Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 06-26-2024

Ukraine's brave run came to an agonising end.

Belgium qualified for the last 16 of Euro 2024 on Wednesday after a 0-0 draw with Ukraine, who exited the tournament despite all four teams in Group E finishing level on four points.

Romania took top spot ahead of Belgium after scoring more goals in the group following their 1-1 draw with Slovakia, who also go through as one of the four best third-placed sides.

The cyberattack is the latest in a string of recent ones conducted by Ukraine's Defense intelligence.

The largest internet providers in Russian-occupied Crimea suffered a massive cyberattack on Wednesday, June 26, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), which claimed credit for the attack, told Kyiv Post.

Several large service providers in Crimea were hit by HUR’s cyber-attack, the source said.

Serhiy Kolyada on the Kremlin's insatiable imperialistic greed.

The serial killer, Yuri Gritsenko, who preyed on women in Moscow and the Moscow region of Russia, has been serving in a sanitary evacuation platoon for about a year.

Russian Yuriy Gritsenko, known as the “Zelenograd Chikatilo” after a previous Soviet-era serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, preyed on women in Moscow and the Moscow region. In September he volunteered to go to war in Ukraine where he has been serving in a medical evacuation platoon, according to the Russian telegram channel Shot citing sources.

Gritsenko, 62, was due for release from penal colony IK-10 in Mordovia this summer after serving his full 22-year sentence, but volunteered to serve in a Storm Z unit and was released to serve. However, he was found to be unfit for a combat role so was selected for the medical evacuation platoon.

Off-the-shelf drone swarms and deliveries of long-awaited NATO-standard ammunition, have given Kyiv’s troops firepower parity with Russian forces, at least in one sector.

Assaulting Ukrainian infantry teams backed by swarms of domestically manufactured drones are retaking ground from Russian forces in the northern Kharkiv sector. Both sides are reporting that Kyiv’s fighting men have established a marked artillery firepower advantage over Moscow’s troops, for the first time in months.

The Ukrainian gains according to field reports are in built-up areas of the town of Vovchansk and the village of Hlyboke, both sites of major Russian offensives launched since early May. Kyiv’s forces have scored modest but confirmed advances at both locations, the US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank reported on June 25.

Thomas J. Duesterberg, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said the West has the power to exacerbate a bad economic situation that is becoming increasingly difficult for Putin to navigate.

The RUGER long-range rifle in .338 caliber, delivered by the Vengeance Guard volunteer organization, can hit targets at a distance of up to two thousand meters.

Volunteers from the Vengeance Guard project, which provides equipment to the Ukrainian military, in Kyiv, recently handed over a sniper complex named after the embattled town of Vovchansk in the Russian bordering Kharkiv region to a female sniper of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Volunteers Yury Chornomorets and Dmytro Batishchev started the Vengeance Guard project in May 2023. Chornomorets, a former sniper of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who now volunteers with the military, has already handed over three hundred sniper complexes to Ukrainian Defense Forces fighters, thanks to successful fundraisers.

With the French legislative elections approaching on June 30, concerns are rising in both Brussels and Kyiv about the far-right Rassemblement National’s (RN) long-standing ties with the Kremlin.

With the French legislative elections on 30 June, the far-right Rassemblement National’s (RN) long-standing friendship with the Kremlin is causing concern in both Brussels and Kyiv.

For a long time, Marine le Pen and senior members of the RN proudly published photos of their trips to Moscow and excursions into the territories occupied by the Kremlin in Ukraine. Now that it is on the possible verge of power according to opinion polls, it aims to be more accommodating.

A girl working as a cashier at a gas station near Russian-occupied Berdyansk spoke to the blogger's guest in Ukrainian. So he abducted her.

Russian military blogger Kirill Fedorov hosted a guest who boasted during his broadcast that he'd abducted a girl who worked as a cashier near Russian-occupied Berdyansk for speaking in Ukrainian.

Ukrainian journalist and blogger Denis Kazansky published a segment of the broadcast via Facebook. At the beginning of the story, Fedorov's acquaintance called Mariupol (Donetsk region) and Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhia region) “Russian cities for good.”

The June 19 defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea included a promise to provide military assistance to one another – within days Pyongyang said it was sending troops to Ukraine.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin made an official state visit to the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) – North Korea, his first for almost a quarter of a century. As part of that visit Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a so-called defense pact in the North Korean capital on June 19.

The military treaty states: “In the event that any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.”

The Hague-based court said Tuesday it had issued arrest warrants for for ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Valery Gerasimov.

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Valery Gerasimov as "absurd" and lacking legal force.

