A large-scale early morning drone strike on Moscow Tuesday has left several civilian apartment buildings in the Russian capital damaged with the Kremlin immediately blaming Ukraine for the attacks. It is largely being described as the first attack on the city’s civilian neighborhoods.
According to a press release from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), American columnist and YouTuber Gonzalo Lira was arrested at the beginning of May in Ukraine because he allegedly “publicly justified” the Russian invasion of the country. While the press release notes that Lira “has the citizenship of one of the countries of Latin America,” it completely neglects to mention that Lira is also a U.S. citizen, having been born in California.
On Thursday, despite urgent warnings from the U.S. and other Western allies, Belarus and Russia signed an agreement to formalize the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory as part of the formation of what the two countries have called a ‘union state.’
Russia’s Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has given a rare and revealing interview with pro-Moscow blogger Konstantin Dolgov, fresh off the weekend declaration of victory over Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east.
Poland and Norway have joined the ever-expanding faction of NATO countries that are willing to begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. The countries’ willingness comes after President Joe Biden gave his approval at last week’s G7 summit in Japan for Europeans to send Western fighters to Ukraine. The policy change occurred after months of debate inside the administration.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department took immediate steps to distance Washington from a cross-border attack in Russia’s Belgorod region by Ukrainian-aligned individuals that occurred over the weekend. “We have made very clear to the Ukrainians that we don’t enable or encourage attacks outside Ukrainian’s borders,” the State Department commented before adding that it is “up to Ukraine to decide how they want to conduct their military operations.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave in to “numerous requests from Orthodox worshippers” and donated the 15th-century “Trinity” icon to the Russian Orthodox Church. The icon is believed to be the work of religious artist Andrei Rublev and many experts and artists advised against the turnover claiming that the church did not have the ability to take care of such a fragile piece of art, voicing concerns that it would eventually be destroyed.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been outspoken since arriving at the annual Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) about his stance on the war in Ukraine and NATO and the West’s relentless support of Zelensky and the resulting escalations with Russia. Orban has also blatantly stated that the Ukrainians are not able to defeat Russia without the assistance of NATO troops, which the alliance is unwilling to send and which Hungary is staunchly against.
Russian officials have reported renewed conflicts and another attack in the border region of Belgorod. Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly been briefed regarding the attack and resulting casualties in the Grayvoronsky district near the border with Ukraine. Officials in Kyiv have denied the attack claiming that Russian citizens from 2 paramilitary groups were responsible for the attack.
Russia has extended another harsh warning to the U.S. regarding potential future attacks on Russian-controlled Crimea. “Strikes on this territory are considered by us as an attack on any other region of the Russian Federation. It is important that the United States is fully aware of the Russian response,” Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. said on Sunday.