Ukraine War: Ukraine rocket strike kills 63 Russiab soldiers reports Russia

Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down, a defense ministry statement said. It did not say when the strike happened.

The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

According to the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, an unspecified number of residents of the region were among those killed and wounded by the strike on the town of Makiivka.

Russian military bloggers, whose information has largely been reliable during the war, said ammunition stored close to the facility had exploded in the attack and contributed to the high number of casualties.

Read more at: https://www.dw.com

Ukraine war: Russian Barbarism - preliminary data showed that 69 of the missiles targeted energy facilities

Air raid sirens rang out across the country and officials said 120 Russian missiles were fired. Ukraine’s military chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi said preliminary data showed that 69 of the missiles targeted energy facilities and Ukrainian forces shot down 54 of them. 

Anti-aircraft defenses managed to shoot down all 16 Russian missiles that targeted the capital Kyiv, the head of the city's military administration said. 

There were no immediate reports of any deaths.

Russia dispatched explosive drones to selected regions overnight before broadening the barrage with “air and sea-based cruise missiles launched from strategic aircraft and ships” in the morning, the Ukrainian air force reported.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

British-Russian Relations: Britain arrest wealthy Russian for money laundering in London

Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Saturday it had arrested a "wealthy Russian businessman" on suspicion of money laundering as the UK attempts to disrupt potential criminal activity by oligarchs linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The unidentified 58-year-old was one of three men detained on Thursday.

The Russian businessman was arrested at a "multi-million-pound residence" in London, according to the NCA.

What do we know so far?

As well as suspicion of money laundering, he was also arrested on conspiracy of defrauding the UK's Interior Ministry and conspiracy to commit perjury, the NCA said.

Read more at:https://www.dw.com

Russian Invasion Ukraine: Blasts, fresh drone attacks rock Russian-held areas far from Ukraine war front - by Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder

Russia reported fresh Ukrainian drone attacks on Friday evening, a day after eexplosions erupted in Russian held areas far from the Ukraine war front as a result of drone attacks. This as half of the Russian Black sea  Airforce is destroyed.

Re ad more at: Blasts, fresh drone attacks rock Russian-held areas far from Ukraine war front | Reuters

Russian contract soldiers increasingly jailed in occupied Donbas

Russian military personnel are increasingly refusing to take part in its invasion of Ukraine, human rights activists say. Contract soldiers who no longer want to fight in Ukraine or want leave for family reasons are being denied their wish to leave the country. The so-called "refuseniks," as relatives and activists tell DW, are being held in camps and prisons in several locations in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic; that is, in areas that are in Ukraine but not controllessian contract soldiers increasingly jailed in occupied Donbas |

Read more at: https://www.dw.com/en/russian-contract-soldiers

Russian Ukraine Invasion: Ukraine investigates, attacks those who collaborate with Russia - by Mansur Mirovalev

Volodymyr Saldo claimed that in 2016, he was handcuffed to a metal bed for 59 days in the Dominican Republic, almost 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) away from home.

He alleged that the kidnapper, Igor Pashchenko, his former business partner from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, electrocuted him so he would read certain phrases into a dictaphone.

Some 480 people – from Kherson to Kharkiv in Ukraine’s northeast – are being investigated for collaboration with the Russian invaders, Ukrainian prosecutors said on June 10.

The turncoats surrender cities, towns and districts, snitch on pro-Kyiv activists, tell Russians the location of Ukrainian forces, arms depots and minefields, and even coordinate Russian artillery fire, prosecutors said.

Read more at: Ukraine investigates, attacks those who collaborate with Russia | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Russia military veteran Khodaryonok in damning TV assessment of Ukraine war

In a country where independent media and commentary has all but disappeared, it’s become unusual to hear dissenting voices on the many state-controlled TV networks in Russia.

Voices critical of the Kremlin or the invasion are rarely heard, with most commentators publicly supportive of the war with Ukraine.

But one well-known military analyst and veteran has stood out this week after he appeared on state TV and gave a damning assessment of the invasion, or what Russia calls a “special military operation.”

