Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 06-08-2024

With at least six civilians dead and over 60 injured on Friday, Kremlin-installed officials tried to blame a Ukrainian ATACMS, but examination of debris shows it was a Russian air defense missile.

The collapse of part of a five-story residential building in Luhansk on Friday was blamed on a Ukrainian ATACMS missile, but examination of debris shows it was a Russian air defense missile.

The independent Russian news site Insider referred to independent OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) examination of Russian media footage taken at the site of the collapsed entrance to a five-story building in Luhansk, in which six people died and, according to information provided by Oleg Valiev, the Russian-appointed First Deputy Minister of Health of the so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic (LNR), 60 were injured.

Ukraine targeted a military airbase in North Ossetia, causing minor damage according to the governor, who added that officials are on high alert and all mass events in Mozdoksky district are canceled.

Ukraine targeted the south Russian region of North Ossetia with drones for the first time ever on Saturday, causing minor damage, local authorities said.

The drones were aimed at a military airfield near the town of Mozdok, more than 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the frontline, according to North Ossetia governor Sergei Menyailo.

Days after five coffins were dropped by the Eiffel Tower wrapped in French flags labelled “French soldiers of Ukraine,” tags bearing the same message appeared on the streets of Paris.

French and UK mainstream media reported on Saturday, June 1, that three men were arrested after dropping five coffins wrapped in French flags along with a message that read “French soldiers of Ukraine” placed at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The three, a 39-year-old Bulgarian, a 25-year-old German and a Ukrainian national, 16, claimed they were paid €400 ($430) to carry out the deed.

In echoes of that stunt and an apparent continuation of October’s “Stars of David” and May’s “Red Hands” graffiti campaigns, which French intelligence services attributed to pro-Russian agents, more “tags” were discovered in Paris on Friday, June 7 according to a news report carried by the BFM-TV station.

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has brought to light other contested issues between the two nations – such as ecclesial authority and claims to Kyiv’s spiritual legacy.

A groundbreaking thesis dismantles the historical legitimacy of the Moscow Metropolia, exposing it as a fictional construct, and reshapes our understanding of Eastern European religious history.

On May 31, 2024, at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Nazar Zatorsky from the University of Fribourg delivered a groundbreaking presentation titled “Ecclesio-political changes in the Metropolitanate of Kyiv after the Union of Florence” during the conference “The Byzantine Presence between the Black Sea and Baltic.” Zatorsky argued that the Moscow Metropolitan and the concept of a Moscow Metropolitanate are artificial constructs.

Russia’s far east, North Pacific Ocean Sakhalin Island airport plans to buy anti-drone technology, fearing attacks from where - the US, Japan, North Korea, China, or Ukraine?

The Moscow Times, citing the Russian Vorstka (Layout) Telegram channel, says that the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk International Airport in Russia's far eastern, North Pacific Sakhalin Island has issued a tender to buy a comprehensive defensive package to protect it from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack. The estimated value of which is said to be around 294.6 million rubles ($3.3 million). This prompted Vortska to ask who is the attacker they fear?

The airport was opened with much fanfare in May 2023 boasting it had installed the latest innovative technology including state-of-the-art security equipment such as radiation monitoring tools and video surveillance, using almost 400 cameras situated in every area of the facility, both inside and outside the terminal buildings.

Two former-Soviet Republics, Ukraine and Moldova, have both fully fulfilled needed reforms to start formal EU membership talks according to the Alliance's commission, but will Budapest agree?

The European Commission said on Friday (7 June) that both Ukraine and Moldova are sufficiently ready for the formal opening of EU accession talks.

The Commission confirmed to EU ambassadors that Ukraine has fully fulfilled all four, and Moldova all three, of their outstanding reform steps, to start formal talks, people close to the negotiations said.

German defense manufacturer Hensoldt is to provide a second batch of self-protection sensors for Ukraine’s fleet of military helicopters.

The German defense manufacturer Hensoldt issued a press release on Wednesday, June 5 announcing that it had received a new order for its Airborne Missile Protection System (AMPS) to equip Ukraine’s helicopters.

While Hensoldt’s statement did not give details of quantities or the value of the order, the Janes defense publication says it could be worth an eight-figure dollar amount.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

US President Joe Biden has apologised to his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for delays in military aid to Ukraine and has pledged $225m (£191m) in support. The pair met for talks in Paris, a day after they both attended the 80th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. The US Department of Defense said the new aid package would include ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Mr Biden said previous delays in aid had been caused by some Republicans in Congress, but reiterated US support for Ukraine. “The United States will stand with you," Mr Biden told Mr Zelensky. "You haven't bowed down. You haven't yielded at all. You continue to fight in a way that is just remarkable, just remarkable." In response, Mr Zelensky stressed the importance of his country's relationship with the US, saying it was crucial in the fight against Russia: "We count on your continuing support in staying with us shoulder to shoulder." - BBC

Due to several Russian strikes on the Ukrainian power infrastructure and grid, some districts of Kyiv do not have electricity for 20 hours, media and other sources reported. In the southern port city of Odesa outages daily outages are hitting at least seven hours a day. Concerns are mounting that come fall and winter, the worst impact on citizens of impacted cities will occur. “We are catastrophically short of electricity for our needs,” Serhii Kovalenko, chief executive of the Ukrainian private electricity distributor YASNO, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. Recently, the Kremlin has shifted its tactics, the Washington Post reported. Russian forces are now concentrating their missiles on Ukraine’s thermal and hydroelectric power plants, while slamming the transmission system with self-destructing drones.

