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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Spain plans to send Patriot missiles and Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a 1.13 billion euro weapon package announced last month, El Pais newspaper reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources close to the operation.
Bloomberg: EU foreign affairs ministers will today discuss how to find a face-saving outcome for the Ukraine peace summit on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
ISW: Russian forces are reportedly concentrating forces of unspecified size in western Belgorod Oblast near the border with Ukraine, likely to fix and draw Ukrainian forces to the area and prepare for offensive operations that aim to expand the Russian foothold in the international border area in northeastern Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: U.S. and allied intelligence officials have noted a growing number of low-level sabotage operations in Europe that seem to be a part of Russia's effort to undermine assistance for Ukraine, the New York Times reported on May 26.
AP News: For imprisoned Ukrainians, calls are nonexistent and even letters rare. Families usually learn their fate only when comrades freed in exchanges bring back word.
26.05.2024
The Kyiv Independent: There has been a sharp increase in Russian troop activity in the direction of Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 26.
POLITICO: NATO allies are demanding that outgoing chief Jens Stoltenberg offer greater clarity this week on his plan to pledge a massive €100 billion in support for Ukraine.
AFP: Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated Sunday her opposition to the use of weapons supplied to Ukraine on Russia soil, after the NATO chief reportedly suggested letting Kyiv strike targets beyond its border.
Bloomberg: There’s an “increased risk” of cyberattacks from Russian hackers at the Ukraine peace meeting to be held in Switzerland in June, NZZ am Sonntag reported (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: Russia does not have enough troops for a major attack in Sumy Oblast but may still attempt to invade the region, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andriy Demchenko said on television.
Herald Sun: Australia has allowed almost $1bn in two-way trade with Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine – a figure similar to the value of Australian military and humanitarian aid sent to Kyiv (archive).
Yonhap: A large number of Russian experts have entered North Korea to support its spy satellite launch efforts, and Pyongyang has staged more engine tests than expected to likely meet their "high" standards, a senior South Korean defense official said Sunday.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is forming another grouping of troops near Ukraine's northern border amid the ongoing offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to the world leaders.
Sky News: Russia is producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine's Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost, according to an analysis shared with Sky News.
ISW: Ukrainian and Russian sources stated that Ukrainian forces are increasingly contesting the tactical initiative in northern Kharkiv Oblast and characterized Russian operations in the area as defensive.
25.05.2024
MSN: The death toll from Russian strikes on a hardware store in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv rose to 16 Sunday, the regional governor said as rescuers searched the charred debris for bodies.
The Kyiv Independent: Anti-aircraft gunners of the 110th Mechanized Brigade have destroyed another Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's military claimed on May 25.
Novaya-Europe: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has published a draft law on the procedure for issuing passports, which will prohibit Russian consulates abroad from issuing documents to Russian citizens who have been sent digital draft notices.
Reuters: The G7 will explore ways to use the future income from frozen Russian assets to boost funding for war-torn Ukraine, finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrial democracies said on Saturday, but offered no details of how to do so.
Euromaidan Press: According to a media report by Welt, current intelligence reports warn of “larger” territorial losses due to Russian superiority by the end of the year. The assessment states that the “overall picture” for Ukraine is “darkening” due to Russian dominance.
Reuters: Italian banks must halt their business in Russia as staying in the country also brings a "reputational problem," European Central Bank policymaker Fabio Panetta said on Saturday.
RFE/RL: Satellite images taken shortly after a May 23 Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region show significant damage to a key radar installation providing air-defense coverage to the occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea, as well as the Balkans, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf.
The Guardian: A long-term rearmament of Europe, in which the UK can play the closest possible role, is necessary to defeat Russian imperial ambitions, Poland’s foreign minister has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Sikorski said Poland backed the right of Ukraine to strike at military targets inside Russia.
ISW: The Kremlin will continue to feign interest in negotiations at critical moments in the war to influence Western decision-making on support for Ukraine and to continue efforts to extract preemptive concessions from the West.
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had secured "combat control" of areas where Russian troops staged an incursion this month in northern parts of Kharkiv region.
24.05.2024
Business Insider: US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers have been rendered "completely ineffective" as a result of Russian electronic jamming systems, a new report said. A confidential Ukrainian weapons assessment, seen by The Washington Post, stated that Ukraine has had to halt or scale back its use of many US-supplied arms because of targeting problems.
The United States on Friday announced a fresh tranche of military aid for Ukraine, including ammunition, missiles, mines and artillery rounds as Russia presses its assault on the Kharkiv region.
AFP: Lithuania said Friday that the Baltic state and five other NATO members neighbouring Russia had agreed to build a "drone wall" to defend their borders from "provocations".
FT: Hungary’s Orbán holds up Ukraine arms funding from frozen Russian assets, crippling efforts to rush the cash to Kyiv. “For the time being they are blocking everything connected to the military support to Ukraine” (archive).
The Moscow Times: Romanian prosecutors announced Friday that they had ordered the arrest of a man suspected of spying for Moscow, while the government declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata.
Reuters: Expanded sanctions on Russia and enhanced pressure on countries that Moscow considers friendly are hurting Russian firms' export revenues and creating oil payment issues, the Bank of Russia said on Friday.
POLITICO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday his country was looking to redefine its membership in NATO to ensure the country cannot be involved in operations outside of the military alliance's territory.
The Moscow Times: The purge is the culmination of wartime infighting and competition for resources between the Russia's security services and the Defense Ministry — and marks a victory for the FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB, in currying Putin’s favor.
Reuters: The number of people held in Russian prisons dropped by 58,000 last year, Russian independent media reported on Friday, continuing a steady fall spurred in part by the recruitment of convicts to fight in Ukraine.
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