In a country where independent media and commentary has all but disappeared from public view, it’s rare to hear dissenting voices on the many state-controlled TV networks in Russia — particularly now with the country at war with Ukraine.

But one well-known military analyst and veteran has stood out this week after he appeared on state TV and gave a damning assessment of the Ukraine invasion, or what Russia calls its “special military operation.”

“The situation, frankly speaking, will get worse for us,” Mikhail Khodaryonok, a retired Russian army colonel, told the “60 Minutes” talk show on Rossiya-1 TV program hosted by Olga Skabeyeva, who’s renowned for her pro-Kremlin stance.

“You should not swallow informational tranquilizers,” Khodaryonok told the host as he warned that Ukraine was in no way near being beaten by Russia, and that Kyiv could mobilize and arm a million people if it wanted to.

Khodaryonok, who is also a defense columnist for the gazeta.ru newspaper and a graduate of one of Russia’s elite military academies, according to Reuters, had previously warned the country against invading its neighbor Ukraine, saying it was not in Russia’s national interests.

His advice unheeded, Russia is now almost three months into a bloody conflict in Ukraine with only a few significant territorial gains in the east and south, and with the invasion likely to turn into a long-term war of attrition with Ukraine’s fighters showing a bravery and resilience underestimated by Moscow.

Read more at: Russia military veteran Khodaryonok in damning assessment of Ukraine war

Russian Invasion Ukraine: Ukraine prepares to send bodies of dead Russian soldiers back home

Ukrainian troops are preparing to send the bodies of dead Russian soldiers back across the border. The authorities say they are acting in accordance with international law.

Soldiers' remains have been moved to a facility outside Kyiv before being loaded onto refrigerated trains awaiting transfer.

The head of Ukraine’s civil-military cooperation department says even though these transfers are part of international protocol, the Kremlin has not appealed for the bodies to be returned.

Read more at: Ukraine prepares to send bodies of dead Russian soldiers back home | Euronews

Russia - Florida Relations: Talking About Russian Wealth Is 'Bad for Business' in South Florida - by Hillary Hoffower

Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is keeping its lips sealed on the Russian wealth that lives there.

"They love to be here, and they like to spend their money and enjoy their life," Lana Bell, a Russian real-estate agent, told NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin of her wealthy Russian clientele right before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Bell didn't respond to multiple emails that I sent requesting to meet last week when I was in Sunny Isles. It's the same silence I received from other real-estate agents. One agent I did speak with deflected my question about Russian buyers, saying there weren't any. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is keeping its lips sealed on the Russian wealth that lives there.

Originally a place that attracted both tourists and immigrants fleeing communism in the Soviet Union, this pocket of Florida's Miami region saw a luxury-development boom at the turn of the century. Ever since, a number of Russian elites have parked money in the high-rise condos that tower over the ocean. But amid the rising tensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many people don't want to talk about the money that helped fuel the city's economy and its nickname as "Little Moscow."

"They love to be here, and they like to spend their money and enjoy their life," Lana Bell, a Russian real-estate agent, told NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin of her wealthy Russian clientele right before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Bell didn't respond to multiple emails that I sent requesting to meet last week when I was in Sunny Isles. It's the same silence I received from other real-estate agents. One agent I did speak with deflected my question about Russian buyers, saying there weren't any.

Read more at: Talking About Russian Wealth Is 'Bad for Business' in South Florida

Ukraine: In English-language plea, Zelensky urges protests around the world against Russia

Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy callson the alliance to provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian invasion.

“We ask that the alliance declare that it will fully assist Ukraine to win this war, clear our territory of the invaders and restore peace in Ukraine,” he says during his nightly video address to the nation.

Read more at:In English-language plea, Zelensky urges protests around the world against Russia | The Times of Israel

EU: In Europe Union, vaccines from Russia and China are now under study - by Loveday Morris

As the European Union's vaccination program stumbles, Russia and China are poised to fill the gap — with Moscow opening talks to produce vaccines in the heart of Europe and both building political cachet as they supply those scrambling for shots on the bloc's fringes.

