Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 30th, 2026: Russia Issues a New Nuclear Warning to NATO & Terror in the Cockpit

Transcript

PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 30th, 2026: Russia Issues a New Nuclear Warning to NATO & Terror in the Cockpit · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Wednesday,
• 0:12
  the 30th of September.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the BDB
• 0:15
  afternoon bulletin.
• 0:16
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:17
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:20
  Alright.
• 0:21
  Let's get briefed.
• 0:22
  First up,
• 0:23
  Moscow has issued a new nuclear warning to NATO.
• 0:27
  Here they go again,
• 0:28
  saying an effort to cut off
• 0:29
  Kaliningrad
• 0:30
  could trigger a far more dangerous confrontation.
• 0:34
  Later in the show,
• 0:34
  a midair struggle aboard a Fly Dubai flight
• 0:38
  where Israeli officials say passengers stopped the Omani co-pilot
• 0:43
  from crashing the plane.
• 0:45
  But first,
• 0:45
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 0:48
  Russia is drawing a nuclear red line for NATO this time around Kaliningrad.
• 0:53
  According to a diplomatic note seen by Reuters.
• 0:56
  Moscow has warned the alliance that if NATO attempts
• 0:59
  to isolate Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia,
• 1:02
  the Kremlin would be prepared to use the entire
• 1:05
  arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal,
• 1:09
  including nuclear weapons,
• 1:11
  end quote.
• 1:12
  The same message
• 1:13
  also warned that Russian strikes against NATO decision making centers
• 1:17
  could come right from the outset of a conflict.
• 1:20
  Well,
• 1:21
  nobody rattles the nuclear saber
• 1:24
  like Putin's minions can rattle the nuclear saber.
• 1:27
  Since the invasion of Ukraine,
• 1:28
  Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian
• 1:30
  officials have repeatedly raised the possibility of
• 1:33
  nuclear escalation when warning Western governments against
• 1:36
  deeper involvement in the war.
• 1:38
  Moscow has issued warnings over long-range weapons,
• 1:41
  attacks on Russian territory,
• 1:43
  and other perceived threats.
• 1:44
  Then in 2024,
• 1:46
  Putin formally lowered the threshold
• 1:48
  under which Russia says it could consider nuclear use.
• 1:52
  Western officials have often treated those threats as an
• 1:55
  effort to intimidate NATO
• 1:57
  and constrain support for Ukraine.
• 1:59
  US intelligence assessments have previously concluded
• 2:02
  that Russian nuclear use remained
• 2:04
  unlikely despite increasingly aggressive rhetoric.
• 2:08
  So this is not the first time that Moscow has played the nuclear card.
• 2:12
  What makes this warning stand out is,
• 2:14
  well,
• 2:14
  how specific it is.
• 2:16
  Kaliningrad is a heavily militarized Russian territory on the Baltic Sea
• 2:21
  wedged between Poland and Lithuania.
• 2:23
  It's separated geographically from the rest of Russia
• 2:26
  and sits inside one of the most sensitive areas
• 2:29
  on NATO's eastern front.
• 2:31
  Moscow is now explicitly saying that an attempt to cut that territory off
• 2:36
  could cross a nuclear threshold.
• 2:38
  Russia says NATO's military exercises,
• 2:41
  intelligence flights,
• 2:42
  sanctions,
• 2:42
  ship interceptions,
• 2:43
  and
• 2:44
  other activities around the Baltic.
• 2:46
  Are creating what it calls
• 2:48
  a dangerous and reckless course toward direct conflict.
• 2:51
  Well,
• 2:52
  some could argue that invading Ukraine
• 2:55
  created a dangerous and reckless course,
• 2:57
  but
• 2:58
  one can't expect Putin and his cadre of special military operations warmongers
• 3:03
  to have any self-awareness.
• 3:05
  Russian embassies across Europe have also been issuing
• 3:08
  warnings in recent days about scenarios involving Kaliningrad.
