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CNN: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused deep disruptions in the global food supply, raising prices and increasing the risk of food insecurity in poorer nations in the Middle East and North Africa, America’s top spy agency said in an unclassified report released by Congress on Wednesday.

Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy decried on Wednesday what he described as systematic corruption in medical exemptions to people avoiding military service, saying the system was subject to bribes and mass departures abroad.

CNN: Russia and North Korea are “actively advancing” their negotiations over a potential arms deal that would provide significant ammunition for different types of weapons systems, including artillery, in the latest indication that the Kremlin is desperate to obtain further materiel for its faltering invasion of Ukraine, according to newly released US intelligence.

AFP: Russia on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations proposal to extend sanctions on military-run Mali, which has become a close partner of Russia's Wagner mercenaries.

Bloomberg: Ukraine’s troops are now using a US rocket system known as the Vampire to destroy Russian drones.

Meduza: In an audio message circulating on Wagner Group-linked social media channels, a Wagner representative urges fighters to seek other employment, saying the status of the mercenary group in Ukraine, Africa, and the Near East is unknown.

POLITICO: The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday he was proposing to lift the target of Ukrainian soldiers to be trained by the bloc to 40,000 by the end of the year. In November 2022, the EU launched a training mission for Ukrainian soldiers with an initial target of 15,000 soldiers. In February, the target was doubled to 30,000 soldiers by the end of the year.

RFI: Tech titans, including TikTok and Twitter, failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to a study published Wednesday by the EU. A separate study points at the ways TikTok has been profiting from pro-Russian related narratives.

Reuters: The U.S. is working with Romania and Moldova to increase Ukraine's grain exports via the Danube river as it explores alternative routes the exports after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Reuters: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week. Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need.

Meduza: An Aeroflot plane that was sent to Iran for maintenance in early April has not returned yet — and its return date was recently pushed to March 2024. According to experts, the servicing shouldn't have taken more than three months.

AFP: Ukraine said Wednesday that its recapture of Robotyne village this week was a strategic victory paving the way for its forces to push deeper into Russian positions in the south towards Crimea.

Reuters: European Union countries have increased their imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia compared with before the Ukraine war, despite the EU's aim to quit Russian fossil fuels within a few years. In the first seven months of the year, EU countries imported 40% more Russian LNG on tankers than the same period in 2021, the year before Russia invaded Ukraine.

AP News: Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, said in a sprawling interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the only path to ending the war in Ukraine would be the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency.

Reuters: Majority-Catholic EU member Lithuania has summoned the Vatican's top diplomat in the country after Pope Francis told Russian youths to remember they are the heirs of "the great Russian empire".

WP: Rising prices caused by a drop in the value of the ruble are bringing Russia’s war — and the impact of sanctions — home to many Russians for the first time.

Reuters: Hundreds of firefighters are trying to put out blazes near the Russian Black Sea town of Gelendzhik, one of the country's most popular resorts, the local mayor said on Wednesday.

worth mentioning

How the war reached Pskov. Military analysts discuss the strike at an airfield 700 kilometres from the Ukrainian border

How Russia’s ‘stubborn majority’ of war-indifferent people was born

Russian Anti-War Activist Sentenced To Six Years In Prison For Internet Posts

Russia Is the Big Winner From OPEC+ Output Cuts

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