Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberately destroying cultural property. Investigators say Russian forces target churches, libraries, museums, and monuments as part of a war on Ukraine’s identity.
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EUROPE is looking to build a giant 1,500 mile defensive line to protect itself from a chilling Vladimir Putin invasion.
Poland and the Baltics are planning to create the £2.2billion blockade to keep Russiafrom advancing through the continent as the threat of WW3 looms.
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Russia has continued its relentless assault on Ukraine in recent weeks including in busy residential areasCredit: Getty
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Russia is more than two years into its bloody war with UkraineCredit: EPA
The brave allied nations revealed the plans on Wednesday as they asked the European Union for help with the project.
Leaders from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all claim a protective blockade is essential to protect Europe from a dangerous Moscow.
Putin has been ramping up his military threats among other worrying activities as he repeatedly tells the West to avoid getting involved in his war in Ukraine.
The leaders of the four countries who put together the plan described the need for extra protection as “dire and urgent”.
read more in Europe vs Putin
They added all 27 EU states will be protected by the bloc including over 450 million people.
It will stretch around 1,471 miles and could potentially be shored up with minefields, anti-tank ditches and bunkers.
Belarus, who are regarded as one of Russia’s proxies alongside Kaliningrad, have also been cordoned off in the proposal.
A letter to the chairman of the EU was seen by Reuters who claim it said: “Extraordinary measures need to be employed as the EU’s external border must be protected and defended with military and civilian means.
“Building a defence infrastructure system along the EU external border with Russia and Belarus will address the dire and urgent need to secure the EU from military and hybrid threats.”
Europe planning new ‘nuclear umbrella’ with 300 French nuke missiles spread across continent for showdown with Russia
The EU chair is expected to discuss the proposal at a summit in Brussels which started on Thursday.
Investment into defence systems and warfare is expected to be the main topic at the crunch meeting.
Europe’s biggest worry is over Russia’s military capabilities but the line will also deal with a number of threats away from the battleground.
Plans to filter through misinformation, swat away cyberattacks and cope with increasing economic pressure are also being addressed.
As are the fears of an increased number of migrants being pushed across the borders.
Poland accused Russia of flying thousands of suspected asylum seekers into Moscow last month before trying to ship them across EU eastern borders.
Poland shares a 130-mile border with Russian territory Kaliningrad and an 170-mile one with Belarus.
It’s government said the country is being targeted by Russian aggression via those frontiers.
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Putin has already threatened Europe with war as he continues to bombard UkraineCredit: AP
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Emergency services in Kharkiv battle against a fire following a Russian air strikeCredit: Getty
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Ukraine’s own line of defence with 42,000 concrete ‘dragon’s teeth’ along barbed wire-lined trenchesCredit: Reuters
The extraordinary price tag on the bloc is expected to be met as part of a unified effort through what has been labelled as “a dedicated EU action” plan.
EU diplomats say such a barrier could cost upwards of £2.2billion.
The letter also suggested that Nato could help out in funding and constructing the defensive line.
As well as deploying military personnel along the bloc.
Russia is reportedly planning to take over Gotland – east of Sweden – which General Richard Shirreff says would give Putin dangerous levels of control in the Baltics.
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Polish armed forces’ Chief of Staff Wieslaw Kukula, right, with Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk on Monday – explaining the features of the ‘Tusk Line’
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK (WABC) — Yuri Kryvoruchko was born in the U.S. but his parents are from Ukraine. He comes from a long line of family members who have been in the naval service in Ukraine and hopes to continue that legacy by joining the U.S. Navy upon graduation.
Kryvoruchko was part of the Class of 2024 who graduated at Alexander Hamilton High School in the Village of Elmsford on Tuesday.
He spent most of his life in Crimea before the Russian invasion. Kryvoruchko was there when Russia seized control in 2014. He was just 8 years old, but his memories of that are crystal clear.
“As soon as my home was taken away, when parents’ home and my grandparents’ home, and my cousins and sisters — we all grew up there, so did I. So, when that got taken away that was such a devastating blow to my family,” Kryvoruchko said.
His family, including two sisters, a brother, uncles and aunts, are still there.