EU citizens will soon vote in four days of elections – with most balloting happening Sunday – we look at the Union’s various bodies based in Brussels and elsewhere.

Trying to figure out what each of the main European Union institutions does is not easy.

As EU citizens vote in four days of elections – with most balloting happening Sunday – we look at the bodies based in Brussels and elsewhere.

“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” The words of Patrick Henry, American patriot during the Revolutionary War, resonate today.

“We are all tired of the war.” The only ones who have the right to say this are those who are on the battlefields of Ukraine. And those who are living in towns and cities that summon their residents several times a day to take shelter. And those involuntarily scattered throughout Europe and North America waiting for news from or about their loved ones. And those who don’t know whether they can ever resume life where they left off. And even those in the Ukrainian diaspora who are daily glued to their computers hoping to catch some good news while supporting their brethren.

For the forthcoming Peace Summit to have beneficial results, the participants must remember that only one man and one nation are responsible for this war and can end it. The other party is simply defending itself and seeking to recover its territory.

Moscow-appointed officials in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson and Luhansk regions claim 26 people were killed on Friday by Ukrainian strikes often using US-made weapons.

Ukrainian strikes on parts of the Russian-held Luhansk and Kherson regions killed 26 people and injured dozens more on Friday, occupation authorities said.

Both Ukrainian regions were among four Russia claimed to have annexed in September 2022 despite not fully controlling any of them following the full-scale invasion launched that February.

Polls ahead of the EU vote suggested that far-right parties could claim around a quarter of the 720 seats in the incoming EU parliament. These far-right groups often oppose assisting Ukraine.

Slovakia on Saturday kicks off the final two days of voting in EU-wide elections, under the shadow of last month’s shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Another violent incident occurred late on Friday when a man hit Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a Copenhagen square. 

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin articulated a theory of victory in Ukraine on June 7 that assumes that Russian forces will be able to continue gradual creeping advances indefinitely, prevent Ukraine from conducting successful operationally significant counteroffensive operations, and win a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces.
• Putin's theory of victory rests on Russia's ability to outlast and overcome pledged Western security assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian efforts to mobilize more of its economy and population for the war effort, indicating that Putin likely assesses that Russian forces will be able to leverage their advantages in manpower and materiel to overwhelm on Ukrainian forces.
• Putin's theory of victory hinges on a critical assumption that the West will abandon Ukraine to Russian victory, either on its own accord or in response to Russian efforts to persuade the West to do so, and it is far from clear that the West will do so.
• Putin indirectly indicated that Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with Western-provided weapons do not cross a supposed Russian "red line" that would result in Russian nuclear escalation.
• Putin heavily focused on proposals to solve Russia's labor shortage issues during his speech at SPIEF on June 7.
• Putin attempted to frame Russia's economic issues in a positive light, likely to prepare Russian citizens to make more personal sacrifices as Russia sustains a protracted war in Ukraine at the expense of Russian citizens’ standards of living.
• Putin continued efforts to portray Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an illegitimate president and identified the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) as a legitimate actor with which the Kremlin can negotiate instead of Zelensky. Putin’s recent statements are the latest in a series designed to obfuscate the legality of Zelensky's extended term by misrepresenting the Ukrainian Constitution and Ukrainian laws.
• Putin attempted to introduce his children and the children of other senior Russian officials to the public sphere at SPIEF, likely to set conditions for them to eventually assume high-profile and powerful roles in the Russian government.
• US National Security Council Senior Director for Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation Pranay Vaddi stated that the US has prepared a new nuclear weapons policy specifically to deter Russia, the People's Republic of China (PRC), North Korea, and Iran.
• The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced a $225 million security assistance package for Ukraine on June 7.
• French President Emmanuel Macron announced on June 6 that France will provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets and equip and train a brigade of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers.
• The Russian Supreme Court declared an organization that does not exist as "extremist" on June 7, consistent with previous ISW assessments that Russia seeks to expand the legal definition of "extremism" to increasingly prosecute domestic anti-war sentiment.
• The Kremlin continues efforts to destabilize the Balkans and dismantle the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, likely as part of a larger strategic effort that seeks to divide and distract Europe.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Svatove, near Chasiv Yar, and northwest of Avdiivka.

Macron vows support for Ukraine and said pacifists are capitulators while France seeks peace that recognizes “the legitimate right of a people to resist when it is attacked.”

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday lashed out at what he called a “camp of pacifists” and the “spirit of defeat” over Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, vowing Ukrainian resistance would not end with capitulation.

“We know this camp of pacifists. It is the one of capitulators. It’s the spirit of defeat. We are not like this,” Macron told reporters in Paris alongside Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, in a thinly veiled jab at his critics including the far-right opposition at home.