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Ukraine's military engineers are pushing robotics into some of the most claustrophobic battlefields imaginable. The country's second National Guard Corps is modifying unmanned ground vehicles to navigate underground gas pipelines, spaces far too narrow for conventional soldiers, conducting reconnaissance and combat operations against Russian troops using those tunnels to bypass frontline defenses.
Closer to the software workbench, a developer has released BootForge, a native USB creation tool for both Linux and Windows that draws direct inspiration from Rufus and Ventoy. It's an early-stage project with minimal traction so far, but it speaks to a persistent demand in the open-source community for reliable, cross-platform bootable drive utilities that don't require workarounds.
And on the diplomatic front, European nations are inserting themselves into Russia-Ukraine peace talks scheduled for Abu Dhabi next week. France's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot made clear that Europeans intend to have a seat at the table, saying plainly that no one will speak in their name without them present, a pointed signal as the shape of any potential ceasefire remains deeply contested.
That's where things stand today. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