He sometimes cannot speak to his brother, who is in the Ukrainian Navy, for weeks.
“You just have these thoughts running through your head, like ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ I’m just praying to God that I’ll call him one day and that he’ll answer,” Kryvoruchko said.
Kryvoruchko said he was able to enjoy his graduation briefly. He leaves on Wednesday for the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis where he continues in the U.S., what his family did for generations in the Ukraine.
“My family is in the Ukrainian Navy, let me be the first in the American Navy. I love naval culture. I come from a naval family. My dad was in the Navy and my grandparents were as well.” Kryvoruchko said.
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As the war enters its 851st day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
Fighting
At least five people were killed and 41 injured, including four children, after a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, according to Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin. About 61,000 people lived in Pokrovsk, which is about 24km (15 miles) from the front line, before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Two people were killed in the northeastern region of Kharkiv when their car hit a Russian antitank mine near the border village of Lyptsi.
One man was killed in the southern Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces, after a Russian-guided aerial bomb attack.
Four people were injured after a Russian cruise missile hit a warehouse in the southern port city of Odesa, sparking a fire that spread across 3,000 square metres (3,590 square yards), Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol as the commander of the Joint Forces of Ukraine’s Armed Forces after he was accused of incompetence and abuse of power, replacing him with Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov.
The Ukrainian military said it registered 715 cases of the use of ammunitions containing “hazardous chemical compounds” by Russian forces in May.
Some of the people injured in the Russian attack on Pokrovsk receive hospital treatment [Alina Smutko/Reuters]
Politics and diplomacy
The Kremlin warned the United States of “consequences” and summoned its ambassador after a Ukrainian attack on Moscow-annexed Crimea killed four people. Russia said the attack was carried out with US-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles and claimed Washington bore responsibility.
In response to the Russian claims, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States regretted any civilian loss of life and that Russia was to blame for the war. “We provide weapons to Ukraine so it can defend its sovereign territory against armed aggression — that includes in Crimea which, of course, is part of Ukraine,” Miller told reporters. Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said that Ukrainians “make their own decisions”.
Zelenskyy told Colonel Oleksii Morozov, the new chief of Ukraine’s state guard, to clear its ranks of people discrediting the service after two of its officers were accused of plotting with Russia to assassinate senior officials. The guard provides security for various government officials.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said during a visit to Beijing that he hoped China would “support efforts to strive for a peaceful end to the war waged by Russia in Ukraine,” that respects international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The US said it would help print 3 million new textbooks for Ukrainian primary schools, after a Russian strike destroyed the Faktur-Druk printing house in Kharkiv in May.
The European Union imposed sanctions on 61 more companies, including 19 in China, for allegedly providing “dual-use goods and technology”, which could be used by Russia’s defence and security firms to advance its invasion of Ukraine. Others targeted included companies from Russia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, India, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.
The EU was due to open membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday at a ceremony in Luxembourg.
Weapons
The US is expected to announce on Tuesday that it will send an additional $150m in critically-needed munitions to Ukraine. The shipment is expected to include munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), anti-armour weapons, small arms and grenades and 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds, two US officials told the Associated Press news agency.
THIS is the dramatic moment one of Putin’s tanks is blown to smithereens after being blasted by a precise Ukrainian kamikaze drone.
Pieces of the Russian tank can be seen flying through the air after a direct hit caused a giant, fiery mushroom cloud to erupt.
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The moment one of Putin’s tanks is blown to smithereens after being blasted by a precise Ukrainian kamikaze droneCredit: X
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Shrapnel from the tank was seen flying across the field in DonetskCredit: X
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Moments before the kamikaze FPV munition drone struck the tankCredit: X
Shocking footage from a field in the war-torn Donetsk region shows the moment a stationary Russian tank was targeted by one of Ukraine‘s specialist bomb-laden drones.
In the short clip, the kamikaze FPV munition drone drops onto the formidable military motor before a blast erupts.
Within an instant the tank is engulfed by bright orange flames as pieces of shrapnel are sent soaring through the air in hundreds of tiny pieces.
Smoke billows through the air as the thunderous sound of the explosion was heard for miles.
The tank’s turret was hit by the drone which led to the “immediate catastrophic ammunition detonation”, claimed the original social media post showing the video.
