PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 30th, 2026: Russia Issues a New Nuclear Warning to NATO & Terror in the Cockpit

It's Wednesday, the 30th of September. Welcome to the BDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Moscow has issued a new nuclear warning to NATO. Here they go again, saying an effort to cut off Kaliningrad could trigger a far more dangerous confrontation. Later in the show, a mid-air struggle aboard a fly Dubai flight, where Israeli officials say passengers stopped the Omani co-pilot from crashing the plane. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Russia is drawing a nuclear red line for NATO, this time around Kaliningrad. According to a diplomatic note seen by Reuters, Moscow has warned the alliance that if NATO. attempts to isolate Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia, the Kremlin would be prepared to use, quote, the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, end quote. The same message also warned that Russian strikes against NATO decision-making centers could come right from the outset of a conflict. Well, nobody rattles the nuclear saber like Putin's minions can rattle the nuclear saber. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has been the first to have a nuclear war. He's been the first to have a nuclear war. Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials have repeatedly raised the possibility of nuclear escalation when warning Western governments against deeper involvement in the war. Moscow has issued warnings over long-range weapons, attacks on Russian territory, and other perceived threats. Then in 2024, Putin formally lowered the threshold under which Russia says it could consider nuclear use. Western officials have often treated those threats as an effort to intimidate NATO and constrain support for Ukraine. U.S. intelligence assessments have previously concluded that Russian nuclear use remained unlikely despite increasingly aggressive rhetoric. So, this is not the first time that Moscow has played the nuclear card. What makes this warning stand out is, well, how specific it is. Kaliningrad is a heavily militarized Russian territory on the Baltic Sea, wedged between Poland and Lithuania. It's separated geographically from the rest of Russia and sits inside one of the most sensitive areas of the Russian territory. On NATO's eastern front, Moscow is now explicitly saying that an attempt to cut that territory off could cross a nuclear threshold. Russia says NATO's military exercises, intelligence flights, sanctions, ship interceptions, and other activities around the Baltic are creating what it calls a dangerous and reckless course toward direct conflict. Well, some could argue that invading Ukraine created a dangerous and reckless course, but one can't expect Putin and his cadre of special military operations warmongers to have any self-awareness. Russian embassies across Europe have also been issuing warnings in recent days about scenarios involving Kaliningrad. Now, NATO says there's no plan to attack or isolate the territory. Secretary General Mark Rutte responded by telling Moscow to stop the nuclear threats. Just stop it, Vladimir, stressing that NATO is a defensive alliance and that its exercises do not threaten Russian territory. Asked whether he believed Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons against the Baltic states, Rutte said no and added that there is no imminent threat to NATO territory. But this warning does come at a particularly tense moment. European governments are accusing Russia of conducting a broader hybrid campaign across the continent, sabotage, arson, cyber attacks, and other operations that do stop short of open war. Moscow, of course, denies those accusations. Well, here are the PDB's comments. We just reported on Estonia's allegation that Russian intelligence commissioned an arson attack against Milram Robotics, that's a defense company supplying equipment to Ukraine. NATO has also stepped up intelligence sharing in response to what members describe as a growing campaign of Russian covert activity. All right, coming up next, passengers aboard a Tel Aviv-bound FlyDubai flight reportedly fought and restrained a co-pilot who tried to crash the plane after attacking the pilot. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me ask you a question. What happened the last time you called a business and nobody picked up the phone? Well, odds are you simply called the next business listed there in the phone book. 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Israeli sources say the Omani co-pilot stabbed the captain and tried to hijack the plane in the suspected terrorist attack. Details are still rolling in, but here's what we know so far. The violence unfolded Wednesday morning aboard a FlyDubai flight traveling from Dubai International Airport to Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport with roughly 150 Israeli passengers aboard. At approximately 8.20 a.m. local time, flight tracking data reviewed by CNN shows the aircraft plunging 17,400 feet over northwestern Saudi Arabia. In less than two minutes, it plunged from 34,000 feet to around 16,600 feet. Israeli sources describe a violent attempt to take over the aircraft, saying the co-pilot stabbed the captain. CNN reported that the aircraft transmitted an emergency signal at 8.31 a.m., followed minutes later by code 7500, which signals a hijacking. People aboard reportedly stepped in. One Israeli official told CNN that an Israeli passenger helped restrain the co-pilot. Saudi airport operator Cluster 2 says Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, that's in Saudi Arabia of course, received a distress call requesting an emergency landing at 8.44 a.m. local time. And just over an hour later, the plane landed safely. Both pilots were taken to a hospital with injuries, while passengers received care in the airport terminal. But getting those passengers back to Israel, well, that presented another problem. Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, and an Israeli official told CNN that Riyadh refused to allow an Israeli civilian or military aircraft into the kingdom to collect those passengers. Fly Dubai instead sent a replacement aircraft to Tabuk to bring them back to Tel Aviv, where their families obviously were waiting at Bangurian Airport. Now, one of the passengers who intervened described just how desperate the cockpit was. Passenger Yaniv Hayun told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday night that he helped restrain the airplane. He said, before returning to grab the aircraft's controls himself. Hayun said he initially struggled to get into the cockpit amid the wounded pilot's desperate shouts for help because he was pressed against the door. When Hayun finally got inside, neither pilot was in a seat. He said one was on the floor while the alleged attacker was on the panel between the seats, appearing to try to disable the aircraft. Hayun said he called for help and two other men joined him. He described putting the alleged attacker in a chokehold, dragging him out of the cockpit, and helping pin him down. Then Hayun reportedly returned to the cockpit, grabbed the controls, and began pulling back on the handles. By his account, it all happened in seconds. Other passengers described the fear that was spreading through the cabin. One passenger told Israel's I-24 channel, quote, we just heard screams, and then the cockpit door opened and we saw a huge amount of blood. She described the aircraft as, quote, completely out of control. Now, a woman interviewed by Reuters relayed what her daughter, who was aboard the flight, told her. She said her daughter heard the pilot scream screaming for help, and saw a man wielding a knife with blood everywhere. Two Israeli officials told CNN that the co-pilot is an Omani national. Authorities have not publicly released his name. Oman and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, so investigators are examining how he was assigned to an Israel-bound flight. In a video address, Netanyahu said the co-pilot apparently tried to crash the plane, but two Israeli sources who spoke with CNN said it remained unclear whether the objective was to bring the aircraft down or land it somewhere else and take the passengers hostage. Israeli officials speaking anonymously to reporters say their current assessment points to an attempted terrorist attack. Really? With no clear group or country affiliation as of right now. An Israeli official also told CNN that the Shin Bet, Mossad, the Israeli military, and the transportation ministry are all involved in the investigation. We'll keep an eye on this developing story and provide more details as they become available. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday, the 30th of September. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, you know you can do that. It is very simple. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Oh, look at that. It'll be the first day of a brand new month. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Have a great day, and I'll see you soon. 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