30.06.2024

Reuters: Russian forces attacked Ukraine's two largest cities on Sunday, with missile fragments falling on a suburban Kyiv apartment building and a guided bomb killing one person in Kharkiv.

The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces lost three military planes, 350 tanks, and more than 58 air defense systems in the month of June, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces announced on June 30. Over 33,700 Russian soldiers were also reportedly killed in the last thirty days.

Sky News: Claims of Russian interference in the general election campaign are "gravely concerning", the UK's deputy prime minister has said. Mr Dowden added that Moscow allegedly using Facebook pages to spread support for Nigel Farage "is a classic example from the Russian playbook".

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine has launched serial production of strike drones with a range of over 1,000 kilometers, the head of state-owned company Ukrainian Defense Industry, also known as Ukroboronprom, said on June 29.

AFP: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday announced he wanted to form a new EU parliament alliance, together with Austria's far-right party and the Czech centrist group of ex-premier Andrej Babis.

Ukrainska Pravda: The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly has adopted a resolution in which it recognises Russia's actions as genocide of the Ukrainian people as well as the need to decolonise Russia.

ISW: Two prominent Russian officials appear to be spearheading divergent paths for addressing religious extremism in Russia as ethnic and religious tension in Russia continues to rise.

Reuters: A "swarm" of Ukrainian drones targeted Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel's facility in a raid in the early hours of Sunday, but it sustained no serious damage, a company spokesperson said.

29.06.2024

Euromaidan Press: Ukraine is allocating significant resources to expedite advances in the Vovchansk direction, aiming for a decisive victory through the use of encirclement.

The EU has adopted new sanctions against the Belarusian regime in response to its involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. These measures target the trade, services and transport sectors and make sanctions circumvention more difficult.

Reuters: Russian forces on Saturday fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk, outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 31 others, officials said.

Bloomberg: The International Monetary Fund will add a requirement for Ukraine to implement changes to its customs code in a bid to step up a crackdown on corruption. Kyiv will need to align its customs operations with European Union legislation, strengthen personnel integrity, and introduce a merit-based and transparent hiring process for staff (archive).

Reuters: Belarus has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect "critical infrastructure facilities" due to increased Ukrainian drone activity in the area, a Belarusian military commander said on Saturday.

Bloomberg: Heavily discounted Russian-made goods, from hair products to chocolate, are finding their way onto Singapore’s virtual supermarket shelves even as many countries — and companies — shun doing business with the nation (archive).

ISW: Putin directed the production and deployment of nuclear-capable short- and intermediate-range missiles, likely as part of the Kremlin's ongoing reflexive control campaign to influence Western decision making in Russia's favor.

AP News: The head of a research organization that has been tracing weapons used in attacks in Ukraine since 2018 told the United Nations Security Council on Friday it has “irrefutably” established that ballistic missile remnants found in Ukraine came from North Korea.

28.06.2024

Reuters: The Biden administration will provide Ukraine with $150 million worth of weapons and ammunition, including HAWK air defense interceptors and 155 millimeter artillery munitions, two U.S. officials said on Friday.

IMF: The International Monetary Fund approved the disbursement of $2.2 billion in funding through the Extended Fund Facility to assist Ukraine with budgetary support.

Reuters: Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Rozdolivka in eastern Ukraine, but Ukraine's military said heavy fighting was raging in areas around the settlement.

AFP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday 10 civilians, including a politician and two priests, taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus had been freed in a deal mediated by the Vatican.

Reuters: Russia protested to Japan on Friday about Tokyo's plans to hold joint military exercises on the island of Hokkaido and accused Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of placing his country "on a path to dangerous escalation".

Reuters: A Russian missile strike hit a nine-storey residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, officials said.

Reuters: Putin said on Friday that Russia should resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia.

LRT: Lithuania’s Customs Criminal Service has uncovered a sanction circumvention scheme for car exports from Lithuania to Russia and Belarus, the service said on Friday.

AFP: Russian shelling killed four people and injured three others including an eight-year-old child, in the east Ukrainian town of New York on Friday, regional prosecutors said.

Yle: Finland is sending its 24th military aid package to Ukraine, the ministry of defence announced on Friday. The value of the latest aid package is around 159 million euros, bringing Finland's overall support to Ukraine to 2.2 billion euros, the ministry said.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's National Guard claimed on June 28 it had downed another Russian Su-25 fighter jet in embattled Donetsk Oblast.

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