It comes as spectacular footage showed Kyiv‘s fierce determination as more kamikaze drones were seen blowing up Russian tanks in another blow to Putin’s failing forces.
The drones reduced the hodgepodge “Franken-tanks” into a fiery wreckage and reducing them to debris and melted metal.
Footage from an unnamed location appeared to show a 25mm 2M-3 twin-barreled naval anti-aircraft turret mounted on a Soviet-era MT-LB amphibious battle vehicle.
Putin humiliated as Ukranian kamikaze drones strike Russia
The odd device is thought to have been constructed from equipment pieces from 1945.
Its cannons were most likely taken from a naval patrol boat, and its tracks could date back to the 1950s.
The “Frankenstein tanks” are believed to be an improvised response to the Kremlin’s shortage of essential war materials.
Putin has lost almost 8,000 tanks since his horror invasion of Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The total number of Putin’s troops killed since the tyrant invaded Ukraine is now well above 500,000, according to the ministry.
DRONES have been deployed in the war in Ukraine on an unprecedented scale as thousands are used daily to hunt down enemy forces, guide artillery and bomb targets – transforming modern land warfare.
Ukraine has become increasingly reliant on first-person-view (FPV) drones — nimble, target-seeking, kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The attack UAVs have come to define the conflict, helped by constant streams of footage filmed onboard as they tail troops, blast Russian positions or smash into tanks worth millions with ruthless precision.
Some are fitted with grenades or homebuilt bombs, others are used for reconnaissance missions to identify enemy positions and guide artillery fire.
Now, almost every fighting brigade in Ukraine has an assault drone company.
With the 600-mile front frozen in hellish trench warfare, the success of FPVs on the battlefield is “undeniable”, according to the commander of Ukraine’s attack drone operations.
The senior special forces officer “Arsenal” told The Sun the quadcopters-turned-munitions now successfully blitz Putin’s targets in three out of five operations.
And as the war moves into what Arsenal calls a more “technological phase”, he argued FPVs are increasingly vital to Ukraine’s success.
He said: “If Mavic (surveillance) drones are our eyes – for the adjustment of artillery fire, withdrawal of groups to positions, reconnaissance – then FPV drones are our sword, our strike force.”
Over two thirds of Russian tanks destroyed by Ukraine so far in 2024 have been taken out using FPV drones, a Nato official told Foreign Policy.
Their long-range capabilities also save countless lives as the drone operator can be stationed away from the frontline.
And drones are not just used on the battlefield, both Ukraine and Russia are hitting targets hundreds of miles deep into enemy territory using long-range UAVs.
They are highly cost effective means to blitz factories making weapons, military bases or energy facilities.
And yet, in a constant game of cat and mouse, both sides are developing increasingly sophisticated means of stopping drones using electronic warfare.
In response, Russia and Ukraine are racing to develop UAVs guided by AI instead of GPS that can easily be jammed.
Ukraine is counting on key allies to help in this mission and to send them more expensive, high-tech drones, but deliveries are not anywhere near the sufficient scale needed.
In 2023, Ukraine’s goal was to procure 200,000 drones. For 2024, Zelensky vowed they would build a million themselves.
Between January and February this year, officials revealed FPV production already totalled 200,000.
Ukrainian forces are now said to have killed 512,420 Russian troops and destroyed 15,020 armoured combat vehicles, and 13,345 artillery pieces since the start of the war.
Ukraine has also been short of troops, ammunition and air defences in recent months.
The Kremlin’s forces are continuing to try and cripple the national power supply and punch through the front line in eastern parts of the country.
The war has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.
While Ukraine has looked to Western countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned to nations such as Iran and North Korea for help.
Fighting along the roughly 620-mile front line has in recent months focused on the partly occupied Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces are trying to reach the key hilltop city of Chasiv Yar and other strategic hubs.
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Russia has continued to try and blast their way through Ukraine’s frontlines in recent weeksCredit: AP
The Russian cybersecurity software firm Kaspersky’s days of operating in the United States are now officially numbered.
