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[1/3] A man sits next to the body of his granddaughter who was killed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 1, 2023. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions, shattered Ukrainian cities, and brought increasing attacks on Russian soil. Earlier, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a far-right paramilitary group of ethnic Russians that supports Ukraine, had said it was fighting inside Russia. 'NO ONE OPENED SHELTER'In Kyiv, Ukraine said it shot down 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles in Russia's 18th attack on the capital since the start of May. Russia denies targeting civilians or committing war crimes but its forces have devastated Ukrainian cities and repeatedly hit residential areas since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.

Persons: Vyacheslav Gladkov, Yaroslav Ryabchuk, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Maia Sandu, Guy Faulconbridge, Felix Light, Olena Harmash, John Irish, Andrew Gray, Andrew Cawthorne, Ros Russell, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Moldova KYIV, Russia's, Russian Volunteer Corps, Belgorod region's, Soviet Union, NATO, Moldovan, Thomson Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Kyiv, Moldova, MOSCOW, Russia, Ukrainian, Shebekino, Moscow, Belgorod, Soviet, Western, EU, Scandinavia, Denmark, Lithuania, NATO

CNN —Russia is blaming Ukraine for launching a drone attack on Moscow early Tuesday which reportedly left two people injured and several buildings damaged, a rare incident in the Russian capital after months of war. At least three residential buildings in Moscow were damaged by drones on Tuesday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency services and residents. Sobyanin added in a subsequent update that investigators had concluded work at the Moscow apartment buildings hit by drones and that evacuated residents would be able to return to their homes. Ukraine has denied direct involvement with Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow. A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow on Tuesday.

☆ Five Takeaways From Turkey’s Presidential Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Ben Hubbard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election grants him five more years to deepen his conservative imprint on Turkish society and to realize his ambition of increasing the country’s economic and geopolitical power. Turkey’s Supreme Election Council named Mr. Erdogan the victor after a runoff election on Sunday. He won 52.1 percent of the vote against the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who had 47.9 percent with almost all votes counted, the council said. The election was closely followed by Turkey’s NATO allies, including the United States, who have often seen Mr. Erdogan as a frustrating partner because of his anti-Western rhetoric and close ties with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, which have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Erdogan has given no indication that he plans to change his policies abroad, where he has sought to use Turkey’s place at the juncture of Europe, Asia and the Middle East to expand its influence, or at home, where has consolidated power in his hands and responded to an inflation crisis with unconventional measures that economists said exacerbated the problem.

☆ Bakhmut: Russia has claimed to control the besieged city, but Ukraine says it's still fighting. Here's what we know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Ukraine has claimed it still controls parts of Bakhmut after Russian forces said they had finally captured the besieged eastern city. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Monday that Ukrainian forces were still in control of some buildings in the southwest of Bakhmut, two days after Russia claimed to have captured the city. Russian forces, bolstered by members of the Wagner mercenary group, have taken heavy losses trying to capture the city. Only two roads out to the west have remained outside Russian control, though for Ukrainian forces trying to re-supply the city, the drives in have been treacherous. Before the war, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut, a city once famous for its sparkling wine.

HIROSHIMA, Japan — President Biden and other leaders of the world’s major industrial democracies rallied around Ukraine on Sunday with vows of resolute support and promises of further weapons shipments even as Russian forces claimed to have seized full control of a bitterly contested city. Mr. Biden and his counterparts figuratively and, in some cases, literally wrapped their arms around President Volodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who made an audacious journey halfway around the world from his ravaged homeland to Hiroshima, Japan, to solicit aid for the first time in person from the Group of 7 powers at their annual summit. “Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back, and I promise we’re not going anywhere,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Zelensky while announcing another $375 million in artillery, ammunition and other arms for Ukraine. At a later news conference, Mr. Biden voiced defiance of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “I once more shared and assured President Zelensky, together with all G7 members and our allies and partners around the world, that we will not waver,” he said.

