Important Takeaways:
- Orban, a longtime Trump supporter, also visited Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing in the past two weeks on a self-styled ‘peace mission’ to end the Russia-Ukraine war which has angered Hungary’s NATO allies.
- Orban’s so-called peace initiative has irked many members of the European Union, whose rotating presidency Hungary took over at the start of this month.
- Hungary’s Viktor Orban has met with former US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida where they discussed the “possibilities of peace”, the latest stop in the prime minister’s solo run to secure a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
- “It was an honor to visit President [Donald Trump] at Mar-a-Lago today. We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!” Orban said on X.
- On Friday, Germany’s foreign ministry said Orban had already caused damage in the first 12 days of his country’s rotating EU presidency.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he was not informed by Orban of his onward trip to Russia, has dismissed the prime minister’s ambition of playing the peacemaker.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and could aid in Kyiv’s defense against Russia as soon as this summer, the White House said Wednesday.
- Why it matters: The jets will bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, allowing its air force to thwart Russian air attacks, as well as seek and destroy drones and missiles targeting Ukrainian cities.
- The jets may also allow Ukraine’s air force to establish localized air superiority to support its ground forces during offensive operations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies notes.
- The big picture: The long-sought transfers come over a year after Ukraine asked it allies for advanced fighter jets, particularly F-16s.
- A coalition of governments led by the Netherlands and Denmark began training Ukrainian pilots, technicians and support personnel on F-16s in late 2023.
- The first group of Ukrainian pilots completed training at a military base in Arizona in May 2024.
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Important Takeaways:
- After his “sobering visit” to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants the White House to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory with American-supplied arms, The New York Times (NYT) reported on May 22, citing undisclosed official sources.
- The ban has prevented Kyiv from attacking Russian forces, which were amassing near Kharkiv Oblast for their offensive launched earlier in May, with advanced U.S. weaponry like ATACMS missiles.
- The news outlet noted that the proposal is still “in the formative stages” and that it is unclear how many other high-ranking officials in Biden’s team will support it.
- The plan would include permitting strikes against Russian military facilities but perhaps not oil refineries and other infrastructure that Ukraine has been hitting with homemade drones, according to the outlet.
- The Pentagon has also reiterated this position, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently hinted that the rules might be different in regards to aerial targets.
- “The aerial dynamic’s a little bit different,” Austin said during a press conference on May 20 but avoided saying explicitly whether attacks against Russian aircraft with U.S. arms are off-limit or not.
- Unlike Washington, the U.K. said it does not oppose Ukraine using British-supplied arms – which include Storm Shadow missiles – to strike Russian soil, provoking threats from Moscow.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia destroyed the largest power-generating plant in Ukraine’s Kyiv region in a missile attack on Thursday, as President Zelensky accused the West of “turning a blind eye” to his country’s need for more air defenses.
- Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 18 of the incoming missiles and 39 of the drones. Russia fired 82 missiles and drones in total, including six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles – none of which Ukraine’s air defenses were able to down.
- The Trypilska Thermal Power Plant (TPP), the largest supplier of electricity to Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, was completely destroyed, according to the energy company Centrenergo. The company has lost 100% of its power generation across its three plants, which have all been destroyed or occupied by Russia.
- “A black day in the history of Centrenergo,” it said in a statement. “The scale of the destruction is terrible. Money can’t estimate it. This is the biggest challenge for us in the history of the company.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 24 civilians across the country in what an air force official said was the biggest aerial barrage of the war.
- The Ukrainian air force intercepted most of the ballistic and cruise missiles and the Shahed-type drones overnight, said Ukraine’s military chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
- Western officials and analysts recently warned that Russia had limited its cruise missile strikes in recent months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter, hoping to break the Ukrainians’ spirit.
- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the huge attack should stir the world to further action in support of Ukraine.
- At least 130 people were injured and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officials said. Among the buildings reported to be damaged across Ukraine were a maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- ‘Our tanks will be parked on Moscow’s Red Square and that will be justice’: Kyiv security chief vows to expel all Russian troops from Ukraine’s soil and dubs Putin ‘Hitler’s twin’
- Kyiv’s security chief vowed that Ukraine’s ‘tanks will be parked on Moscow’s Red Square and that will be justice’ ahead of the first anniversary of Putin’s invasion.
- Oleksiy Danilov, Kyiv’s National Security and Defense Council boss, called Vladimir Putin ‘Hitler’s twin’ as he reiterated Ukraine’s ambition to expel all Russian troops from its soil, including from Crimea which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
- The security boss previously warned the bloodiest battles are ‘yet to come’ within the next few months, in what will be a ‘defining’ moment of the war, amid warnings that the Russian president will soon launch a new offensive in the east of Ukraine to take control of – at the very least – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
- ‘Our tanks will be on Red Square and that will be justice,’ Danilov The Sun. ‘They invaded our territory, killed our women, our children, the elderly and civilians.
- ‘If we don’t give them a proper answer it is only a matter of time before they invade another country,’ he warned.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Ukraine interior minister, others killed in helicopter crash
- Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, who oversaw Ukraine’s police and emergency services, is the most senior official to die since Russia invaded nearly 11 months ago. His death, along with two others from his ministry, was the second calamity in four days for Ukraine, after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building killed dozens of civilians.
- There was no immediate word on whether the morning crash, near a kindergarten and reportedly in heavy fog, was an accident or related to the war, but Ukrainian authorities immediately opened an investigation. No fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area.
- Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that 17 people were killed in the crash, including nine people who were aboard the helicopter and four children who presumably were on the ground. It said 25 people have been injured, including 11 children.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Russia Shows Off Upgraded Nuclear-Ready ‘White Swan’ Bomber Amid Kyiv Blitz
- The original Tu-160—NATO reporting name “Blackjack” and nicknamed “White Swan” by Russian servicemembers due to its distinctive appearance—was adopted by the Russian Air Force in 1987. As of 2016, only 16 remained in service. It was designed to compete with the American Rockwell B-1 Lancer, introduced into service one year before the Tu-160.
- In 2015, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the resumption of Tu-160 production, with 50 upgraded Tu-160M designs to be delivered along with upgrades to the 16 remaining aircraft.
- Upgrades include new targeting systems, upgraded cruise missiles, and an electronic warfare suite. Russia intends to arm the Tu-160M with the hypersonic, nuclear-ready Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile as part of the upgrade.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Explosions rock central Kyiv in apparent missile strikes
- Russia launched fresh hell across Ukraine on Monday with deadly missile strikes on several cities, including the capital, Kyiv — a horrifying escalation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted was an effort to wipe his country “off the face of the Earth.”
- At least 81 cruise missiles were fired at eight regions by midmorning, only around half of which were shot down, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin later said the strikes were a justified response to Kyiv’s “terrorist attacks,” including the huge blast that destroyed part of a key bridge to the Moscow-controlled Crimean Peninsula early Saturday.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Pentagon working on plans to send troops to protect US Embassy in Kyiv
- The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that officials are mulling plans to send special forces to Kyiv to guard the U.S. Embassy. The effort is a delicate one as it requires balancing the safety of American diplomats while avoiding what Russia could see as an escalation
- Such plans “have not yet made it to [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin] or myself for that matter, for refinement of courses of action and what’s needed,” he noted.
- Milley added that any reintroduction of U.S. forces into Ukraine would require a presidential decision.
- Milley said there are now about 102,000 American troops based in Europe, a more than 30 percent increase since the war began.
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