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Morning Headlines
Reuters: European Union leaders head into a high-stakes summit for Ukraine on Thursday, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocking both the start of EU membership talks and 50 billion euros in financial aid for Kyiv.
ISW: The return of the Kremlin’s notion of a “partitioned Ukraine” is likely an organized effort to mislead the international community into rejecting key components of Ukraine’s sovereignty: its territorial integrity as defined in 1991 and its right to self-determination.
Reuters: After being diplomatically isolated at the United Nations over its invasion of Ukraine, Russia appears smug as the United States suffers a similar fate for its support of Israel and its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
BBC News: The International Olympic Committee head, Thomas Bach, has defended a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics as neutrals. "Individual athletes cannot be punished for the acts of their governments," he said at a forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Reuters: The conflict in Ukraine is significantly impacting Russia's economy, raising domestic prices, and forcing Moscow to devote a third of its budget on defense, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing a draft text from the U.S. Treasury department.
AP News: Dismayed by Moscow’s war, Russian volunteers are joining Ukrainian ranks to fight Putin’s troops.
More News
AFP: Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday he hoped to reach agreement soon with Republicans who are set against providing more US military aid to Ukraine.
AP News: Two of Russia’s top swimmers have been drug tested by their country’s anti-doping agency only twice apiece in 2023, part of a larger trend in the country that adds an extra layer of uncertainty to the IOC’s decision to allow some Russian athletes to compete next year at the Paris Olympics.
POLITICO: The EU's latest package of sanctions against Russia is in limbo over internal checks from Austria, five European diplomats told POLITICO.
Sky News: The wives of some of the 300,000 men called to the Russian frontline in a partial mobilisation are demanding an end to "legal slavery" - and say they must have the right to be released from military service.
The Moscow Times: Bolivia, home to some of the world's biggest lithium reserves, signed a $450 million deal Wednesday with Russian state firm Uranium One Group to produce the key battery and electric vehicle components.
POLITICO: Bulgarian lawmakers on Wednesday took the first step toward ending a sanctions exemption that has raised millions of euros for Russia, bowing to growing calls for action.
AFP: Europe should not allow fear of provoking Putin sway its decision-making and undermine its support for Ukraine, Estonian premier Kaja Kallas warned Wednesday. In an interview with AFP on the eve of a summit overshadowed by Hungary's threat to thwart Kyiv's hopes for EU membership, Kallas said fear of Russia gives the Kremlin too much influence over the EU and NATO.
AP News: Top Biden administration officials labored Wednesday to try to reach a last-minute deal for wartime aid for Ukraine by agreeing to Senate Republican demands to bolster U.S.-Mexico border policies, with urgency setting in as Congress prepared to depart Washington with the impasse unresolved.
Reuters: European Union leaders are likely to reach a deal on 50 billion euros for Ukraine this week because it is to come in a package with other cash that Hungary, which threatened to block it, will benefit from, EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said.
POLITICO: Estonia is shoring up its border with Russia, this week completing a 40-kilometer fence along its southern frontier with its giant neighbor.
European Commission: A large majority of Europeans remain in favor of support measures for Ukraine. The 100th Standard Eurobarometer survey released yesterday shows that almost nine in ten citizens (89%) agree with providing humanitarian support to the people affected by the war.
The Kyiv Independent: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed his foreign minister's statement that Bratislava would not oppose the launch of Ukraine's accession talks during the upcoming EU summit, the Slovak news outlet Pravda reported.
AFP: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged on Wednesday to fight during EU budget talks this week for lasting financial support for Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion.
Reuters: Together, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland have provided aid to Ukraine worth some 11 billion euros since Russia invaded in Feb. 2022 and are ready to continue giving extensive military, economic and humanitarian support, the five nations said in a joint statement.
The Moscow Times: Two German men faced trial in Berlin on Wednesday for allegedly stealing intelligence secrets and passing them on to Russia's security services.
Norwegian government: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Norway on Wednesday for a previously unannounced visit to discuss support for his country's defence against the Russian invasion.
worth mentioning
Russia to exempt eggs from import duties as prices climb, stocks dwindle
Bill to ban abortions in private clinics at federal level submitted to Russian State Duma
100K residents of southern Russia’s Rostov region without power
Russian ex-policeman arrested on suspicion of unlawfully granting 100K migrants legal status
A Russian spy arrested in Norway last year pretended to be a Brazilian “hybrid threats” researcher. He just admitted he’s a GRU spy.
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