CNN —Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the damage in Bakhmut to the destruction wrought on Hiroshima after it was hit by an atomic bomb, as he denied Russia had captured the frontline city. Zelensky – who traveled to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) – said pictures of Hiroshima “really remind” him of Bakhmut and other Ukrainian towns. “Just the same, nothing alive left, all of the buildings have been ruined,” Zelensky told a news conference. Zelensky rallies alliesIf confirmed, the capture of Bakhmut would mark Russia’s first gain in months, but the city’s symbolism always outweighed its strategic importance. At the G7 Ukraine’s allies reiterated their support, with British Prime Minister RIshi Sunak saying “Ukraine must not only win the war but win a just and lasting peace.”

☆ Russia’s Latest Sanctions on U.S. Officials Turn to Trump Enemies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia has expanded its list of sanctioned Americans in a tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States. But what is particularly striking is how much President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is adopting perceived enemies of former President Donald J. Trump as his own. Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who rebuffed Mr. Trump’s pressure to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, also made the list. None of those three has anything to do with Russia policy and the only reason they would have come to Moscow’s attention is because Mr. Trump has publicly assailed them. He also refused to commit to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia if he is elected president again, saying instead he would seek to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

☆ Ukraine's Zelensky and India's Modi meet in Japan for first face-to-face since Russia invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan Saturday, the first in-person meeting between the two since Russia’s invasion began. Modi – who has so far refused to condemn the invasion – said India would do “everything we can” to help end the war. For me, it is an issue of humanity.”For his part, Zelensky invited Modi to join Ukraine’s peace efforts to bring the war against Russia to an end. Winning support or understanding from leaders like Modi could be a key motivation also driving Zelensky to attend the G7, analysts have said. Zelensky’s peace plan, in contrast, calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

☆ Biden Pays Silent Tribute to Victims of Hiroshima Bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden was 2 years old when the nuclear era opened with a blast of devastation unlike any the world had ever seen. Seventy-eight years later, he came on Friday to ground zero of the first atomic bomb used in warfare to pay tribute to the dead. Mr. Biden and other world leaders met privately with a survivor, toured a museum, laid wreaths at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and planted a tree. The president stared solemnly at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims as the city’s mayor described the monument. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has hinted ominously that he may yet unleash nuclear weapons to salvage his flailing invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Putin wants China to think he can defeat Ukraine. But his expensive military gambit is yet to yield results
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Nic Robertson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Kremlin claimed it had hit one of the United States’ prestigious Patriot missile defense systems. The Kremlin claimed it had hit a US Patriot missile defense system. The White House rebuffed Moscow's claims that the attack hit a Patriot missile defense system. Ankara on the diplomatic fenceXi isn’t the only leader with skin in the Ukraine war that Putin appears to be trying to sway his way right now. There is no guarantee either that Xi cares about Putin’s missile salvo targeting Kyiv’s Patriot missile batteries either, but he will have been paying attention.

☆ An Erdogan Loss in Turkey Would Stir Relief in the West and Anxiety in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Steven Erlanger | Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More broadly, for the European Union and Washington there is the strong feeling that Turkey under Mr. Erdogan has moved farther away from European values and norms like the rule of law and freedom of the press. Kaja Kallas, Estonia’s prime minister, said in an interview that NATO and the European Union viewed the election differently. It is a defense alliance, she said, and “Turkey is one of the allies that has great military capacities” to help NATO in a key part of the world. In Washington, Mr. Erdogan’s drift toward authoritarianism, his ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his disputes with NATO have exasperated officials — and even led some members of Congress to suggest that Turkey should be banished from the NATO alliance. While the United States, the European Union and, to a lesser extent, NATO stand to gain from an opposition victory, Mr. Putin almost certainly will be seen as the loser if Mr. Erdogan is ousted.

☆ The Russian ruble is as crucial to Vladimir Putin's regime as his war on Ukraine is, says Princeton scholar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Preserving the ruble is crucial to Vladimir Putin's regime, Princeton professor Ekaterina Pravilova said. "Against this historical backdrop, President Vladimir Putin's preoccupation with the ruble and the 'enemy currencies' is neither new nor surprising," she said. Putin's fixation on the ruble's strength stems from earlier Russian beliefs that the currency's standing signaled the country's geopolitical reputation, according to Pravilova. "In addition to the war on the battlefields, a rhetorical war unfolds, with the ruble figuring as one of its glorious heroes," she added. "The ideological fixation on the ruble's rate paradoxically makes the regime more vulnerable and potentially susceptible to criticism at home," Pravilova wrote.

