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Morning Headlines
The Guardian: Lithuania’s foreign minister has raised the prospect of an ad hoc coalition of western countries sending military training personnel into Ukraine backed by ground-based air defence, days after Russia took an increasingly strident tone against what it sees as the threat of deeper western involvement in the war.
Reuters: A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire and damaged several storage tanks at a fuel depot in Russia's Krasnodar region, the region's crisis administration said on Thursday.
AFP: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday Seoul would keep strong ties with Ukraine and a "smooth" relationship with Russia, while ruling out direct weapon shipments to Kyiv.
ISW: Russia is relying on vast Soviet-era stores of vehicles and other equipment to sustain operations and losses in Ukraine at a level far higher than the current Russian defense industrial base (DIB) could support, nor will Russia be able to mobilize its DIB to replenish these stores for many years.
The Kyiv Independent: A Slovak fundraising campaign for the Czech ammunition initiative has raised enough money to buy 2,692 shells for Ukraine, the Czech News Agency reported on May 8.
More News
Reuters: Ambassadors from European Union countries agreed on Wednesday to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine's defence. Ministers still need to approve the legal text that will see 90% of the proceeds go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine, with the other 10% going to support Kyiv in other ways.
The Insider: Several oil refineries in Russia are facing staff shortages as workers are leaving en masse due to the fear of Ukrainian drone strikes, according to a report by the publication Vot Tak.
The Times: Lithuania is preparing for a possible escalation in tensions with neighbouring Belarus, Russia’s biggest ally in Europe, its foreign minister has said (archive).
AP News: Kosovo’s foreign minister said Wednesday that her country is convinced that Russia must lose the war in Ukraine for conflict not to spread further in Europe. She said her young nation’s support for Ukraine is unconditional even though Kyiv has not recognized Kosovo’s independence.
Reuters: Poland's prime minister wants to revive a Polish commission investigating Russian influence, he said on Wednesday, amid heightened fears about espionage after a Polish judge who had access to military secrets asked for asylum in Belarus.
The Guardian: Russia has “targeted and neutralized” dozens of US intelligence agents in recent years in a covert worldwide operation using sonic weapons, a House committee heard on Wednesday as it looked into the mystery phenomenon known as Havana syndrome.
The Kyiv Independent: Armenia will not partake in the financing of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Yerevan announced on May 8.
Reuters: Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International has dropped a bid for a 1.5 billion euro industrial stake linked to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska after intense U.S. pressure.
Bloomberg: Greece’s Navy extended a series of exercises aimed at preventing tankers from transferring Russian oil just miles off its coastline (archive).
Reuters: Hungary will not participate in NATO's long-term plan to aid Ukraine, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, calling the plan a "crazy mission".
The Kyiv Independent: An oil depot in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk was heavily damaged in a fire that Russian proxies claim was the result of a Ukrainian strike, Luhansk Oblast Governor Artem Lysohor said on May 8.
Reuters: Ukraine said on Wednesday it was producing the same number of deep strike drones as Russia, claiming to have reached parity on a key type of weapon that Moscow has used for long-range attacks for much of its invasion.
Euronews: Western battlefield weapons are still reaching Moscow, a study by Bruegel and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute found – but banks are wary of taking responsibility for monitoring the arms supply chain.
Reuters: Russian cyberspies targeted networks belonging to the Polish government this week, the state-run National Research Institute said on Wednesday.
UK will expel undeclared Russian spy in response to growing threat. The move is part of a major package of measures to tighten defences against alleged malign activity by Russia across the UK and Europe.
Reuters: Estonia's foreign ministry has summoned the head of the Russian embassy in Tallinn to protest the jamming of GPS signals, the Baltic country's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on X on Wednesday.
Reuters: Russia warned France on Wednesday that if President Emmanuel Macron sent troops to Ukraine then they would be seen as legitimate targets by the Russian military.
Reuters: Indian police said four people linked to a network of human traffickers have been arrested on suspicion of luring young men to Russia with the promise of lucrative jobs or university places only to force them to fight in the war in Ukraine.
worth mentioning
Foreign Affairs: Why Ukraine should keep striking Russian oil refineries
Key takeaways regarding attitudes on U.S. involvement with the war in Ukraine
“Shreds of bodies hung from the branches.” Confessions of “meat grinder” assault veterans
Moscow seizes pasta maker Makfa in wartime nationalization sweep
Russian who made career of informing on others is charged himself
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