Vaccines produced in Russia and China are already on the program in parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe outside the European Union.

Speaking to the Atlantic Council on Thursday, Macron called China’s vaccine efforts a “clear diplomatic success” which is “a little bit humiliating for us.” He and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have expressed their openness to using vaccines from Moscow and Beijing if E.U. regulatory approval is granted.

Read more at: In Europe Union, vaccines from Russia and China are now under study - The Washington Post

The EU's vaccine 'non-diplomacy' – International relations

Faced with a another wave of infections, Europe is again struggling to get a grip on the Covid-19 pandemic. At the moment, the efforts of containing the virus currently focus on getting as many people vaccinated as possible as quickly as possible. And Eastern Partnership countries are no exception to that rule. But while the EU works around the clock to register and deliver the vaccines produced by six Western companies, neither the Chinese (Sinovac Biotech) nor the Russian vaccine (Sputnik-V) are on the European officials' immunisation menu. And that may be a luxury most Eastern Partnership countries currently can’t afford.

Some, like the political elites in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, do criticise the Russian cure. They are suspicious of Sputnik-V for both its alleged inefficiency and the propaganda campaign pursued by Russian foreign policy. The memory of the 2020 disinformation campaigns while supposedly aiding Italy or Serbia are still fresh.

However, the refusal of even examining the possibility of importing the Sputnik-V has fuelled the internal animosities between government and the pro-Russian opposition in Ukraine. The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Kuleba highlighted the propagandistic costs that come with the Russian vaccine. China’s propaganda however isn’t bothering Kyiv, which is willing to purchase the Chinese vaccine as well as Western ones.

In Belarus and Armenia, on the other hand, there’s hardly any scepticism towards the Russian vaccine and already arranged the imports or are in advanced bilateral negotiations. And across the region, there’s less scepticism towards China. The latter seems to act much more subtly, raising minimum noise and negative perceptions for its anti-Covid-19 cure. As long as Eastern Partnership countries cannot receive the vaccine from Western pharmaceutical companies, they will be signing up for the Chinese vaccine, if not the Russian one.

Read more at: The EU's vaccine 'non-diplomacy' – International relations | IPS Journal

Coronavirus: Hungary first in EU to approve Russian vaccine-by Nick Thorpe

Hungary has become the first country in the European Union to give preliminary approval to the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff confirmed both the Russian jab and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been given the green light by the health authorities.

Read more at: Coronavirus: Hungary first in EU to approve Russian vaccine - BBC News

Britain - Brexit; U.K. officials 'avoided' looking into allegations of Russian meddling in Brexit referendum: report

A long-awaited report on Russian influence in British politics criticized the British government for neglecting to investigate whether Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum, describing its utter lack of curiosity about the threats to democracy as being a major failure at the heart of power.

The parliamentary report's authors accused the British government of "actively avoiding" looking into evidence of the Russian threat to the EU referendum. The authors found this particularly unforgivable given the evidence that emerged of Russian interference in the U.S. elections in 2016 and in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.

Read more at:
U.K. officials 'avoided' looking into allegations of Russian meddling in Brexit referendum: report | CBC News

Russian - US relations: Is Trump the masterful soviet sleeper agent ?

Read more at:
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/17/trump-the-masterful-soviet-sleeper-agent_partner/

Outer Space Exploration: Russian-American Crew Take Short Cut to Space Station

Soyuz docking at space station in record time

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut took a short cut to the International Space Station on Thursday, arriving at the orbital outpost less than six hours after their Soyuz capsule blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The express route, used for the first time to fly a crew to the station, shaved about 45 hours off the usual ride, allowing NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin to get a jumpstart on their planned 5.5-month mission.

The crew's Soyuz capsule parked itself at the station's Poisk module at 6:28 a.m. Moscow time, just five hours and 45 minutes after launch.

All previous station crews, whether flying aboard NASA's now-retired space shuttles or on Russian Soyuz capsules, took at least two days to reach the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 400 kilometers above Earth.

Read more: Russian-American Crew Take Short Cut to Space Station | News | The Moscow Times