Russia has gone ahead with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, claimed on Thursday that the movement of some of the weapons from Russia to Belarus had already started, according to reports.
Dutch prosecutors have seized a plot of land near Amsterdam belonging to Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law. according to a joint study by The Guardian and two other media organizations. The piece of land in Duivendrecht is owned by Jorrit Faassen, a Dutch businessman who was married to Maria Vorontsova, the eldest daughter of the Russian president.
Britain will likely keep Russian state property immobilized for some time after the war in Ukraine ends, and certainly until Moscow agrees to make good the damage it has done. British officials have confirmed this. The Council of Europe summit last week established a digital damage register for Ukraine as a first step towards an international compensation mechanism for victims of Russian aggression.
The United States has long asked Ukraine not to use US-supplied military equipment to launch attacks on Russian soilThe top US general said this on Thursday after accusations by Russia that pro-Ukrainian militias had used US armored vehicles.
Russia has indicated that if demands to improve grain and fertilizer exports are not met, it will not renew the Black Sea grain agreement until July 17. It made the same threats and demands in March, agreeing last week to extend the export pact by 60 days.
Unverified footage appears to show drone speedboat attack on Russian naval vessel the Ivan Khurs in the Black Sea on Wednesday. The video appears to show at least one of the drones getting extremely close to the ship, though it remains unclear whether or not damage was done.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner has begun withdrawing its troops from the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. and handing over its positions there to regular Russian troops, according to its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The US has said the Wagner Group may be working through Mali and other countries to conceal its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine. and accused it of supplying a Sudanese paramilitary with surface-to-air missiles.
Ukraine secured the release of 106 captured soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Russia according to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff. The soldiers, including eight officers, were said to have been captured during fighting in Bakhmut.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden and Denmark over what it described as the “complete lack of results” in the Nord Stream investigation. Several unexplained underwater explosions in September 2022 ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines connecting Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea. The blasts took place in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark and both countries say they were deliberate, but have yet to determine who was responsible. Germany is also investigating.
Ukraine said on Thursday it had shot down all 36 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks it probably claims targeted key infrastructure and military facilities.
Russia denies that a fire broke out at the defense ministry in Moscow. after social media users and reports in the state news agency Tass said emergency services had been called to the building. Tass initially reported a fire to the ministry early Thursday morning, but later reported there was no fire.