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Morning Headlines
The Insider: A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155.
ISW: The Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate reportedly directed all its clergy to change their liturgy to include pro-war prayers in support of Russia’s war of conquest against Ukraine and is likely threatening to defrock clergy who do not support the war.
AFP: France's top diplomat said Monday that Paris expects China to send "clear messages" to its close partner Russia over its war in Ukraine, after meetings with his counterpart in Beijing.
The Kyiv Independent: House Speaker Mike Johnson said on March 31 that the U.S. Congress will hold a vote on aid for Ukraine after months of deadlock following the end of the Easter holiday on April 7.
31.03.2024
Reuters: Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over all people "connected with terrorist acts committed in Russia", including the head of the country's SBU Security Service, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. The SBU immediately dismissed the Russian demand as "pointless" and said the Russian ministry had "forgotten" that Putin was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
POLITICO: France will send new surface-to-air missiles and old armored vehicles to Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said on Sunday.
The Guardian: Russia has carried out another round of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s much-depleted energy network, killing at least two people.
AFP: The owner of a popular gay bar in the Russian city of Orenburg has been arrested for "extremism", rights groups said Sunday, as authorities crack down on the LGBTQ community.
Evening Standard: Baltic nations have shared worries that Putin might use momentum from the Ukraine war to make a Stalin-esque land grab, it has been reported.
The Local France: Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Saturday Russian and Belarusian athletes "were not welcome" at the Olympics being staged in the French capital this year (archive).
Reuters: Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin's website showed on Sunday.
The Kyiv Independent: The Russian military has withdrawn nearly all its major ships from ports in occupied Crimea following successful Ukrainian strikes on the Black Sea Fleet, Navy Spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said.
BBC News: It is now one year since American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained on a reporting trip in Russia. His best hope of release may be Vadim Krasikov, who is sitting in a German jail, convicted of an execution that was ordered by the Kremlin.
30.03.2024
Reuters: The head of Ukraine's largest private energy firm, DTEK, said on Saturday that five of its six plants had been damaged or destroyed with 80% of its generating capacity lost after two weeks of Russian attacks and that repairs could take up to 18 months.
Kyiv Post: It was reported on Saturday by a Turkish tourism news site that the European Union has closed its airspace to the Turkish airline Southwind Airlines and an affiliated carrier Air Cairo, because of suspected links to Russia.
Ukrinform: Following the raids by Russian volunteer forces fighting on the side of Ukraine, Russia has stepped up measures to strengthen sections of its border in the Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk regions.
AP News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed a longtime aide and several advisers on Saturday in a continuing reshuffle while Russia unleashed fresh attacks overnight.
The Local France: The French government has said it is "seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine (archive).
ISW: The Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate held the World Russian People’s Council in Moscow on March 27 and 28 and approved an ideological and policy document tying several Kremlin ideological narratives together in an apparent effort to form a wider nationalist ideology around the war in Ukraine and Russia’s expansionist future.
29.03.2024
The Kyiv Independent: The Belgian government approved the 25th assistance package for Ukraine, which contains 100 million euros for the maintenance and support of F-16 fighter jets through the international "fighter jet coalition".
The Insider: Egisto Ott, a former Austrian intelligence officer who spied on investigative journalist Christo Grozev, has been arrested following the publication of a joint investigation by The Insider and Der Spiegel.
The Moscow Times: Authorities in St. Petersburg have been deporting migrants en masse in the week since the deadly attack on a Moscow region concert hall, the legal rights group Perviy Otdel said Friday.
The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces accidentally shot down their own Su-27 fighter jet over occupied Crimea due to "heightened combat readiness," Ukraine's Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said on air on March 29.
The Times: British luxury cars worth up to £650,000 are still being sold in Moscow and St Petersburg two years after the government imposed tough sanctions banning exports to Russia.
Reuters: Russia's Nornickel, the world's largest palladium producer and a major producer of high-grade nickel, said on Friday that some clients in the European Union had refused to buy products made with Russian metals.
Reuters: President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. will impose costs for Russia's "appalling attempts" to use Americans as bargaining chips in a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's arrest in Russia.
Reuters: Massive Russian missile and drone attacks hit thermal and hydro power plants in central and western Ukraine overnight, officials said on Friday, in the latest barrage targeting the country's already damaged power infrastructure.
Reuters: Ukraine has received a $1.5 billion tranche of funding under a World Bank programme, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday, helping it pay for its budget and social spending as it defends itself against the Russian invasion.
CNN: The Kremlin’s security services were aware of an ISIS threat days before a deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow, Russian intelligence documents obtained by a UK-based investigative organization suggest.
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