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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Kyiv overnight killed five people, injured scores, sparked fires in residential areas and damaged an entrance to a metro station that serves as a bomb shelter, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
The Kyiv Independent: Norway will invest $400 million in Ukraine's defense industry to support drone and air defense missile production, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on June 22.
ISW: Iran's possible decision to close the Strait of Hormuz will cause a significant spike in global oil prices, which would greatly economically and financially benefit Russia by reversing months of declining Russian oil revenue and allowing Russia to continue to finance its war against Ukraine in the medium term.
22.06.2025
Reuters: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday urged the European Union to take a proposed ban on Russian energy off the agenda due to an expected rise in energy prices following the US bombing of Iran.
RFE/RL: According to families, eyewitnesses, and Russian media reports, it has become common practice since the beginning of the war in February 2022 that Russian military officials demand that relatives of dead soldiers do not open the coffins they receive from Ukraine. Authorities do not provide any reason, merely telling the relatives the opening the coffins is against the law.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian intelligence has proof that Russia is preparing new military operations in Europe, said President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 22 after a report from military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.
Politico: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday announced he will travel to Moscow in the coming hours for urgent talks with Putin, shortly after the United States launched airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear sites.
The Moscow Times: Ukraine's top military commander vowed to increase the "scale and depth" of strikes on Russia in remarks made public on Sunday. He said the strikes were proving "effective" and that Kyiv would only attack military targets.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine is downing approximately 82% of Russian Shahed-type drones during Russian massive aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities despite a serious shortage of surface-to-air missiles, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
RBC-Ukraine: The Armed Forces of Ukraine are undergoing a reorganization to increase operational efficiency. This will make it possible to form more capable reserves for conducting counteroffensive and offensive operations.
The Kyiv Independent: Over 45 Ukrainians forcibly deported by Russia from Ukraine's occupied territories are being held in a basement at Russia's border with Georgia without food, water, and basic healthcare, independent media outlet Astra reported.
ISW: The Russian government formally announced its intention to reassess Russia's territorial waters in the Baltic Sea over a year after the Russian Ministry of Defense published and subsequently deleted a similar proposal.
21.06.2025
The Kyiv Independent: The narrowed focus of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague — which will have only a single session devoted to defense spending — is designed to appease Trump, Politico reported on June 21.
AFP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Western firms of supplying Russia with "machine tools" used to make weapons, in remarks made public Saturday. He said companies from Germany, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Japan were among them, as well as one business "supplying a small number of components from the United States."
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Ukraine's Western partners to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to helping Kyiv ramp up weapons production and said the country plans to sign agreements this summer to start exporting weapon production technologies. Zelenskiy said Ukraine was in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania to launch joint weapon production.
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 21 responded to Putin's recent statements on Ukraine, saying that Ukraine intends to defend itself and that the government had made several decisions to bolster security in light of the Kremlin's threats.
AFP: Ukraine received the bodies of 20 Russian soldiers during exchanges of war dead with Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks made public Saturday.
NYT: Ukraine’s security service is holding classes at high schools to alert teenagers of Russian efforts to recruit them (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is systematically recruiting migrant workers from Central Asia to fight in its war against Ukraine as "cannon fodder," Ukraine's military intelligence reported on June 21.
ISW: Putin is attempting to obfuscate the reality that increased investment in Russia's defense industrial base has come at the cost of Russia's civilian economic sectors.
20.06.2025
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine was working on the rapid development of interceptor drones to counter the swarms of Russian drones that have been descending on Ukrainian cities in increasing numbers in recent weeks.
RFI: Despite the departure of the Wagner Group from Mali, Russia is continuing to strengthen its military presence in the country through its Africa Corps. Using satellite imagery, shipping logs and eyewitness reports, journalists from RFI have confirmed that Russia is discreetly shipping in large quantities of military equipment via the port of Conakry in neighbouring Guinea.
Politico: Sanctioned pro-Russian media are still part of Facebook's advertising revenue program, new research out Friday showed.
Reuters: Putin said on Friday that in his view the whole of Ukraine was "ours" and cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border.
ERR: Work has begun on anti-tank ditches in southeastern Estonia which will form part of the Baltic Defense Line. The Ministry of Defense says there is no "imminent military threat" but "readiness is key."
Politico: The European Union will not forge ahead with plans to impose a tough new price cap on the Russian oil exports funding the Kremlin's war in Ukraine in light of concerns that a new conflict in the Middle East will drive up oil prices.
Reuters: The German military deems Russia an "existential risk" to the country and Europe, according to a Spiegel news magazine report that cites a new Bundeswehr strategy paper. The confidential document warns that the Kremlin is aligning both its industrial and leadership structures "specifically to meet the requirements for a large-scale conflict against NATO by the end of this decade."
The Kyiv Independent: A coalition of European Union countries is pushing to bar Russian citizens who participated in the war against Ukraine from entering the Schengen Area, citing serious security concerns.
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