Russian service members rehearsing last week for the military parade in Moscow on Tuesday, when Russia celebrates the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt. The parade is likely to be subjected to closer scrutiny than usual, both inside Russia and beyond its borders. This year, the jets have skipped their usual practice runs over Moscow, raising questions about whether they will participate. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the march was canceled as a “precautionary measure” against possible attacks.

☆ After Years in the Shadows, Prigozhin Becomes a Player in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Ben Shpigel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin quietly profited from his personal ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, winning lucrative catering and construction contracts with the Russian government while building a mercenary force known as Wagner. After throwing his fighters into Ukraine, their ranks swelled with prisoner recruits, Mr. Prigozhin emerged as a public power player, using social media to turn tough talk and brutality into his personal brand. In a scorching video posted Friday on social media, Mr. Prigozhin threatened to pull his fighters next week out of Bakhmut, the embattled city where he has thrown thousands of convicts into the maw of Ukraine’s defenses, taking extraordinary casualties in a stubborn effort to wear down the other side. Citing a lack of ammunition, Mr. Prigozhin delivered the ultimatum after walking among rows of bodies that he claimed were Wagner fighters killed in the battle for Bakhmut. He called out Russia’s defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, and Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of the military general staff, as responsible for their deaths.

☆ Factbox: Kremlin drone incident: What do we know?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] A still image taken from video shows a flying object approaching the dome of the Kremlin Senate building during the alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Russia, in this image taken from video obtained by Reuters May 3, 2023. Ostorozhno Novosti/Handout via REUTERSMay 3 (Reuters) - Here's a look at what we know about the alleged overnight drone attack on the Kremlin, and the questions it raises. Russia called the incident a terrorist attack and an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, for which it said it reserved the right to retaliate. "We don't attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a press conference in Helsinki. The incident comes at a moment of high tension and a potential turning point in the war, as Ukraine prepares to mount a long-anticipated counter-offensive.

☆ Blinken says the U.S. is ‘intensely engaged’ in efforts to free Evan Gershkovich.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Edward Wong | Daniel Victor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. government remained “intensely engaged” in efforts to get Moscow to free Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held for more than a month on espionage charges that his employer and American officials vehemently deny. Speaking at a World Press Freedom Day event at The Washington Post, Mr. Blinken reiterated that President Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a “special channel” for discussing prisoners. “I wish I could say in this moment there was a clear way forward,” he said. “I don’t have that in this moment.”“We have a country in the case of Russia that like a handful of other countries around the world is wrongfully detaining people, using them as political pawns, using them as leverage in a practice that is absolutely unacceptable and that we’re working both broadly to try to deter — but also at the same time to try to secure the release of those who are being unjustly detained,” Mr. Blinken said.

☆ Russians approved for world championships, Ukraine pulls out in protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, May 2 (Reuters) - Russian and Belarusian judokas can take part as neutrals at this month's world championships in Doha, the International Judo Federation (IJF) said, prompting Ukraine to pull out of the May 7-14 event in protest. Ukraine has barred its national sports teams from competing in events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus while Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. "The Executive Committee of the IJF has voted to permit neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the World Judo Championships 2023 in Doha, Qatar, as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)," the IJF said in a statement on Tuesday. Athletes must not have links to the Russian military or have made pro-war statements. The Ukrainian federation alleged on its website that many of the Russian judoka registered for the championships are from the army.

☆ U.S. Wires Ukraine With Radiation Sensors to Detect Nuclear Blasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United States is wiring Ukraine with sensors that can detect‌‌ bursts of radiation from a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb and can confirm the identity of the attacker. In part, the goal is to make sure that if Russia detonates a radioactive weapon on Ukrainian soil, its atomic signature and Moscow’s culpability could be verified. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, experts have worried about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would use nuclear arms in combat for the first time since the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The preparations, mentioned last month in a House hearing and detailed Wednesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a federal agency that is part of the Energy Department, seem to constitute the hardest evidence to date that Washington is taking concrete steps to prepare for the worst possible outcomes of the invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s second largest nation. The Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, a shadowy unit of atomic experts run by the security agency, is working with Ukraine to deploy the radiation sensors, train personnel, monitor data and warn of deadly radiation.