The Biden administration on Thursday said it’s banning the company from selling its products to new US-based customers starting on July 20, with the company only allowed to provide software updates to existing customers through September 29. The ban—the first such action under authorities given to the Commerce Department in 2019—follows years of warnings from the US intelligence community about Kaspersky being a national security threat because Moscow could allegedly commandeer its all-seeing antivirus software to spy on its customers.
“When you think about national security, you may think about guns and tanks and missiles,” Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters during a briefing Thursday. “But the truth is, increasingly, it’s about technology, and it’s about dual-use technology, and it’s about data.”
The US conducted an “extremely thorough” investigation of Kaspersky and explored “every option” to mitigate its risks, Raimondo said, but officials settled on a full ban “given the Russian government’s continued offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence Kasersky’s operations.”
The Kaspersky ban represents the latest rift in relations between the US and Russia as the latter country remains locked in a brutal war with Ukraine and takes other steps to threaten Western democracies, including testing a nuclear-powered anti-satellite weapon and forming a strategic alliance with North Korea. But the ban could also immediately complicate business operations for American companies using Kaspersky software, which will lose up-to-date antivirus definitions critical for blocking malware in only three months.
The Biden administration knows roughly how many customers Kaspersky has in the US, but government lawyers have determined that this information is proprietary business data and cannot be published, according to a Commerce Department official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The official did say the “significant number” of US customers includes state and local governments and organizations that supply critical infrastructure such as telecommunications, power, and health care.
Raimondo had a message for Kaspersky’s US customers on Thursday: “You have done nothing wrong, and you are not subject to any criminal or civil penalties. However, I would encourage you, in as strong as possible terms, to immediately stop using that software and switch to an alternative in order to protect yourself and your data and your family.”
Commerce will work with the departments of Homeland Security and Justice to “get this message out” and “ensure a smooth transition,” including through a website explaining the ban, Raimondo said. “We certainly don’t want to disrupt the business or families of any Americans.”
DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will contact critical infrastructure organizations that use Kaspersky to brief them on the alleged national security risks and “help them identify alternatives,” the Commerce Department official said.
Kaspersky has consistently denied being a national security risk or an agent of the Kremlin. In a statement to WIRED, the company accused the government of having “made its decision based on the present geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns, rather than on a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.”
Seoul, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement Wednesday during a summit in Pyongyang in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and cement a united front against Washington.
CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer says that while the greeting Kim offered Putin at the airport Tuesday night was warm, the men are fundamentally allies of convenience. The pact they signed Wednesday sees them both pledge to defend the other if attacked, but officials in the U.S. and other Western capitals believe Russia, above all, wants to ensure a steady supply of North Korean weapons for its war in Ukraine — an ominous prospect for both Ukraine and its international backers.
Concern has grown for months over an arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
A pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands after a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP/Getty
Russian state media said Putin and Kim spoke face-to-face for about two hours in a meeting that was originally planned for one hour.
Kim vows “full support” for Russia amid Ukraine war
Speaking at the start of Wednesday’s talks, Putin thanked Kim for North Korea’s support for his war in Ukraine, part of what he said was a “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the U.S. and its satellites against the Russian Federation.”
He called the agreement a “new fundamental document (that) will form the basis of our ties for the long term,” hailing ties that he traced back to the Soviet army fighting the Japanese military on the Korean Peninsula in the closing moments of World War II, and Moscow’s support for Pyongyang during the Korean War.
Kim said Moscow and Pyongyang’s “fiery friendship” is now even closer than during Soviet times, and promised “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity.”
Kim has used similar language in the past, consistently saying North Korea supports what he describes as a just action to protect Russia’s interests and blaming the crisis on the U.S.-led West’s “hegemonic policy.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what that support might look like, and no details of the agreement were initially made public.
Putin gives Kim another limo, gets portraits in return
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Pyongyang that the two leaders exchanged gifts after the talks.
Putin presented Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limo and other gifts, including a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. It was the second Aurus gifted by Putin to his North Korean counterpart, after Kim apparently took a shine to the vehicle during a meeting between the men in September 2023 in Russia’s Far East — a rare foray by Kim outside of his isolated nation’s borders.
