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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Ukrainian PM Yulia Svyrydenko left the United States on Thursday buoyed by what she called positive talks with top U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying she found him to be supportive of her war-torn country.
France 24: Russia is trying to produce more pro-war influencers through content creation camps, training teenagers to spread the Kremlin's hardline, anti-West narrative to the next generation.
Reuters: Romanian radar systems caught a drone breaching its national airspace during a Russian overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine before losing contact southeast of the border village of Chilia Veche, the defence ministry said on Friday.
The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces struck critical infrastructure in the city of Chernihiv overnight on April 17, sparking fires and leaving around 6,000 residents without electricity, officials said.
ISW: Russian forces leveraged a new strike tactic allowing Russia to threaten more areas of Ukraine for longer periods of time and disproportionately affect civilian areas.
More News
Reuters: U.S. officials have informed European counterparts that some previously contracted weapons deliveries are likely to be delayed as the Iran war continues to draw on weapons stocks.
Reuters: The FBI plans to question roughly a half-dozen witnesses in its criminal inquiry into ex-CIA Director John Brennan over a U.S. intelligence assessment that found Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.
United24 Media: The UK's National Crime Agency has charged a British shipping financier for alleged money laundering and breach of sanctions regarding Russia, in a rare example of the UK prosecuting those accused of violating the rules on doing business with Moscow.
Reuters: Anti-corruption authorities in Armenia detained 14 people connected to a pro-Russian opposition party on Thursday on suspicion of electoral bribery, less than two months ahead of a parliamentary election in the South Caucasus country.
OC Media: A report by Memorial has found that Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov directly commands upwards of 33,000 security and military personnel, a figure which has appeared to have doubled since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.
Reuters: The European Union expects to disburse 2.5 to 2.7 billion euros to Ukraine after its parliament completed necessary reforms last week, Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, said on Thursday.
Ukrainska Pravda: Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár has said his country is ready to block a new package of EU sanctions against Russia but will not oppose the provision of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine.
Reuters: Russia-linked sanctioned crypto exchange Grinex said on Thursday it had suspended operations after assets worth 1 billion roubles ($13 million) were stolen during a cyber attack. Grinex, which is based in Kyrgyzstan but linked to Russia, was sanctioned by the U.S., the UK and the European Union last year.
United24 Media: A number of Russian shadow fleet tankers are transporting oil with insurance certificates from a company that doesn’t exist as it’s described in the documents, according to an intelligence assessment from Ukraine.
Reuters: The Czech foreign ministry said on Thursday it had summoned the Russian ambassador over threats against Czech companies.
The Moscow Times: Russia is facing a labor shortage for the first time in its modern history, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said Thursday, warning that an overheated economy is driving inflation and complicating interest rate policy.
Reuters: Russia's top officials have outlined numerous proposals to Putin on how to kick-start the war economy after he scolded them for what amounts to Russia's sharpest economic contraction in more than three years.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine expects Israel to arrest a shipment of grain unloaded at the Port of Haifa from a vessel Kyiv believes is part of Russia's shadow fleet used to export grain taken from occupied territories, the Foreign Ministry said on April 16.
Euronews: Russia and Azerbaijan have revealed that an "appropriate settlement of consequences," including compensation payment, has been reached over the Azerbaijan Airlines airliner crash in December 2024.
The Moscow Times: A Russian-installed court in occupied eastern Ukraine sentenced a Polish man to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of fighting as a mercenary for the Ukrainian military.
Reuters: The Nord Stream gas pipelines were attacked in 2022 as a direct result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, insurers told a London court on Thursday as they seek to avoid paying out nearly 580 million euros over blasts that hit the pipelines.
RFE/RL: In a significant shift in energy policy, the United States has confirmed it will not renew sanctions waivers that previously allowed the purchase of certain Russian and Iranian oil, handing Kyiv a sought-after victory.
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday held a moment of silence for victims of extensive overnight Russian air attacks as he accepted the International Four Freedoms Award on behalf of the Ukrainian people for their courage during years of war.
worth mentioning
Torture, beatings, rape: Inside the sadism of a Russian artillery brigade
‘The people are afraid of you’: In rare appeals, celebrities ask Putin to address Russians’ suffering
FSB unit linked to Navalny poisoning now controls Russia’s internet
Trump turns totally toxic for Europe’s far right
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