29.06.2025

Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war.

Bloomberg: Putin has expanded the range of information covered by Russia’s state secrecy law, further tightening his grip on society as his war in Ukraine continues (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on June 29 that Washington has lifted sanctions that hindered the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, where Russia's state-owned energy company Rosatom is to build two new reactors.

The Moscow Times: Fresh Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian regions in the night of Saturday to Sunday wounded at least 12 people, according to the war-torn country's authorities.

Reuters: A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot died in a crash while repelling a Russian air attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday.

ISW: Russia’s deployment of an experimental Grom-1 missile-bomb and likely efforts to increase its Shahed production are part of ongoing efforts to adapt Russian strike packages against Ukraine to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and cause maximum damage.

28.06.2025

Reuters: Ukraine's top commander said on Saturday that his forces faced a new onslaught against a key city on the eastern front of its war against Russia, while Moscow said it was making progress in another sector farther southwest.

The Hill: A majority of Americans say they support sanctions on Russia and its allies over the ongoing war with Ukraine, according to a poll released Friday by YouGov.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's military intelligence struck on June 28 the 1060th Material-Technical Support Center in the city of Bryansk, Ukraine's General Staff said. The facilities store a Russian missile and drone arsenal.

The Kyiv Independent: Drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Kirovske military airfield in occupied Crimea overnight on June 28. The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the SBU claimed.

Reuters: The top Senate Finance Committee Democrat pressed U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday to commit to enforcing Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia and to clarify comments about Russia rejoining an international bank payments network.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia is returning outdated T-62 tanks to service due to mounting equipment losses in its full-scale war against Ukraine and a shortage of modern military equipment, Ukraine's military intelligence said on June 28.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia attacked the southern city of Odesa overnight on June 28, killing two people and injuring at least 14 others, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported.

27.06.2025

The Moscow Times: Russia’s largest lender Sberbank appears to have found a workaround to Western sanctions and SWIFT bans by enabling wire transfers to European banks through third-party intermediaries.

Ukrainska Pravda: Two Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers have been destroyed and two others damaged by Ukraine’s Security Service, Armed Forces and Special Operations Forces in a drone attack on the Marinovka airfield in Russia’s Volgograd Oblast.

The Kyiv Independent: Active fighting is still taking place around the village of Shevchenko in Donetsk Oblast, home to one of Ukraine's largest lithium deposits, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces told the Kyiv Independent on June 27, denying reports Russia had occupied the village.

Reuters: A German foreign ministry official on Friday rejected "unfounded accusations" made by Russia's foreign ministry that Berlin had persecuted Russian journalists working in the country.

The Moscow Times: Russian companies are increasingly cutting or eliminating employee bonuses and incentive payments as they seek to reduce costs, a new report has revealed.

Reuters: Putin said on Friday that Russia was looking to cut its military expenditure from next year, contrasting that with NATO's plan to ramp up defence spending over the next decade.

The Guardian: Britain’s spy chiefs were forced to launch one of the most sensitive and risky investigations since the cold war over fears a senior officer at the foreign intelligence service MI6 was a double agent for Russia.

Reuters: The Kremlin said on Friday that Estonia's stated readiness to host NATO allies' U.S.-made F-35A stealth jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, posed a direct threat to Moscow.

Bloomberg: The German government is examining measures that could help it stop a potential sale of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after speculation emerged earlier this year over reviving pipeline gas deliveries from Russia (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: A Russian missile strike on the city of Samar in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on June 27 killed five people and injured at least 25 others, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

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