“When the head of the DPRK (North Korea) was at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, he looked at this car, Putin showed it to him personally, and like many people, Kim liked this car,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in February, after the first Aurus was delivered to Kim. “So, this decision was made… North Korea is our neighbor, our close neighbor, and we intend, and will continue, to develop our relations with all neighbors, including North Korea.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un his Russian-made Aurus limousine, Sept. 13, 2023, outside the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East region, ahead of their summit.
Reuters
Ushakov said that Kim’s presents to Putin on Wednesday included artworks depicting the Russian leader.
Deepening ties and alleged weapons transfers
North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.
U.S. and South Korean officials accuse the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. A South Korean official told CBS News in September 2023, when Kim and Putin last met, that Seoul was concerned the Kim regime could be seeking nuclear-powered submarines and satellite technology from Russia, in addition to cooperation on conventional ammunition and missile technology.
Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously endorsed.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.
In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officials have said they are discussing options for a new mechanism for monitoring the North.
South Korean analysts say that Kim will likely seek stronger economic benefits and more advanced military technologies from Russia, although his more sensitive discussions with Putin aren’t likely to be made public.
While Kim’s military nuclear program now includes developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland, he may need outside technology help to meaningfully advance his program further. There are already possible signs that Russia is assisting North Korea with technologies related to space rockets and military reconnaissance satellites, which Kim has described as crucial for monitoring South Korea and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles.
A pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik shows North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, June 19, 2024.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP/Getty
The North may also seek to increase labor exports to Russia and other illicit activities to gain foreign currency in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions, according to a recent report by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s main spy agency. There will likely be talks about expanding cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and further promoting Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute said.
U.S. and its allies react to Kim-Putin summit
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia tries, “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”
“North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia … and other weapons for use in Ukraine. Iran has been providing weaponry, including drones, that have been used against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Blinken told reporters following a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.
The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– The R. T. Weatherman Foundation is proud to announce the opening of the exhibit War Diaries: Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children at the Rayburn House Office Building, located at 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, D.C., on July 8, 2024.
The exhibit will be open to the general public from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
War Diaries: Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children is an art installation that features firsthand accounts from Ukrainian children who suffered under Russian occupation following the full-scale invasion in February 2022. In the sharing of personal artifacts and recollections, the exhibition highlights the ongoing terror and human rights violations that Russia visits upon the most vulnerable members of Ukrainian society. This project is dedicated to fostering empathy, understanding, and meaningful dialogue about the emotional and psychological impacts on the younger generations caught in the conflict.
Featuring 14 meticulously chosen stories that reflect a balance of gender, age, region, and narrative type, War Diaries shines a light on the multitude of untold experiences through the eyes of children. Visitors will be deeply moved by the visual representations of war, brought to life with compelling audio and video interviews, along with original diaries and sketches, offering a meaningful connection to the personal belongings of the children whose stories are shared.
The exhibition has been shown in numerous important venues in Europe and has enjoyed widespread critical acclaim in international media (read more HERE).
It is our hope that through this exhibit, more people will grasp the critical importance of supporting Ukraine in its struggle for peace and a stable, democratic future.
Press Invitation:
Members of the press are invited to attend a brief press conference at 4:30 p.m., featuring remarks from policymakers. A reception will follow the press conference. This is an opportunity for the media to engage directly with those whose lives have been profoundly affected by the conflict and to hear firsthand accounts of their experiences.
About R. T. Weatherman Foundation: The R. T. Weatherman Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit that forges pathways between lives in peril and critical aid. Through various initiatives, the Foundation supports the future of democracy, values every life as our own, and meets critical unmet needs. Website: www.weathermanfoundation.org
Russia-installed officials in the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28 people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone attacks overnight into Saturday.
A Ukrainian attack Friday on the small town of Sadove in Ukraine’s partially occupied Sadove region killed 22 and wounded 15 people, Moscow-backed governor Vladimir Saldo said.
Russian state news agency Tass cited Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first struck the town with a French-made guided bomb, then attacked again with a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile. He said Ukrainian forces had “deliberately made a repeat strike to create greater numbers of casualties” when “residents of nearby houses ran out to help the injured”.
