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Morning Headlines
The Guardian: The UK has provided satellite photographs of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia to a panel of UN experts as part of an attempt to trigger an official investigation into arms deals in violation of international sanctions.
WSJ: Ukraine will run out of money within months and be forced to take painful economic measures to keep the government running if aid from the U.S. or Europe doesn’t come through, according to economists and Ukrainian officials (archive).
ISW: Russian forces using short-range systems such as the Pantsir may not be able to cover all important potential targets in Leningrad Oblast without bringing additional systems into the area, and continued Ukrainian strikes in deep rear areas in Russia may thus increase pressure on Russia’s air defenses overall.
BBC News: Ukraine aims to build a million military drones in 2024. In Kherson, the BBC saw how vital they are.
21.01.2024
AP News: Moscow-installed officials said Ukrainian shelling killed at least 27 people and wounded 25 on Sunday at a market on the outskirts of Donetsk, a Russian-occupied city in the eastern part of the country.
Reuters: Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.
CNN: The frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine have become infested with rats and mice, reportedly spreading disease that causes soldiers to vomit and bleed from their eyes, crippling combat capability and recreating the gruesome conditions that plagued troops in the trench warfare of World War I.
Reuters: Russian forces have taken control of the village of Krokhmalne in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Sunday, and a Ukrainian military spokesman confirmed that Kyiv's forces had withdrawn.
The Kyiv Independent: Residents of Ukraine's Russian-occupied regions who lack Russian passports are being denied medical treatment, the National Resistance Center reported on Jan. 21.
Reuters: Russia's aviation watchdog said on Sunday four people survived the crash of a charter plane bound for Moscow in northern Afghanistan, citing the Russian embassy there, and it said the condition of two other passengers on board was not yet clear.
The Times of Israel: The Hamas terror group does not intend to comply with Russia’s request to release all Russian citizens currently held in captivity in Gaza.
Reuters: Putin expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang soon when he met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Russia last week, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.
20.01.2024
Reuters: The wife of a Russian soldier delivered an emotional appeal for his return from Ukraine on Saturday at the election headquarters of President Vladimir Putin, a defiant gesture in a country where open criticism of the war is banned.
The Kyiv Independent: Slovakia’s new Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová has reversed a ban on cooperating with Belarus and Russia, Slovak publication Pravda reported on Jan. 20, citing leaked documents.
RFE/RL: The head of Ukraine’s presidential office dismissed the idea of pivoting to a defensive posture, saying it would only lead to a persistent stalemate.
The Kyiv Independent: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico came out with another anti-Ukrainian public statement on Jan. 20, telling Slovak radio that he would block Ukraine's accession to NATO. Fico is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Jan. 24.
RFE/RL: The Russian government is to introduce mandatory consular registration for Russian citizens living abroad and will also create a “digital profile” for foreigners coming to the country.
Business Insider: A new video shows two crew members from Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade describing how they overwhelmed a Russian T-90M tank using just a US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicle.
Reuters: Russian lawmakers have prepared a bill allowing for the confiscation of money and property from people who spread "deliberately false information" about the country's armed forces, a senior member of parliament said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: An apparent Russian state-aligned group is targeting Ukraine’s International Legion in a disinformation campaign. The Kyiv Independent obtained and analyzed exclusive video that shows the group used doctored footage to pose as the Ukrainian ex-president on a Zoom call that took place in early January.
AP News: State-backed Russian hackers broke into Microsoft's corporate email system and accessed the accounts of members of the company's leadership team, as well as those of employees on its cybersecurity and legal teams, the company said Friday.
Reuters: Russia leapfrogged Saudi Arabia to become China's top crude oil supplier in 2023, data showed on Saturday, as the world's biggest crude importer defied Western sanctions to purchase vast quantities of discounted oil for its processing plants.
19.01.2024
Bloomberg: The European Union’s foreign-policy arm has presented member states with a proposal to revamp a fund that provides military support to Ukraine, as the EU shifts from sending weapons from existing stockpiles to procuring new ones.
AFP: An Italian navy captain caught selling classified documents to the Russian embassy in 2021 was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison by a Rome court, his lawyer told AFP.
POLITICO: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited Donald Trump to Kyiv, but on one condition. The Ukrainian president said the former U.S. president would be welcome to visit him in the capital — as long as Trump is able to stop the war with Russia within 24 hours, as he once promised.
Reuters: Ukraine, Moldova and Slovakia on Friday joined an initiative for a planned corridor to carry natural gas between Greece and countries to its north as Europe steps up efforts to diversify supply and boost energy security.
AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged defence manufacturers to boost production and innovation as Europe struggles to increase arms supplies to buttress Ukraine.
The Moscow Times: Russia on Friday summoned France's ambassador in Moscow and issued a formal complaint over his country's alleged "growing involvement" in the war in Ukraine.
Meduza: Russian troops may be planning to conduct a large-scale offensive in Ukraine “as early as this summer,” The Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Ukrainian officials who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
POLITICO: Pro-Kremlin disinformation groups are using recent speeches by European Parliament members to “sow polarization and pollute” politics in Europe, a memo sent to all members on Thursday and seen by POLITICO said.
AFP: The three Baltic states on Friday agreed to build new defences on their borders with Belarus and Russia, given security concerns in the region over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
yle: A probe by Yle's Swedish-language investigative unit Spotlight has revealed that the heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and its dealer, Zeppelin International, sold hundreds of their vehicles to Russia after the country attacked Ukraine.
Bloomberg: The European Union has started discussions on a new sanctions package that it aims to approve by Feb. 24 — the two-year mark for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (archive).
AFP: Ukraine said it was behind a drone strike that sparked a huge inferno at an oil depot in western Russia on Friday, the latest in a series of escalating cross-border attacks.
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