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Morning Headlines
AP News: Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to bring down a Ukrainian dam that collapsed earlier this month while under Russian control, according to exclusive drone photos and information obtained by The Associated Press.
Reuters: Russia reported fierce fighting on Sunday on three sections of the front line in Ukraine while Ukraine's president praised his troops for repelling enemy advances and said their counter-offensive was progressing well.
Reuters: Moscow declined United Nations offers to help residents affected by the flooding from the breached Kakhovka Dam, the world body said on Sunday, as the death toll rose and filthy water has forced the closing of beaches in southern Ukraine.
ISW: Ukrainian forces may be temporarily pausing counteroffensive operations to reevaluate their tactics for future operations. Operational pauses are a common feature of major offensive undertakings, and this pause does not signify the end of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
UK Ministry of Defence: Over the last ten days, Russia has highly likely started relocating elements of its Dnipro Group of Forces from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River to reinforce the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut sectors.
Reuters: War-torn Ukraine is seeking up to $40 billion to fund the first part of a "Green Marshall Plan" to rebuild its economy, a senior Ukrainian government official told Reuters ahead of a summit this week.
Reuters: A free trade zone agreement between Iran, Russia and several countries that cover the vast Eurasian region spreading from the borders of Eastern Europe to Western China is possible by the end of the year, Russia's TASS news agency reported on Monday.
18.06.2023
Novaya-Europe: The NATO HQ hosted a defence minister meeting on 15-16 June. One of the items discussed was the support of Ukraine. A senior NATO official spoke to reporters, including a Novaya-Europe correspondent, about the current situation in the Ukraine war.
Meduza: Prigozhin says that 32,000 former prisoners have returned home after fighting in Ukraine with his Wagner Group military cartel. He says their recidivism rate is “80 times lower” than that among other prisoners released during Russia’s invasion.
POLITICO: Ukrainian forces recaptured the village of Piatykhatky in the southern Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, a local occupying Russian official said. This is one of Ukraine’s first wins on that front since the start earlier this month of the counteroffensive against Russia’s unlawful invasion of the country.
Reuters: Britain said on Sunday it would expand its programme to help Ukraine's cyber defences as it launches a counter-offensive against Russia. In the announcement, the British government said it would provide another 16 million pounds ($20.5 million) in funding with the potential for a further 9 million pounds to come from international allies.
Reuters: The European Union is speeding up arms deliveries to Ukraine in support of the country's counter offensive against Russian forces, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Sunday in an interview with the French daily Le Parisien.
RFE/RL: Cases involving Russian soldiers and illegal drugs have been on the rise, in part because no drug screening was conducted during the country’s mass military mobilization.
Reuters: The death toll from flooding following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam has risen to 16 in Ukraine, Kyiv officials said, while Russian officials said 29 people have died in territories that Moscow controls.
Reuters: Ukrainian forces destroyed a "significant" ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk in the southern region of Kherson, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, said on Sunday.
Reuters: Evidence suggests this month's destruction of the huge Kakhovka dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine resulted from an inside explosion set off by Russia, the New York Times said.
UK Ministry of Defence: In recent days, heavy fighting has continued, with the most intense combat focused in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, western Donetsk Oblast, and around Bakhmut. In all these areas, Ukraine continues to pursue offensive operations and has made small advances.
17.06.2023
The Times: Sexual violence against men is an under-reported part of the Ukraine war. A psychologist describes the impact on her patients of their torture by Russians.
AFP: In a symbolic step, alliance leaders are aiming to hold a first session of a NATO-Ukraine Council with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in Brussels.
Business Insider: The war in Ukraine has led to infighting among Russia's most influential players. These are the 7 people you need to know.
AFP: Russia on Saturday said it had destroyed three drones targeting an oil refinery in the southern border region of Bryansk, as Ukraine pursues its counteroffensive against Russian forces.
WSJ: “If we go back, they’ll shoot us!”: Russian soldiers taken captive talk of poor morale and brutal commanders.
Le Monde: According to a report, most of the components found in Russian weapons in Ukraine were manufactured by 155 foreign companies. Two-thirds of these were American.
The Telegraph: "Forcing men to stand around waiting to get shot at is an absurdity – one that speaks to fatal flaws in the Russian armed forces," former British Army colonel says.
AP News: “They (Russians) let the boats through, those coming to rescue people…” “But when the boats were full of people, they started shooting.”
UK Ministry of Defence: Since the start of Ukrainian counter-offensive operations in southern Ukraine, Russia has re-enforced its attack helicopter force in the region. Imagery shows that over 20 extra Russian helicopters deployed to Berdyansk Airport, approximately 100km behind the front line.
16.06.2023
The Kyiv Independent: European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders talked about what an international trial into Russian crimes could look like, the challenges of organizing a special tribunal, and why it is important for Ukraine to ratify the Rome Statute.
POLITICO: Ukraine’s health ministry is preparing for an outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera following the huge release of water caused by the destruction of the Nova Kakhovaka dam in the country’s Kherson region, Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Lyashko has told POLITICO.
AFP: The United States on Friday announced a further $205 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine to help the country with shortages of food, drinking water and other needs as its fights against Russia's invasion.
The National: Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said that a Nato-Ukraine council will be inaugurated at the alliance's next summit in Lithuania in July, putting a framework forward for an enhanced political relationship with Kyiv.
Reuters: NATO allies may be ready to remove some hurdles from Ukraine's path to the military alliance, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday, a few weeks before a NATO summit that aims to bridge differences over Kyiv's accession.
Novaya-Europe: Russia’s army claims to have ‘destroyed’ all of Ukraine’s military hardware six months ago. Novaya’s journalists try to make sense of their triumphant calculations.
Reuters: The Swedish government has decided on a 12th support package to Ukraine, worth 250 million crowns ($23.7 million), that includes Ukrainian pilots test flying the Nordic country's Gripen fighter jets, it said on Friday.
GOV.UK: An additional £60 million of funding from the UK to NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) has been announced by the Defence Secretary, bringing the UK’s total contribution to over £80 million since February last year.
The Kyiv Independent: "I think this makes them (African leaders) realize very clearly who is the aggressor and how the aggressor behaves, what are its intentions," European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano commented on Russia's missile strike.
Bloomberg: Lithuania plans to unilaterally ban a swathe of dual-use goods that may enter Russia via Belarus and potentially end up on the battlefield in Ukraine, raising pressure on the EU to tighten restrictions targeting Moscow.
SwissInfo: Investigating Swiss traders’ links to murky world of Russian oil - Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have triggered a shake-up in global oil trading.
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