• 3:12
  Now NATO says there's no plan to attack or isolate the territory.
• 3:16
  Secretary General Mark Rutte
• 3:18
  responded by telling Moscow to stop the nuclear threats.
• 3:21
  Just stop it,
• 3:22
  Vladimir,
• 3:23
  stressing that NATO is a defensive alliance
• 3:26
  and that its exercises do not threaten Russian territory.
• 3:29
  Asked whether he believed Russia was preparing to
• 3:31
  use nuclear weapons against the Baltic states,
• 3:34
  Rutte said no
• 3:35
  and added that there is no imminent threat to NATO territory.
• 3:39
  But this warning does come at a particularly tense moment.
• 3:42
  European governments are accusing Russia of conducting
• 3:45
  a broader hybrid campaign across the continent
• 3:48
  sabotage,
• 3:48
  arson,
• 3:49
  cyberattacks,
• 3:50
  and
• 3:50
  other operations
• 3:52
  that do stop short of open war.
• 3:54
  Moscow,
• 3:55
  of course,
• 3:55
  denies those accusations.
• 3:57
  Well,
• 3:57
  here on the PDB we just reported on Estonia's allegation
• 4:01
  that Russian intelligence commissioned an
• 4:02
  arson attack against Milware Robotics,
• 4:05
  that's a defense company
• 4:07
  supplying equipment to Ukraine.
• 4:09
  NATO has also stepped up intelligence sharing
• 4:11
  in response to what members describe as
• 4:14
  a growing campaign of Russian covert activity.
• 4:18
  All right.
• 4:18
  Coming up next,
• 4:19
  passengers aboard a Tel Aviv-bound Fly Dubai flight
• 4:22
  reportedly fought and restrained a co-pilot who tried to crash the plane
• 4:26
  after attacking the pilot.
• 4:28
  I'll be right back.
• 4:30
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  Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin.
• 6:42
  A flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv
• 6:44
  turned into a struggle for control of the aircraft
• 6:47
  when a fight broke out in the cockpit.
• 6:49
  Israeli sources say the Omani co-pilot stabbed the captain
• 6:53
  and tried to hijack the plane in the suspected terrorist attack.
• 6:57
  Details are still rolling in,
• 6:59
  but here's what we know so far.
• 7:01
  The violence unfolded Wednesday morning aboard a FlyDubai flight
• 7:05
  traveling from Dubai International Airport
• 7:07
  to Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport
• 7:10
  with roughly 150 Israeli passengers aboard.
• 7:14
  At approximately 8:20 a.m.
• 7:16
  local time,
• 7:17
  flight tracking data reviewed by CNN shows the
• 7:20
  aircraft plunging 17,400 ft over northwestern Saudi Arabia.
• 7:25
  In less than 2 minutes it plunged from 34,000 ft
• 7:29
  to around 16,600 ft.
• 7:32
  Israeli sources describe a violent attempt to take over the aircraft,
• 7:36
  saying the co-pilot stabbed the captain.
• 7:38
  CNN reported that the aircraft transmitted an emergency signal at 8:31 a.m.,
• 7:44
  followed minutes later by code 7500,
• 7:46
  which signals a hijacking.
• 7:49
  People aboard reportedly stepped in.
• 7:51
  One Israeli official told CNN that
• 7:52
  an Israeli passenger helped restrain the co-pilot.
• 7:55
  Saudi airport operator Cluster Two
• 7:58
  says Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tobbuk,
• 8:02
  that's in Saudi Arabia of course,
• 8:04
  received a distress call requesting an emergency landing
• 8:07
  at 8:44 a.m.
• 8:08
  local time,
• 8:09
  and just over an hour later,
• 8:11
  the plane landed safely.
• 8:13
  Both pilots were taken to a hospital with injuries
• 8:16
  while passengers received care in the airport terminal.
• 8:20
  But getting those passengers back to Israel,
• 8:22
  well,
• 8:22
  that presented another problem.