Further east, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk region, said Saturday that two more bodies had been pulled from the rubble following Friday’s Ukrainian missile attack on the regional capital, also called Luhansk. Russian state news agency Interfax cited regional authorities as saying this brought the death toll to six. Pasechnik also said 60 people were wounded in the attack.
Pasechnik declared Saturday a day of mourning in the region, with public events canceled.
Ukraine did not comment on either assault.
Meanwhile, drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine persisted.
Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russian territory overnight Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday. Twenty-five drones were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s southern Kuban and Astrakhan regions, the western Tula region, and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
On Saturday morning, officials said air defenses for the first time shot down Ukrainian drones over the North Ossetia region in the North Caucasus, some 900 km (560 miles) east of the front line in Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that one drone had been destroyed, whereas regional Gov. Sergei Menyailo reported three downed drones over the region. Menyailo said that the target was a military airfield.
Ukrainian air defense overnight shot down nine out of 13 Russian drones over the central Poltava region, southeastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday.
Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak said the overnight drone attack damaged commercial and residential buildings.
Lana Zak reports on President Biden’s speech on democracy and freedom in France, new data from the Labor Department that shows a hotter than expected jobs report, and what you need to know about the giant Joro spiders expected to make an appearance on the East Coast this summer.
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The U.S. expects Russia to begin air and naval exercises in the Caribbean in the coming weeks, according to a U.S. official.
The exercises, which will involve Russian warships and long-range bombers, will be the first simultaneous air and naval maneuvers Russia has conducted in the Caribbean since 2019. The U.S. is interpreting them as a response to American support for Ukraine and stepped-up U.S. exercises with NATO allies.
However, the exercises have been planned for some time, the official said, and it seems unlikely they are a response to President Biden’s recent partial lifting of the ban against the use by Ukraine of U.S.-provided weapons against targets inside Russia. The Miami Herald first reported Russia’s expected plans for air and naval exercises in the Caribbean.
Last week, the U.S. cleared Ukraine to use the weapons on the Russian side of the border near the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Biden administration narrowly tailored the U.S. permission to the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation and restricted the use of the weapons to targeting Russian artillery sites and other weaponry aimed at them around Kharkiv. The Ukrainians are still not permitted to use U.S.-provided long-range equipment, such as the ATACMs, to hit Russia beyond that point, in order to avoid the perception of a direct U.S. escalation with Russia.
The Russian exercises are not considered to be a direct threat to the U.S., the official said. The Russian ships are expected to make port calls in Cuba and possibly Venezuela, and the exercises will last over the summer, culminating in a worldwide naval exercise in the fall.
Last week, President Biden sat with Time magazine for a wide-ranging interview about foreign policy, immigration and the 2024 election. Time’s Washington bureau chief Massimo Calabresi, who spoke with Biden, joins “America Decides” to unpack their conversation.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pummeled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a large-scale drone and missile attack Saturday, injuring at least 19 people, local officials said.
What You Need To Know
The Ukrainian military reported that it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on June 1
Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region
The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s power grid, which has been ongoing since March
Elsewhere, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, said the area’s Moscow-installed leader Denis Pushilin
The Ukrainian military reported that it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on June 1, as well as 46 out of 47 attack drones.
Injuries were reported by officials across the country, including in Ukraine’s western Lviv region and the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.
The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine’s power grid, which has been ongoing since March.
Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK said that two of its power plants had been seriously damaged in what it said was the sixth attack on the company’s plants in two and a half months.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, Herman Halushchenko, said in a statement on social media that energy infrastructure in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Ivano-Frankivsk regions had also been targeted.
Damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks has forced leaders of the war-ravaged country to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Without adequate air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late summer and the bitter-cold winter.
In response to the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated Kyiv’s need for additional air defense systems from its Western allies.
“Civilians, infrastructure and energy facilities. This is what Russia is constantly at war with,” he said in a post Saturday on X, formerly Twitter. “Our partners know exactly what is needed for this. Additional Patriot and other modern air defense systems for Ukraine. Accelerating and expanding the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine. Providing our warriors with all the necessary capabilities.”
