mr. Putin chips away at his ostracism in the West, relations between the United States and Ukraine have continued to deteriorate, underscoring Kyiv’s vulnerability ahead of what is expected to be the worst winter of the war./ Image/ Two people cross a street under a wide, mesh canopy overhead. One person pulls a wheeled cart; the other carries a bag./ The scene in Kherson, Ukraine, where the streets are covered in netting to protect against drone attacks. Credit...David Guttenfelder/The New York Times/ Last month, Mr. Trump publicly urged Ukrainians to replace President Volodymyr Zelensky and called him an obstacle to peace. Then the Ukrainian military lost some critical access to the military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet constellation. Ukraine is running low on U.S.-made air defenses./ For years, Mr. Putin has suggested that he can outlast the resolve of Ukraine’s American and European backers. With Mr. Trump turning against Kyiv and entertaining more deals with Moscow, while unrest and a potential debt crisis boost the far right in France, Mr. Putin may feel that his waiting is about to pay off./ “Putin has the impression that he was right,” Mr. Meister said. “That he had to wait it out and in the end he can get more than he could have dreamed of from Trump.”/ As the rift between the United States and Ukraine grows, Europe has reached a perilous moment, struggling to agree on whether to speak directly to Mr. Putin and if so, who should do the talking./ President Alexander Stubb of Finland and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway called Mr. Putin on Tuesday, in what Mr. Putin later characterized as a sign that some European leaders want constructive dialogue./ The call prompted controversy within Europe, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark accusing the Finnish and Norwegian leaders of “going solo.”/ But Mr. Meister said the call was a recognition of the danger facing Europe. “They are really afraid there is a breaking point and we are losing the U.S.,” he said./ For weeks, Mr. Putin has been criticizing European leaders, accusing them of taking on too much debt, driving up costs for their people by refusing Russian gas, and failing to represent their society’s real interests by sending aid to Ukraine./ Image/ A public screen shows a person in a suit against a red, white, and blue backdrop in an evening scene. Below, silhouetted figures walk down glowing steps into an underpass. An image of Mr. Putin in Moscow last month.Credit...Anastasia Barashkova/Reuters/ “Europe is dealing a blow to its own industry and social sector by abandoning Russian energy supplies and tearing up long-term contracts,” he said at a gas exporters’ event in Moscow on Tuesday. “You know, there is a saying in Russian: ‘Don’t dig a pit for others, or you may fall into it yourself.’”/ Hanna Notte, an analyst at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the author of a book on Mr. Putin’s foreign policy, “We Shall Outlast Them,” said the Russian leader was clearly aiming his comments at France and Germany, where far-right parties are popular and campaigning on ending support for Ukraine. The French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, leads in polling for the presidential election next spring./ “This is the line that Russia has been pushing for a while, and it makes total sense to do this ahead of elections in various European countries,” Ms. Notte said./ The aim, Ms. Notte said, is to convince European voters that politicians “are not acting in the interests of their own people, that they are spending all that money to militarize, to prepare for a war against Russia, instead of dealing with their own social problems at home — exhibit A being France and the protests.” Paul Sonne is the Moscow bureau chief, leading coverage of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. He is based in Berlin./ See more on: Russia-Ukraine War, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, G-20, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Elon Musk/ Share full article/ Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine/ Putin’s Isolation: President Vladimir Putin of Russia recently engaged in a frenzy of diplomatic activity, underscoring how he is thwarting Western attempts to isolate him and muscling his way back to center stage in global affairs./ Sergey Lavrov: A U.S.-hosted gathering of foreign ministers got off to an awkward start when a planned group photo was canceled after some diplomats refused to pose alongside Russia’s top diplomat./ Russian News Outlet Will Shut Down: Journalists at the fiercely independent Novaya Gazeta, whose co-founder received the Nobel Peace Prize, said the Russian government had orchestrated its demise./ Fighting in Underground Gas Pipes: A reporter went underground to experience war’s subterranean future as drones dominate the skies./ How We Verify Our Reporting/ Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details./ We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. 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