The Hague-based court said Tuesday it had issued arrest warrants for the pair over a barrage of Russian missile strikes against Ukrainian energy targets and civilian sites that the ICC said could be classed as "war crimes".

For years during the Soviet period, his paintings and graphic works languished in obscurity. Today they are being shown in London to celebrate a resurgence of Ukrainian art.

A special highlight of Kyiv Art Sessions, the June 28-30 festival at Old Sessions House in London, will be the exclusive exhibition of artist Oleksandr Dubovyk – a significant figure in the history of Ukrainian modern art and avant-garde.

The exhibit will present Dubovyk’s works from 2022 to 2024 – in particular the work “Postulate,” which decorates the poster for the London visual arts and music festival.

Russian-imposed management at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant said on Wednesday that Ukrainian shelling had destroyed a radiation control post in Velyka Znamyanka.

In a Telegram post on Wednesday, June 26, the Russian management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) claimed that Ukrainian forces had attacked the plant’s radiation control station in Velyka Znamyanka – some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the ZNPP.

ZNPP management said that radiation monitoring in protection and observation zones around the nuclear plant is carried out continuously and said that radiation control stations are vital to the process. The results of the monitoring are published daily on the ZNPP official website.

With the war in Ukraine raging through a third year, leading power the United States set for a crunch election, and China rising, NATO is grappling with major challenges.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, on Wednesday named as the next NATO boss, will take the reins of the Western military alliance at a perilous time.

With Russia's war in Ukraine raging through a third year, leading power the United States set for a crunch election, and China rising, NATO is grappling with major challenges.

The European Union's decision to open membership talks with Ukraine is a significant political milestone amidst the ongoing war against Russia's invasion.

CNN, citing four US officials, reported that the White House is considering allowing US military contractors to deploy to Ukraine to repair and maintain the equipment it provided.

CNN reported on Tuesday, June 25 that White House officials are thrashing out the details of a plan to allow military contractors to deploy to Ukraine to help Kyiv’s military to maintain US-provided weapons systems.

While stressing that the proposal had not yet been submitted to or agreed by President Joe Biden, CNN reported that the change would present yet another major change in the US stance towards its support for Ukraine.

A record number of NATO nations are hitting the Western alliance’s defense spending target: Now, a proper understanding of the strategic environment is key to assessing the significance of this.

“Over 20 NATO member countries are meeting defense spending targets this year, marking a nearly fourfold increase from 2021 amid heightened concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A record 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defense spending target this year,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 17.

The strategic environment

The Alliance’s concerns go beyond the “Russia-Ukraine war.” On May 2, NATO expressed deep concern about malign Russian activities on Allied territory, which include sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, disinformation campaigns, and other hybrid operations. Its activities constitute a threat to Allied security. While three years late, the statement mirrors the assessment by the EU Parliament on Sept. 16, 2021. The latter lists an even longer list of Russian aggressions in Europe, stressing that the EU and its member states are exposed to a Russian Hybrid War (which was also taking place in Ukraine at the time).  

Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov, a decorated officer, was appointed as a Joint Forces Commander on Monday following Yurii Sodol's dismissal.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, accompanied by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, arrived in the Donetsk region to introduce the new commander of the Joint Forces, General Andrii Hnatov.

Kyiv Post's chief editor, Bohdan Nahaylo, spoke to three of the US participants in the recent Black Sea Security Forum, held in Odesa from June 14 to 16.

NATO's 32 nations appointed departing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the alliance's next head at a vital time with Russia waging war in Ukraine.

NATO's 32 nations on Wednesday, June 26, appointed outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the alliance's next head, handing him the job at a crucial moment with Russia on the march in Ukraine and US elections looming.

Rutte will take over from Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on October 1 after major powers -- spearheaded by the United States -- wrapped up his nomination ahead of a summit of NATO leaders in Washington next month.

At a Ukraine Business News (UBN) Network discussion panel, energy executives provided an assessment of Ukraine’s current energy situation and identified the challenges to rebuilding the system.

Ukraine has lost half of its remaining power generation capability since March this year, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state-owned transmission operator said.

“Nine gigawatts (GW) is a huge number,” said Kudrytskyi at a discussion panel hosted by Ukraine Business News (UBN) Network on Friday, June 21.