Elsewhere, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, said the area’s Moscow-installed leader Denis Pushilin. Another three people were injured, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said that it had shot down two Ukrainian drones on Saturday morning over Russia’s Belgorod region. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s five-year term as the country’s leader expired May 20. Yet he remains in power as elections scheduled for spring were not held.
One social media user, who was critical of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent Ukraine visit, said Blinken, during his trip, “announced that they were going to suspend elections in Ukraine.”
This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The post is wrong. PolitiFact examined transcripts of all Blinken’s public remarks in Ukraine during his May 14-15 visit and found no announcements about Ukrainian elections.
In a May 14 speech, Blinken referred to Ukraine’s elections, saying the U.S. is working with Ukraine to shore up election infrastructure so when Ukrainians agree that conditions allow, “all Ukrainians, including those displaced by Russia’s aggression — can exercise their right to vote” and “have confidence that the voting process is free, fair, secure.”
Elections to replace Zelenskyy would have taken place in March — two months before Blinken’s visit — but the country did not hold elections because martial law has been in effect there since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia invaded. Parliamentary elections that would have been held in October also didn’t happen.
Ukrainian law, in Article 19, prohibits elections under martial law.
Zelenskyy in a Nov. 6, 2023, video address translated into English on a Ukrainian government website, said, “In wartime, when there are so many challenges, it is absolutely irresponsible to throw the topic of elections into society in a lighthearted and playful way.”
He also said: “Now is the time of defense, the time of the battle that determines the fate of the state and people, not the time of manipulations, which only Russia expects from Ukraine. I believe that now is not the right time for elections.”
All political parties in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, signed a joint statement in November agreeing that parliamentary and presidential elections should take place after the war and martial law had ended.
A State Department spokesperson told PolitiFact that Ukraine is in this position because of Russia’s invasion. The spokesperson said Russia occupies nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory and tens of millions of citizens have been displaced.
An Instagram post’s claim that Blinken announced on a recent visit that Ukraine was suspending its elections ignores that the elections would have already taken place in March and that Zelenskyy announced in November they would not take place because of martial law.
Blinken made no such announcement about Ukraine’s elections. He referred to them only in a speech in which he said the U.S. is helping Ukraine shore up its election infrastructure. The goal, Blinken said, is to enable all Ukrainians, even those displaced by war, to vote and be confident the process is fair and secure when conditions allow for elections. The claim is False.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine needs at least seven more Patriot launchers to defend itself against Russian air attacks.
Spain has pledged 1 billion euros ($1.1bn) in military aid to Ukraine as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have signed a security deal in Madrid.
The deal “includes a commitment for 1 billion euros in military aid for 2024”, Sanchez said at a joint news conference on Monday.
The pact, which covers the next decade, calls for the supply of modern military equipment for ground, aerial, naval and other uses, “prioritising Ukraine’s key capacity needs”, and an emphasis on protecting sea routes for Ukraine’s food exports, but it gave no specifics.
“It will allow Ukraine to boost its capabilities including its essential air defence systems to protect its civilians, cities and infrastructure, which are still suffering indiscriminate attacks as seen this weekend in Kharkiv,” Sanchez said, referring to a Russian strike on the northeastern city that killed at least 16 people at a hardware hypermarket on Saturday.
Zelenskyy visited the Spanish capital as Ukraine battles a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region that began on May 10 in Moscow’s biggest territorial advances in 18 months.
With Russia’s full-scale invasion now in its third year, Ukraine has been pleading for more weapons for its outgunned and outnumbered troops, notably seeking help to address its lack of air defence systems.
Sanchez said Spain had already pledged to supply Patriot missiles but what Zelenskyy needed from Ukraine’s allies was “the systems to launch these missiles”.
In a post on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy thanked Spain for “its tangible and truly life-saving support to Ukraine in this time of war” and said he also discussed how Madrid could play a role in strengthening Kyiv’s air defences.
Spain will send “another batch of Leopard tanks and above all ammunition”, Sanchez said, pledging to keep working with Kyiv “to understand how else – and with what other alternative systems – we can help ensure Ukraine’s air security”.
Today in Madrid, Prime Minister @sanchezcastejon and I signed a bilateral agreement on security cooperation.
Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military assistance this year and additional €5 billion for the period 2024-2027 through the Ukraine Assistance Fund under… pic.twitter.com/zETHgcb44o
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 27, 2024
Zelenskyy has signed bilateral security agreements with several other countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
He said Ukraine needed at least seven more Patriot missile launchers to defend itself and would pressure its allies to obtain them.
The president said Russian forces have used about 3,200 guided aerial bombs this month.
“How do you fight that? There aren’t enough air defence missiles to stop thousands of bombs a month. … Those partners who are afraid to give us this or that weapon should understand that air defence is defence, not offence,” he added.
Zelenskyy will next visit the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Tuesday and is expected to sign a similar 10-year agreement.
Russia has reportedly found new, more effective ways to knock out Ukraine’s Starlink service. The New York Timessaid on Friday that the increased interference has disrupted communications at critical moments and is posing “a major threat to Ukraine,” putting the country further on its heels more than two years into the war. How Russia is jamming Elon Musk’s satellite internet terminals is unclear.
The New York Times said Russia’s ability to jam communications has thrown off Ukraine’s ability to communicate, gather intelligence and conduct drone strikes. Ukrainian soldiers told the paper that jammed Starlink service stunts their ability to communicate quickly, leaving them scrambling to send text messages (often extremely slowly) to share intel about incoming or ongoing Russian maneuvers or attacks.
The jamming was reportedly repeated across Ukraine’s northern front line, often coinciding with Russian advances. The new outages are the first time Russia has jammed Starlink reception that widely and frequently. If it continues, it could “mark a tactical shift in the conflict,” highlighting Ukraine’s dependence on SpaceX’s internet technology. Without competing choices of similar quality, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s democratic nation is left without many options that could work at the scale Ukraine needs.
Russia has tried to disrupt Ukraine’s comms since the war began, but Starlink service has reportedly held up well in the face of them. Something has changed. Ukraine’s digital minister, Mykhailo Federov, told The New York Times this week that Russia’s recent jamming appeared to use “new and more advanced technology.”
Federov told The NYT that Vladimir Putin’s army is now “testing different mechanisms to disrupt the quality of Starlink connections because it’s so important for us.” The digital minister didn’t specify the exact weapons Russia has been using, but a Russian official in charge of the country’s electronic warfare told state media last month that its military put Starlink on a “list of targets” and that it had developed ways to disrupt the service.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Armed Forces of Ukraine)
The disruptions highlight the power that one mercurial billionaire can have over the pivotal Eastern European war. Ukrainian officials have reportedly “appealed directly to Mr. Musk to turn on Starlink access during military operations” ahead of crucial drone strikes, and he hasn’t always obliged.
The Wall Street Journalreported in February that concern has grown that Musk could harbor at least some degree of Russian sympathies. He has posted comments on X that could be viewed as taking a pro-Russian stance, and disinformation experts worry that the way he runs the social platform could be friendly to Russian interference in the pivotal 2024 elections, including those in the US.
Musk spoke out earlier this year against the US sending more aid to Ukraine. Putin’s army also reportedly began using its own Starlink service, although Musk says he wasn’t aware of the terminals being sold to the Slavic nation. Ukrainian officials raised concerns earlier this year that Russia was buying Starlink tech from third-party vendors.
However, the Pentagon said earlier this month that the US has been “heavily involved in working with the government of Ukraine and SpaceX to counter Russian illicit use of Starlink terminals,” and a departing space official described SpaceX as “a very reliable partner” in those operations.
Defence Sec Grant Shapps says a new Ukraine aid package worth £150million will help to protect the country’s battered infrastructureCredit: PA
Air defence radars, decoys and electronic warfare systems worth £70million will be sent by the UK and allies.
Meanwhile, £80million for small boats, reconnaissance drones and uncrewed surface vessels is being provided.
Mr Shapps said: “The International Fund for Ukraine is providing vital support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to meet their urgent capability requirements.
“It includes more air defence systems to protect Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, as well as maritime capabilities to bolster naval forces.”
The fund for Ukraine has received £900million so far.
First, Pope Francis: The 60 Minutes Interview. Then, a report on the Americans spying for Cuba in the United States. And, a look at a play based on Nazi’s photo album from Auschwitz
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