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Morning Headlines
Reuters: An overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine's southern city of Odesa wounded 10 people, including two children, and damaged residential buildings, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
France 24: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reaffirmed Pyongyang's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, vowing to help Moscow achieve victory in its "sacred" war, state media reported on Monday.
BBC: Ukraine has been intensifying its deep strikes like this for several weeks, targeting oil export facilities, in particular, like never before. Now, in a rare interview, the commander of all Ukraine's unmanned systems has told the BBC such attacks will escalate and claimed his drone forces are also holding back Russia's advance along the frontline by killing a record number of soldiers.
26.04.2026
France 24: Iran's foreign minister departed Islamabad for Moscow on Sunday, his ministry said, ping-ponging from capital to capital as mediators hoped to keep peace talks between Tehran and the United States alive.
Ukrainska Pravda: Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister, has said that Ukraine's partners have announced additional contributions of around €100 million to the Energy Support Fund.
United24 Media: Ukraine’s Security Service reported strikes on multiple Russian military targets in temporarily occupied Crimea overnight on April 26, including naval vessels, air defense systems, and a fighter jet.
BBC: Russian mercenaries hired by Mali's military have agreed to withdraw from Kidal after two days of clashes, the country's separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) group has said, as it claims to control the city.
The Moscow Times: Russian strikes across Ukraine killed three people and wounded at least four others, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. In the northeastern border region of Sumy, one Russian drone attack killed two civilians, according to the region's governor.
Reuters: A fertiliser plant in Russia's Vologda region was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday, local governor Georgy Filimonov said.
The Kyiv Independent: An oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl and several targets inside Russian-occupied territories were struck by Ukrainian drones overnight on April 26, Ukraine's General Staff confirmed.
25.04.2026
The Kyiv Independent: Russia launched one of its largest aerial strikes on Ukraine overnight and during the day on April 25, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 67, officials reported.
France 24: Top officials in the German government on Saturday blamed Russia for repeated phishing attacks targeting lawmakers and senior administration officials using the Signal messaging app.
The Moscow Times: Russia’s Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions came under attack from Ukrainian drones on Saturday morning, according to the Defense Ministry. This marks the first time the regions, which are over 1,700 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory, have been attacked.
Dallas: With planes breaking down and repair hubs facing insolvency, the Russian military is navigating a full-blown airlift crisis. It needs to move materiel, but its own aircraft increasingly cannot. The solution? Civilian aviation.
The Insider: Russian MFA spokeswoman accuses Latvia of Nazism due to fake ban on speaking Russian in schools. In reality, no such law exists. In 2024, one school demanded that students speak only Latvian, but the authorities described the rule as excessive.
Reuters: New European Union sanctions will ban condensate imports from Yamal LNG and other Russian projects that produce the light fuel as a byproduct of their liquefied natural gas production from January 1, 2027.
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan on April 25 for talks focused on security and energy cooperation. Aliyev welcomed the Ukrainian leader to Gabala, where the two sides signed six agreements to expand bilateral cooperation across multiple sectors.
Reuters: Romania recovered fragments of two drones after an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, its defence ministry said in statements on Saturday, while the foreign ministry said it had summoned the Russian ambassador in protest.
ISW: Elevated Russian oil revenues may enable the Kremlin to continue to finance its war against Ukraine in the medium term but are unlikely to reverse the years of poor economic policy.
24.04.2026
Politico: Europeans have to step up and defend their own interests because the U.S., China and Russia are now all “dead against” them, French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Friday.
Reuters: European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on Friday said he raised concerns about the recent U.S. easing of sanctions on Russian oil during his talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and understood that it would not happen again.
OCCRP: Years before Russian forces crossed into Ukraine under the guise of protecting Russian speakers, Moscow was quietly bankrolling a covert legislative campaign to deepen its cultural and political foothold in the country, according to an investigation by Schemes.
Politico: Europe should fund Ukraine’s reconstruction by taxing Russian imports, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles struck the Atlant Aero plant in the Russian city of Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, destroying two workshops and damaging four other buildings, Ukraine's General Staff conrfirmed on April 24.
Reuters: Putin's approval rating has fallen for a seventh week in a row to 65.6%, its lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to state pollster VTsIOM.
The Kyiv Independent: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk put into question Washington's readiness to defend Europe in accordance with NATO obligations. Europe's "biggest, most important question is if the United States is ready to be as loyal as it is described in our (NATO) treaties," Tusk told the Financial Times in an interview.
Reuters: EU leaders have asked officials to prepare a blueprint for how the bloc's previously obscure mutual assistance clause would work, host Cyprus said at a summit on Friday, amid doubts over the U.S. commitment to the NATO military alliance.
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