☆ Russian Pranksters Trick the Fed Chair, Based on Internet Videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jeanna Smialek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Pranksters posing as Ukraine’s president tricked Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, into a conversation in January about the U.S. and global economy, based on video clips covered on Russian state television and posted online. The footage shows Mr. Powell answering an interviewer’s questions on a video call, apparently thinking that he is talking to Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s leader. The ruse appears to have been carried out by Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, pranksters who are supporters of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The clips — now circulating on the internet — were earlier reported on by Bloomberg News. They show Mr. Powell answering questions about central banking and inflation.

☆ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on a Sensitive Question: Quit the I.C.C.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on Tuesday that his party, the African National Congress, had decided “it is prudent” to withdraw from the International Criminal Court — only for representatives for him and the party to later clarify that neither was actually advocating quitting the court, at least for now. The shifting statements underscore the complexities and sensitivity of the matter at a fraught geopolitical moment, when South Africa and other countries are pushing back against a world order dominated by the United States and the West. has issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been invited to a summit in South Africa in August. South African officials have not said whether they would honor their commitment to the I.C.C. and arrest Mr. Putin, and Mr. Ramaphosa said his government was still considering what to do.

☆ Ukraine-Russia War: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

As she told her story with the help of an interpreter, some members of the House committee grew visibly emotional. At one point, the turret of an armored vehicle was pointed at them, Ms. Bobrovska said. Ms. Bobrovska said he and other Ukrainian children were visited by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who informed them that they would be adopted. Roman eventually managed to return to Ukraine with the help of volunteers, Ms. Bobrovska said, but she did not detail how, citing safety concerns. The prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, addressed the Republican-led House committee after the survivors’ testimony to urge increased international pressure on Russia to return the children.

As a result, farmers in Poland, Hungary and other nations have seen their incomes plummet. measures,” his country would follow Poland in restricting Ukrainian grain imports until the end of June, according to Hungarian news reports. The announcement came after Warsaw reached a deal with Kyiv on Friday to strictly limit and, for a time, halt Ukrainian grain deliveries to Poland. Image Ukrainian grain being loaded onto a cargo ship near Odesa, Ukraine, in August. Image A Ukrainian soldier loading shells inside an American-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer to be fired toward Russian positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Friday.

☆ Russia is again the president of the UN Security Council. Last time Russia held the position it invaded Ukraine.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia was the president of the UN Security Council when it invaded Ukraine last February. The last time that Russia held the position of president — in February 2022 — it invaded Ukraine, the BBC noted. The UN Security Council is made up of 15 members, 10 of which are voted in for two-year stints. Russia's term as Security Council president comes less than two weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrest. Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, called Russia's presidency of the Security Council another "rape of international law."

☆ One of Russia's longtime allies said it will arrest Putin if he goes there, leaving him a pariah in a region where he was once dominant
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Armenia, a longtime Russia ally, has been increasingly distancing itself from Vladimir Putin. Its ruling party said that if Putin visited Armenia, he would get arrested, Moscow Times reported. The party was referring to an international arrest warrant for Putin issued earlier this month. Armenia is among a growing group of countries that have said they would enforce an international warrant issued by the International Criminal Court earlier this month. Pashinyan has previously accused Russian peacekeepers of failing to take a more active role around the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabak.

☆ Russia Detains Wall Street Journal Reporter, Accusing Him of Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Daniel Victor | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Russian authorities said on Thursday that they had detained an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal and accused him of espionage, marking a new escalation in Moscow’s tensions with the United States and with foreign media organizations since its invasion of Ukraine. The journalist, Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, is believed to be the first American reporter to be held as an accused spy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. His detention comes as relations between Russia and the United States continue to deteriorate, with Washington leading a coalition of nations supporting Ukraine’s military defense and pushing for Moscow’s further diplomatic and economic isolation. Hours later, the Kremlin endorsed Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest. “We’re not talking about suspicions,” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, said, adding, “He was caught red-handed.” Mr. Peskov said he could not provide further details.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich “, ”, “ We’re, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Mr Organizations: Wall Street Journal, Soviet Union, Washington, Russian Federal Security Service, Kremlin Locations: American, United States, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, Soviet, Yekaterinburg

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