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

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked out of court a free man Wednesday after a hours-long court appearance in which he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of violating the Espionage Act. Assange, 52, is best known for the publication of classified military and diplomatic cables in 2010. His hearing was held in federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. Assange was freed on the condition he leave the U.S. commonwealth. Chief Judge Ramona Manglona said the time Assange had spent in Belmarsh prison in the U.K. — 62 months — was appropriate. “I'm, in fact, sentencing you to your time served," she said. She said she doubted there would be future breaches of the plea agreement, and allowed Assange to leave court a free man. The proceedings ended a years-long legal saga involving the WikiLeaks founder who spent years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before being imprisoned in the U.K. He is expected to return to his native Australia after the proceedings. During his court appearance, Judge Manglona asked Assange what he did to constitute the crime charged, he replied: "Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information. I believe that the First Amendment protected that activity." He added: "I believe the First Amendment and the Espionage Act are in contradiction with each other, but I accept that it would be difficult to win such a case given all these circumstances." Assange pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to obtain and disclose information related to the national defense in a U.S. federal court. - NPR

Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and some broke into Parliament and briefly set fire to the entrance on Tuesday, after lawmakers approved tax increases that critics said would drive up the cost of living for millions. During the protests, the police fired tear gas and guns, plunging the capital into turmoil. At least five people were fatally shot and 31 others injured, according to Amnesty International and several prominent Kenyan civic organizations. The toll could not be immediately confirmed. The independent Kenya Human Rights Commission posted a video that showed police officers firing as protesters marched toward them. As tear gas wafted through the streets, some protesters climbed through the windows of Parliament after lawmakers voted 195 to 106 in favor of the tax bill on Tuesday, with supporters saying it would raise revenue for education and other essential services. Kenya’s president, William Ruto, said he was deploying the military to crack down on what he called “treasonous events.” In a televised address on Tuesday night, Mr. Ruto said the debate about the tax bill had been “hijacked by dangerous people who have caused us the kind of loss we have incurred as a nation today.” - NYT

After N.Korea and Russia signed a military assistance treaty, South Korea is considering supplying Ukraine with military equipment. Commentators see the news as an important development.

After North Korea and Russia signed a military assistance treaty, South Korea is apparently considering supplying Ukraine with military equipment, the country's news agencies report. South Korea has so far stuck to a policy of not supplying weapons to war zones. Commentators see the news as an important development.

Arms giant always at the ready

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Two major international bodies—the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) — announced decisions on June 25 confirming Russia's long-term perpetration of war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine.
• Russia and Venezuela signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at countering "coercive measures," likely to demonstrate to the West that the Kremlin holds influence in the Western hemisphere.
• Ukrainian forces conducted a drone strike on a Russian ammunition depot in Voronezh Oblast on June 25 and recently conducted strikes on Pantsir-S1 air defense systems in Belgorod Oblast with unspecified weapons.
• Russia imposed countersanctions against 81 European Union (EU)-based news outlets on June 25 following EU sanctions against four Russian state-affiliated news outlets on June 24.
• Dagestan Republic Head Sergei Melikov ordered investigations into the personal records of senior Dagestani officials following the June 23 likely Wilayat Kavkaz terrorist attacks in Dagestan, indicating that the Kremlin may be intensifying efforts to address Islamist extremist threats in the North Caucasus as it attempts to maintain a veneer of stability and normalcy.
• Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with Lithuania-based Belarusian opposition leader Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya on June 20 in Vilnius amid deteriorating Armenian-Belarusian relations
• Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions in Vovchansk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Siversk and Avdiivka.
• A Russian milblogger claimed that the Russian Volunteer Society for Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy of Russia (DOSAAF) will begin training unspecified Russian military personnel on October 1, 2024.

Here are Trump's plans for the United State and the world, as set out by the candidate himself.

Mass expulsions? Political revenge? World peace? A new golden age? As Donald Trump vies for another term in the White House, America is abuzz with speculation over how life might look with the ex-president back at the helm.

In a series of interviews and campaign rallies, the Republican has offered some clues.

Ninety Ukrainian POWs return home; Kremlin cranks up its media crackdown on foreign outlets; Kremlin “absurdly” links Crimea missile strike and Dagestan terrorist attack to the West, ISW says.

The AFP on Tuesday reported that Russia was blocking access to dozens of European media outlets, including AFP websites, in response to the EU slapping broadcasting bans on several Russian outlets last month.

The Kremlin has put up walls for its citizens to access Europe’s oldest media outlets (both conservative and liberal), including France’s Le Monde, Germany’s Der Spiegel and Spain’s El Mundo. The Russian Foreign Ministry blacklisted 81 websites operating across 25 EU countries.

Belousov and Austin had "exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine", noting the conversation took place "at the initiative of the American side".

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin spoke by phone on Tuesday to discuss the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow's defence ministry said.

The United States is one of Ukraine's staunchest military backers, contributing billions of dollars' worth of aid and drawing condemnation from Russia, which has accused Washington of "direct involvement" in the hostilities.