• 8:24
  Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel,
• 8:27
  and an Israeli official told CNN
• 8:29
  that Riyadh refused to allow an Israeli
• 8:31
  civilian or military aircraft into the kingdom
• 8:34
  to collect those passengers.
• 8:36
  Fly Dubai instead sent a replacement aircraft to Tebok
• 8:40
  to bring them back to Tel Aviv,
• 8:41
  where their families obviously were waiting at Ben-Gurion Airport.
• 8:45
  Now one of the passengers who intervened.
• 8:48
  Described just how desperate the struggle inside the cockpit was.
• 8:51
  Passenger Yaniv Hayoun
• 8:53
  told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday night
• 8:56
  that he helped restrain the alleged attacker
• 8:58
  before returning to grab the aircraft's controls himself.
• 9:01
  Hayoun said he initially struggled to get into the cockpit
• 9:04
  amid the wounded pilot's desperate shouts for help
• 9:07
  because he was pressed against the door.
• 9:09
  When Hayoun finally got inside,
• 9:10
  neither pilot was in a seat.
• 9:12
  He said one was on the floor while the alleged attacker was on
• 9:15
  the panel between the seats appearing to try to disable the aircraft.
• 9:20
  Hayoun said he called for help,
• 9:21
  and two other men joined him.
• 9:23
  He described putting the alleged attacker in a choke hold,
• 9:25
  dragging him out of the cockpit,
• 9:27
  and helping pin him down.
• 9:29
  Then Hayoun
• 9:30
  reportedly returned to the cockpit,
• 9:32
  grabbed the controls,
• 9:33
  and began pulling back on the handles.
• 9:35
  By his account,
• 9:36
  it all happened in seconds.
• 9:38
  Other passengers described the fear that was spreading through the cabin.
• 9:41
  One passenger told Israel's I-24 channel,
• 9:44
  quote,
• 9:44
  We just heard screams,
• 9:46
  and then the cockpit door opened and we saw a huge amount of blood.
• 9:50
  She described the aircraft as quote,
• 9:51
  completely out of control.
• 9:53
  A woman interviewed by Reuters relayed what her daughter,
• 9:56
  who was aboard the flight,
• 9:57
  told her.
• 9:58
  She said her daughter heard the pilot screaming for help
• 10:01
  and saw a man wielding a knife with blood everywhere.
• 10:04
  Two Israeli officials told CNN that the co-pilot is an Omani national.
• 10:09
  Authorities have not publicly released his name.
• 10:12
  Oman and Israel
• 10:14
  have no formal diplomatic relations,
• 10:16
  so investigators are examining
• 10:18
  how he was assigned to an Israel-bound flight.
• 10:21
  In a video address,
• 10:22
  Netanyahu said the co-pilot apparently tried to crash the plane,
• 10:25
  but two Israeli sources who spoke with CNN.
• 10:28
  said it remained unclear
• 10:29
  whether the objective was to bring the aircraft down
• 10:32
  or land it somewhere else and take the passengers hostage.
• 10:35
  Israeli officials speaking anonymously to reporters
• 10:38
  say their current assessment points to an attempted terrorist attack
• 10:41
  really
• 10:42
  with no clear group or country affiliation as of right now.
• 10:46
  An Israeli official also told CNN that the Shin Bet,
• 10:49
  Mossad,
• 10:49
  the Israeli military,
• 10:50
  and the Transportation Ministry
• 10:52
  are all involved in the investigation.
• 10:54
  We'll keep an eye on this developing story
• 10:56
  and provide more details as they become available.
• 11:00
  And that,
• 11:00
  my friends,
• 11:01
  is the PDB
• 11:02
  afternoon bulletin for Wednesday,
• 11:03
  the 30th of September.
• 11:05
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 11:06
  please reach out to me at PDB@tv.com.
• 11:10
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• 11:20
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 11:20
  and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 11:22
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• 11:22
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  Until then,
• 11:26
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